What is David Cross' Net Worth and Salary?
David Cross is an American actor, writer, director, producer, and stand-up comedian who has a net worth of $10 million. Cross is probably best known for playing Tobias Fünke on the critically-acclaimed sitcom "Arrested Development" (2003–2006; 2013; 2018–2019) and for starring on the sketch comedy series "Mr. Show with Bob and David" (1995–1998). David has more than 130 acting credits to his name, including the films "Scary Movie 2" (2001), "Run Ronnie Run" (2002), "Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind" (2004), and "It's a Disaster" (2012) and the television shows "Running Wilde" (2010–2011), "The Increasingly Poor Decisions of Todd Margaret" (2010–2012; 2016), and "Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt" (2016–2017).
He wrote, directed, and produced the 2014 film "Hits," and he also directed the 2003 comedy special "David Cross: Let America Laugh" and all six episodes of the 2018 BritBox series "Bliss" (which he created). Cross has written for "Mr. Show" and "The Increasingly Poor Decisions of Todd Margaret" as well as "The Ben Stiller Show" (1992–1993), "Tenacious D" (1997–2000), and "Freak Show" (2006), and he published the book "I Drink for a Reason" in 2009. David has released the stand-up comedy albums "Shut Up You Fucking Baby!" (2002), "It's Not Funny" (2004), "Bigger and Blackerer" (2010), "…America…Great…" (2016), and "Oh, Come On" (2019), earning Grammy nominations for two of them.
Early Life
David Cross was born on April 4, 1964, in Roswell, Georgia. He grew up in a Jewish household with mother Susi, father Barry, and sisters Juli and Wendy. When David was 6 months old, the family moved to Florida, then they relocated to New York and Connecticut before returning to Roswell. Cross has said that his family didn't have much money and that during his youth he lived in motels and at the homes of his friends after the family was evicted from their home. When David was 10, his father left the family, and in a 2012 episode of the podcast "WTF with Marc Maron," Cross said that he hadn't spoken to Barry since he was 19. Cross attended Northside High School of the Performing Arts, graduating in 1982. While attending high school, his classmates voted him "Most Humorous," and he was elected senior class treasurer.
Stand-Up Comedy Career
Cross began performing stand-up comedy when he was 17, and he moved to New York City the day after his high school graduation. He later spent a semester at Boston's Emerson College, where he joined the sketch comedy group This is Pathetic. David started performing stand-up around Boston, and in the early '90s, he regularly performed at Catch a Rising Star and formed a sketch comedy group called Cross Comedy. After Cross performed at Un-Cabaret in Los Angeles in 1994, radio performer Joe Frank hired him to appear on his radio shows "The Last Run" and "A Hearing." David starred in the one-hour HBO comedy special "The Pride Is Back," in 1999, followed by the tour documentary "Let America Laugh" in 2003. He then released 2010's "Bigger and Blackerer," 2016's "Making America Great Again," and 2019's "Oh, Come On." In 2004, he was ranked #85 on Comedy Central's "100 Greatest Stand-Ups of All Time" list.
Film and Television Career
Cross began his TV career when he was hired to write for "The Ben Stiller Show" in 1992; he also made occasional appearances in sketches. One of his fellow writers was Bob Odenkirk, and in 1995, the two teamed up to create "Mr. Show with Bob and David," which aired 30 episodes on HBO. They revived their sketch comedy partnership for the Netflix series "W/ Bob & David" in 2015. In the 1990s, Cross appeared in the films "The Truth About Cats & Dogs" (1996), "The Cable Guy" (1996), "Waiting for Guffman" (1996), "Men in Black" (1998), and "The Thin Pink Line" (1998) and guest-starred on "The Drew Carey Show" (1996; 1997), "NewsRadio" (1996; 1998), and "Space Ghost Coast to Coast" (1997). In 1999, he began a memorable three-episode stint on "Just Shoot Me!" as Donnie DiMauro, the brother of Enrico Colantoni's Elliot DiMauro. He then appeared in the films "Ghost World" (2001), "Pootie Tang" (2001), and "Men in Black II" (2002) and co-starred with Odenkirk in 2002's "Run Ronnie Run," which they also co-wrote.
In 2003, David began starring as Tobias Fünke on "Arrested Development," which aired 84 episodes over five seasons (three on Fox and two on Netflix) and won a Primetime Emmy for Outstanding Comedy Series in 2004. In 2006, Cross and H. Jon Benjamin co-created the animated Comedy Central series "Freak Show," which reunited David with his "Arrested Development" co-star Will Arnett. From 2010 to 2011, Cross played Dr. Andy Weeks on seven episodes of Arnett's Fox series "Running Wilde." In 2010, David created the IFC series "The Increasingly Poor Decisions of Todd Margaret," co-starring with Arnett once again. Cross played Ian Hawke in "Alvin and the Chipmunks" (2007), "Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Squeakquel" (2009), and "Alvin and the Chipmunks: Chipwrecked" (2011), which were huge hits, grossing $361.3 million, $443.1 million, and $234 million, respectively.
