David Rodman Annable was born on September 15, 1979, in Suffern, New
York, to Tammi and Rodman John Annable. He has one sister named Rebecca and a half-sister named Stacy. His mother is Jewish and his father has English, German, Irish
and French ancestry. Dave grew up in Walden, a small town in upstate
New York.
Growing up, he enjoyed playing baseball, rugby and hockey. Dave even
played for the local Plattsburgh team. He is also a big fan of the New
York Giants, New York Mets and the New Jersey Devils. While he was
still in New York, he attended SUNY Plattsburgh. Dave participated in
the student-run Plattsburgh State Television, both acting and behind
the camera. Among the shows that he hosted were "Late Night with Dave
Annable", "Cardinal Sports", "Stay Tuned", "Cardinal Hockey", "On
Campus Live" and "The Roommate Game".
Dave had a semester of college left and often commuted for commercial
auditions, which took 8 hours from Plattsburgh by bus. Dave then
decided to tell his parents that he considered dropping out of college
to become a full-time actor. Although his parents did not approve of
his decision at that time because college was very important in their
family, they still gave Dave the support he needed.
He eventually attended the Neighborhood Playhouse School of the Theatre
in New York City, generally associated with the Meisner technique of
Sanford Meisner. There, he studied
acting with
RichƔrd PintƩr. The 5'9" star
appeared in a number of commercials which included "Reebok",
'Wendy's", "Starbust" and "Pepsi". He was also a featured actor in a "Mountain Dew" commercial with former NASCAR Rookie of the year,
Kasey Kahne.
Dave first gained attention from the public when he played the role of
"Aaron Lewis" on the short-lived television series,
Reunion (2005), which aired on Fox in
2005. "Reunion" was a teen drama/murder mystery series which explored
occurrences in the lives of twenty former high school friends from 1986
through 2005, and recounted events leading up to the murder of one of
the major characters. Before starring in "Reunion", Dave already had
guest roles on
Third Watch (1999),
Other People's Business (2003)
and
Spellbound (2002) as well as
Little Black Book (2004).
He received his breakout role in 2006, when he was offered a regular
starring role on the ABC family drama,
Brothers & Sisters (2006).
The show was about the trials and travails of the Walker family, with
every family secret unveiled. He was among the first actors cast on the
show before they began signing bigger names such as
Calista Flockhart,
Sally Field and
Rob Lowe.
Dave played the role of "Justin Walker", a psychologically damaged
Afghan war veteran suffering with drug problems. In fact, Dave
mentioned in an interview that he had to lose 11 kg. to play the role
because they needed someone skinny to portray his character's addiction
problem. Dave also won a Prism Award for Best Performance in a Drama
Series Multi-Episode Storyline for his role in
Brothers & Sisters (2006).
In a recent interview, Dave mentioned that he has actually promised his
mother that he would graduate after watching his younger sister
graduate from Cornell University. Dave is taking online classes in
Communications and will be graduating in May 2009. He also mentioned
that he will be giving the commencement speech on his graduation day.
Despite all of his accomplishments in the showbiz industry, Dave is in
fact still very humble. He enjoys spending time with his family and
making people laugh.