David Schwimmer is an actor.
David Lawrence Schwimmer ( born November 2 , 1966 ) is an American actor , director , and producer . Schwimmer later gained worldwide recognition for playing Ross Geller in the sitcom Friends , for which he received a Primetime Emmy Award nomination for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series in 1995 . His first leading film role was in The Pallbearer ( 1996 ) , followed by roles in Kissing a Fool ( 1998 ) , Six Days , Seven Nights ( 1998 ) , Apt Pupil , and Picking Up the Pieces ( 2000 ) . After the series finale of Friends in 2004 , Schwimmer was cast as the title character in the 2005 drama Duane Hopwood . In 2016 , he starred as lawyer Robert Kardashian in American Crime Story , for which he received his second Emmy nomination for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Limited Series or Movie .