• David auditioned for a role in the Academy Award-winning film, Cold Mountain.

• David was originally cast in The Grey Zone, a film about the rebellious Jewish prisoners during the Holocaust. For whatever reason, he did not end up doing the picture.

• David almost turned down the role of Tom in The River Wild. He and director Curtis Hanson reworked the character to make him more "believeable" before David signed on to the project.

• David also almost turned down the role of Pierce Moorehouse Patchett in L.A. Confidential because he thought he might not be right for the part. It was his second time working with director Curtis Hanson.

• The Bourne Ultimatum is the biggest blockbuster of David's career. Up until the film's release in 2007, The Firm has been David's biggest blockbuster.

• David was first introduced to theater after a friend gave him a copy of Harold Pinter's The Dumb Waiter.

• One of David's favorite playwrights is Sam Shepard. He appeared in Shepard's Eyes For Consuela and A Lie of the Mind, both Off-Broadway.

• David has a "nitch" for working mainly on independent and low-budget projects. He also tends to work with new and upcoming directors and playwrights.

• David actually pitched several real knuckle balls while shooting the John Sayles film Eight Men Out.

• He has starred in seven John Sayles films: Return of the Secaucus 7, The Brother of Another Planet, Matewan, Eight Men Out, City of Hope, Passion Fish and Limbo. He also appeared in Enormous Changes At the Last Minute, which Sayles wrote, and the upcoming The Spiderwick Chronicles, inwhich Sayles wrote the screen adaption.

• In Sayles's City of Hope, David played a homeless man named Asteroid. His appearance was so believeable that on the first day of filming, crew members did not recognize him and tried to keep him from the set.

• The Root is the only film David has done that has never been released or screened. The status of this film remains unknown.

• David attended Williams College with John Sayles, Maggie Renzi, and Gordon Clapp. The three have gone on to do multiple projects together.

• David is also a graduate of the Ringling Brothers Clown College, where he played one of the twins in a Siamese Act for six months. In a deleted scene from CBS's Master Spy: The Robert Hanssen Story, David is dressed up as a clown.

• David's eldest son, Tay, is also an actor. The two appeared together in Eight Men Out.

• David's son, Ebbe, served as a production assistant on his interactive film The Onyx Project. David's real parent-in-laws, Ted and Carole Goodman, also appear in the film as his character's parents.

• David's wife, Logan, served as a production assistant and an extra on Return of the Secaucus 7.

• Paramount Picture's upcoming film The Spiderwick Chronicles is David's first fantasy project. DreamWork's A Tale of Two Sisters is also David's first horror picture.

• David is a non-smoker. (Yay!) However, he has been put in the tough position of having to smoke on several projects, including most recently the chain-smoking Edward R. Murrow in Good Night, And Good Luck.

• David reads music and plays the piano. (You can see/hear a sample of his piano playing in the Showtime thriller Evidence of Blood.)

• David's background is Hawaiian and Scottish. He actually owns a house in Scotland.

• Director and writer Karen Moncrieff (Blue Car) wrote the character of Auster with David in mind--so much so, that she named the character after a real life writer with the last name of Auster who resembles David.

• During the shooting of a scene later cut from Mother Night, David's character is thrown into a hallway. During a take, David actually sliced his head open but continued to perform. David's deleted scene (and a few others) can now be viewed on DVD.

• Though Return of the Secaucus 7 is the first film of David's career, it was not the first that he made. When Nature Calls was actually the first film he shot but was not released until several years later.

• The Sensation of Sight is the first and only film (thus far) David has co-produced.

• David received his first professional award nomination from the Independent Spirit Awards for Best Actor in Sayles's Matewan. He has been nominated a total of five times and won once (City of Hope). He received nominations also for Passion Fish, Limbo, and Good Night, And Good Luck.

• Screenwriters George Clooney and Grant Heslov wrote Good Night, And Good Luck with David in mind. He was the only actor they ever considered to play Edward R. Murrow.

• Despite several unforgettable performances and a continually impressive resume, David has yet to be nominated for an Academy Award. David finally received his first Academy Award nomination (as well as his first Golden Globe nod, among others) for his performance as Edward R. Murrow in Good Night, And Good Luck!