The youngest of five, David Arquette was born in Winchester, Virginia and is part
of the illustrious Arquette family, whose work has spread over several
generations. His parents, Lewis Arquette,
an actor, and Brenda Denaut (née Nowak),
an acting teacher and therapist, had 4 other children:
Rosanna Arquette,
Richmond Arquette,
Patricia Arquette, and
Alexis Arquette, all actors. His
paternal grandfather, Cliff Arquette, was
also an entertainer. David's mother was from an Ashkenazi Jewish family
(from Poland and Russia), while David's father had French-Canadian,
Swiss-German, and English ancestry.
Like his siblings, Arquette started working at an early age, and his
first major role came as Luke Perry's
character's best friend in the hit film
Buffy, der Vampirkiller (1992).
But his major break both personally and professionally didn't come
until 1996 when he was cast in the slasher flick
Scream - Schrei! (1996) starring opposite close
friend Drew Barrymore,
Neve Campbell and more importantly
Friends (1994), with
Courteney Cox who he married in San
Francisco in the summer of 1999.
Scream - Schrei! (1996) earned worldwide success and
acclaim as did Arquette for his role as lovable simple cop "Dewey". His
role proved to be so popular that in the original script his character
was meant to die, but due to test audiences response to Dewey the
script was changed and he returned for both
Scream 2 (1997) and
Scream 3 (2000). Usually known for his
goofiness in more mainstream roles, his greatest performances and
reviews have come for his indie films such as
Johns - Die Stricher von L.A. (1996),
Dream with the Fishes (1997)
and Die Grauzone (2001). David and
wife Courteney Cox reside in LA and
produce their own DIY show
Mix It Up (2003) because of their
love for home improvement.
