A fearlessly acerbic comedian whose material (often dealing with social and political themes) engages some audiences and enrages others, David Cross' creative risk-taking helped make him a major figure in American humor from the 1990s onward. Also known as an actor (most notably as Tobias Fünke on the sitcom Arrested Development) and a writer working in film, television, and essays, Cross trades in satirical comedy with a confrontational bent, though his intelligence and daring as a performer elevate him from one-dimensional shock comics. He made an impressive debut on record with 2002's Grammy-nominated Shut Up, You Fucking Baby!, he offered two shows in one package with 2010's Bigger and Blackerer, and he dealt with parenthood (among other things) in his signature edgy style on 2019's Oh Come On.

Born April 4, 1964, in Atlanta, David Cross briefly attended Massachusetts' Emerson College before dropping out to launch his standup career. After relocating to Los Angeles, he was tapped as a writer for the Fox network's fledgling sketch comedy series The Ben Stiller Show, making a handful of cameo appearances onscreen before the program was unceremoniously canceled in 1993. Cross and Ben Stiller Show co-star Bob Odenkirk resurfaced on HBO in 1995 with their own sketch series, the groundbreaking Mr. Show with Bob and David. The program later spawned a feature film, Run Ronnie Run, which New Line Cinema shelved for two-and-a-half years before a direct-to-DVD release, prompting writers/stars Cross and Odenkirk to disown the finished cut.

By this time, Cross was already a familiar presence onscreen, earning small roles in films (Men in Black, Waiting for Guffman, The Cable Guy) as well as guest appearances on television sitcoms like NewsRadio, The Drew Carey Show, and Just Shoot Me. He also maintained a thriving standup career, and in 1999 headlined his own HBO comedy special, The Pride Is Back. In 2002, Cross released his first standup CD, Shut Up, You Fucking Baby!, on Sub Pop, earning a Grammy Award nomination for Best Comedy Album. A DVD, Let America Laugh, appeared a year later, documenting the tour that produced the album, where Cross primarily played rock clubs instead of traditional comedy venues. Also in 2003 he was cast as the "never nude" aspiring Blue Man Group member Tobias Fünke in the much-celebrated sitcom Arrested Development, which introduced him to a new and significantly larger audience.

Cross' second album, the relatively subdued It's Not Funny, followed in 2004. In 2005, he made the first of several appearances on The Colbert Report in character as liberal radio host Russ Lieber, and 2006 saw the debut of Freak Show, a short-lived animated TV series that Cross co-created. He landed an unusually family-friendly role in 2007 as a sleazy music business figure in the hit reboot of Alvin and the Chipmunks (Cross would go on to appear in two sequels), and that same year he played the role of Allen Ginsberg in the Bob Dylan biopic I'm Not There. Cross was the writer, creator, and star of the situation comedy The Increasingly Poor Decisions of Todd Margaret, which debuted in 2009 and would run in the United States and England for three seasons. 2009 also saw Cross hit the road for a comedy tour, and two dates in Boston were recorded for the 2010 Sub Pop release Bigger and Blackerer, the package including one show on CD and the other on DVD.

In 2010, Cross became a published author with the release of I Drink for a Reason, a collection of typically pointed essays. Television and film projects kept him busy for the next several years, including recurring roles on Modern Family and The Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt; a four-episode sketch comedy show, W/ Bob and David, that reunited Cross with Bob Odenkirk and most of the Mr. Show cast; and his first feature film as a writer and director, Hits. A 2016 comedy tour that dealt with the rise of Donald Trump as a presidential candidate, among other things, was filmed for a Netflix special, Making America Great Again. Another standup tour in 2018 spawned a special that was released in May 2019 by Comedy Dynamics as Oh Come On. Also in that year, Cross issued a revised audio edition of his Netflix show under the title ...America....Great... Acting dominated Cross' schedule over the next several years, including a leading role in the independent drama The Dark Divide, released in 2020, and playing legendary record producer Jerry Wexler in Genius, a 2021 TV miniseries about the life and career of Aretha Franklin. ~ Jason Ankeny & Mark Deming, Rovi