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BIOGRAPHY

David Charvet
	BIOGRAPHY | GALLERY | GOSSIP

David Charvet is probably best known for his role as Matt Brody on "Baywatch".

David Charvet was born May 15, 1972 in Lyon, France, but moved to the States at the age of nine, when his family settled in New York. Then the family made the move to Los Angeles in 1982.

David was an ambitious and bright student, who excelled in sports and developed a keen interest in drama. In high school, he channeled his cultural diversity into his schoolwork, forsaking the party scene with a commitment to study of theatre and acting. He performed in school productions as well. After graduating high school, he was spotted by a photographer and his modeling career took off.

Moving toward show-business, David signed with the prestigous "Elite Model Management" and by age 18 he landed national print campaign ads for "Bugle Boy" casual wear, "Levi's" , "Miller's Outpost" and "Coca-Cola".

After working in advertising for a year, he decided to pursue an acting career and enrolled at drama school. Charvet invested his commercial earnings into professional training with such renowned teachers as Roy London, Katherine Billings, Sam Chrisinsen, Peter Frisch and Larry Moss, putting in a minimum of 25 hours per week.

In 1992, David landed the part on "Baywatch", in the show's third season. About one billion TV viewers in more than 140 countries watching "Baywatch" weekly, from 1992-1995 saw his buffed, olived complexioned body, making the model-turned-actor with the winning smile an international celebrity.

An intensely motivated and focused actor, Charvet strives to make his character as realistic as possible, so that young viewers can learn from him. He says, "If we as actors are looked up to as stars, then I believe we should use our profession to serve as positive role models for people." As french-born Matt Brody, a young man who finds self-worth through the responsibility of being a lifeguard, Charvet was rarely asked to do more than act the stud. He choose not to sign on for a fourth season and made two guest appearances in the 6th season to phase his character off the show. His negative interviews with the press about the show revealed that he did not only want to be known as an actor for his red shorts and that "Baywatch" was not enough of challenging role for him. He was beating his head against the wall of his trailer when he was on the set.

Leaving the series to study acting seriously, he then appeared in two 1995 TV-movies: "Seduced and Betrayed" (NBC), in which he was a young husband and contractor who has an affair with psychopatic Susan Lucci, and "Derby" (ABC) in which he played a passionate horse breeder. "Angel Flight Down" (ABC,1996) found him cast as a member of an emergency team coping with survival after the team's plane crashes. Then Charvet went on to appear from 1996-1998 on the popular Fox' nighttime soap "Melrose Place". David has zero in common with the scheming stud, the arrogant, heartless Craig Field, character he plays. "Craig a lot meaner than I am," says David. "He's out for money and power, which is very different from how I am. He'll do whatever it takes, even if it means getting rid of whoever's in his way. But I think it's important to be a gentelman. I don't want to hurt anyone," says Charvet.

By his mid-twenties David had everything going for himself. Two hit TV series under his belt, a beautiful girlfriend, a beachside home in Malibu, and a drawer full of offers to star in feature movies.

David abandoned the series two years before his "Melrose Place" contract to pursue additional career opportunities.
To boot, a friend in Paris had just helped put together a French-language music project for David, actually more as a fun sideline to his acting. They shopped it around and got a local release. Instantly his first album with single hits "Should I Leave" and "Regarde-toi" was sold more than 300 000 copies in France.

“It was 1997 and I was in France and everything seemed to go so perfectly well. My TV show, "Melrose Place" was number one around the world and the French album was really taking off. It was my birthday and my parents had come over for a week and we had rented a boat. I looked around and it seemed I had everything I could possibly ever ask for,” Charvet remembers. So David put his acting career on hold and instructed the record label not to release the album anywhere else. ”It wasn’t me and I wasn’t ready. I was going to do my music and do it on my own terms.”

David started to work for the next few years, he studied vocal techniques and worked on his guitar skills. He started to write songs. He went to England and started looking for the best songwriters to collaborate with. To commit his newly written material to tape, David transferred operations to his Malibu home, where his living room and bedroom were sacrificed to make the ultimate home studio. Heading the team was seasoned producer Olle Romo, best known as right-hand man to uber-producer Mutt Lange.

“Oh my God, he was great,” says David. “He’s such an amazing technician. He was responsible for Shania Twain’s mega million selling last album; he also produced ‘You’re The One’ with Elton John, and an album for Bryan Adams”. Out of that connection resulted an introduction to Adams with whom David wound up co-writing one of the album’s tracks.

Together, Olle and David pulled together a remarkable group of seasoned musicians to bring the songs to life. “I had the musicians and my producer stay in my house, and we lived and worked together for eight months. It was a terrific way to make a record because we worked as a team.”

“They all invested themselves in a very different way - they didn’t punch in and punch out. Everyone just hung out… and we all became good friends and respected each other. I learned so much from them.”
The result is a confident, passionate and professional album showcasing David’s prolific producing, songwriting and singing skills. “I’m very proud of it. It’s the one thing I’ve done that I can say: "If I have to leave this planet tomorrow, I’m leaving behind something that was really me".”

Besides acting and singing, David tries to be a role model for young adults. He is proud to admit, that he has never used alcohol, drugs or cigarettes. An important goal for him is to be able to use his high profile as an actor to speak out to youth against substance abuse. David often visited local schools taping videos and giving motivational talks to kids about how they can stay away from addictive substances and/or deal with family members who are addicts. Charvet campaigns on behalf of quality education for young people and lent his support to the "Pediatric AIDS Foundation". He also work for "Planet Hope". He once said: "If I can help make a difference with just a few people or even one person, it's worth it to me."