David Shaughnessy

David James Shaughnessy (born on August 7, 1957 in London, England) is a British voice-over actor, theatre and television director and producer. He was educated at Eton College and the Central School of Speech and Drama. As an actor, he started in repertory theatres all around the UK and went on to become a principal actor with the famous Old Vic Theatre Company in London and touring around the world. He went on to perform in national tours, including 18 months in Godspell for producer Cameron Mackintosh, and acted in television series and films both in the UK and the US.
Later he turned to theatre and television directing. He directed in repertory companies all around the UK, culminating in directing the world premiere of Steve Brown's critically acclaimed musical, Elmer Gantry at the Festival Theatre, Chichester. In 1985, he made his voice over debut in Jim Henson's cult classic, "Labyrinth." He voiced Sir Didymus, the Mexican hat and many other goblin characters. This took him to the US. After acting in many American TV shows and films, he moved into producing and TV directing, ultimately becoming executive producer of the daytime drama, The Young and the Restless. Recently he was on the directing team of The Bold and the Beautiful, and is at present directing on the show where he trained 30 years ago...Days of Our Lives. He continues to provide a multitude of voice-overs for films, cartoons, commercials and video games. He guest teaches and directs at Harvard Westlake High School in Los Angeles and was an Instructor in multi-camera directing at the Columbia College Hollywood Film School.
His father was Alfred Shaughnessy, a scriptwriter, best known for his work as Head Writer and producer of Upstairs, Downstairs. His elder brother is the actor Charles Shaughnessy, best known as Maxwell Sheffield on the television show, The Nanny and Shane Donovan in "Days of Our Lives". His wife is former Days of Our Liveshead writer Anne Schoettle. David and Anne live in Los Angeles and have three daughters Amy, Katie and Josie.
He is the heir presumptive to the Barony of Shaughnessy, which is held by his brother, the current Lord Shaughnessy.
Category:Voice Actors