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David voiced Crane in "Kung Fu Panda" (2008), "Kung Fu Panda 2" (2011), and "Kung Fu Panda 3" (2016), a massively successful franchise that has grossed more than $1.8 billion at the box office. He appeared in the films "Year One" (2009), "Kill Your Darlings" (2013), "Obvious Child" (2014), "Pitch Perfect 2" (2015), and "The Dark Divide" (2020) and the TV series "Modern Family" (2011–2012) and "The Heart, She Holler" (2013–2014). From 2018 to 2019, Cross played Pete "The Broker" Oakland on the Amazon Prime Video series "Goliath," and in 2021, he began starring as Jerry Wexler on National Geographic's "Genius." David has also lent his voice to several animated projects, such as "Dr. Dolittle 2" (2001), "Megamind" (2010), and "Archer" (2011; 2018), as well as the video games "Halo 2" (2004), "Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas" (2004), "Curious George" (2006), "Brütal Legend" (2009), and "Grand Theft Auto Online" (2020).
Personal Life
David became engaged to actress Amber Tamblyn in August 2011, four years after they began their relationship. They married on October 6, 2012, and they welcomed a daughter in February 2017. The couple's birth announcement read, "David and I are proud to announce the birth of our daughter, Dauphinoise Petunia Brittany Scheherazade Von Funkinstein Mustard Witch RBG Cross Tamblyn-Bey Jr.," but they actually named the baby Marlow Alice. Though Cross was raised Jewish, he has described himself as an atheist, and politically, he is "definitely more socialist Democrat than centrist politician."
David was the first investor in the Kickstarter crowdfunding platform, according to co-founder Yancey Strickler, and he used the platform to raise funds to make the film "Hits." Cross is friends with the Beastie Boys, and the group sampled him in their single "Ch-Check It Out." He appeared in their "Make Some Noise" music video and the "Beastie Boys Story" documentary as well.
In October 2005, Thomas Weber, a Nashville club manager, sued David, alleging that Cross had taped him without permission while filming "Shut Up You Fucking Baby!" and "Let America Laugh." The lawsuit was dismissed a few months later.
In a 2012 "Playboy" interview, Cross revealed that he had snorted "a tiny granule of coke" at the 2009 White House Correspondents' Dinner. He stated, "It wasn't like I got high… It was just about being able to say that I did it, that I did cocaine in the same room as the president." In October 2017, David apologized after actress-comedian Charlyne Yi stated that Cross had made racially insensitive remarks to her when they first met a decade earlier. David tweeted, "I'm truly sorry if I hurt her, it was never my intention to do that. I do not remember it like she remembers (and clearly we're quite a bit far apart on this) but I reached out to her privately and expressed that and more, including the possibility that perhaps we are both misremembering *exactly* what happened that night."
Awards and Nominations
Cross won a Primetime Emmy for Outstanding Writing in a Variety or Music Program for "The Ben Stiller Show" in 1993, and he also received two Outstanding Writing for a Variety or Music Program nominations and an Outstanding Music and Lyrics nomination for "Mr. Show with Bob and David." The "Arrested Development" cast won a Future Classic Award at the 2004 TV Land Awards and an Ensemble of the Year award at the 2006 Gold Derby Awards, and they received Screen Actors Guild Award nominations for Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Comedy Series in 2005, 2006, and 2014. David earned three Gold Derby Award nominations (Comedy Supporting Actor and Comedy Supporting Actor of the Decade), three Online Film & Television Association nominations (Best Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series), and a Satellite Award nomination (Best Actor in a Supporting Role in a Series, Comedy or Musical) for his performance as Tobias Fünke.
Cross has received two Best Comedy Album Grammy nominations, for "Shut Up You Fucking Baby!" in 2004 and "…America…Great…" in 2017. He earned two DVD Exclusive Award nominations for Best Original Song in a DVD Premiere Movie for "Run Ronnie Run," winning for "The Golden Rule Song," and he won a Best Voice Performance – Male award for "Halo 2" at the 2005 G-Phoria Awards. "The Dark Divide" was named Indie Movie of the Year at the 2021 Film Threat Award This! ceremony, and "Melvin Goes to Dinner" won the Copper Wing Award for Best Ensemble Acting at the 2003 Phoenix Film Festival. In 2012, the "Kung Fu Panda 2" cast won a Behind the Voice Actors Award for Best Vocal Ensemble in a Feature Film.
