David Hasselhoff

David Hasselhoff is listed in The Guinness Book of World Records as “the most watched TV star in the world” thanks to starring roles in both “Knight Rider” and “Baywatch.”

Born in Baltimore, MD, and after his theatrical debut at age seven in “Peter Pan,” David’s childhood dream was to have a career on Broadway. Having appeared in the Frank Wildhorn’s hit Broadway musical “Jekyll and Hyde,” everything came full circle when he made his debut as Captain Hoff the Hook in the UK pantomime production of “Peter Pan” at the legendary Wimbledon Theatre, breaking all box-office records in its 100-year anniversary. He has continued to play Captain Hoff the Hook for the past 3 years, which has become an annual Christmas tradition in the U.K. At the personal request of good friend and producer, Simon Cowell, David filled in for Cowell in the judge’s chair in UK’s hit TV show, “Britain’s Got Talent.” Also, he recently completed a highly successful one night only concert playing to an SRO audience in the UK.

David’s first professional job came on the CBS soap opera, “The Young and the Restless,” playing Dr. Snapper Foster. Six years and 850 shows later, he was lured to prime-time TV by NBC President, Brandon Tartikoff, to star in the now-legendary “Knight Rider” as Michael Knight, leading him to a People’s Choice Award for Most Popular Actor. Twenty-four years later, the show is still playing throughout the world. In 1989, he headed the cast of “Baywatch” and, after being cancelled by NBC, it was then acquired by Hasselhoff and the producing partners for first-run syndication at which time he became one of the executive producers and TV history was made. “Baywatch” ran for 11 years and is still viewed in 140 countries by over one billion viewers every week making Hasselhoff the most watched TV star on the planet. Along the way, Hasselhoff appeared in feature films such as Adam Sandler’s CLICK; THE SPONGEBOB SQUAREPANTS MOVIE, DODGEBALL: A TRUE UNDERDOG STORY, LAYOVER, LEGACY, and Universal’s HOP.

His remarkable musical career took off in the late 1980s when he recorded the album, Looking for Freedom for BMG Germany at the end of the Cold War. The song became an anthem for East and West Germany and remained at the top of their charts for eight weeks. The album went triple platinum in Europe and Hasselhoff was named “most popular and best-selling artist of the year.” He has since garnered over 40 gold and platinum records worldwide. In 1989, he sang “Looking for Freedom” from atop the Berlin Wall to over one million people during the New Year’s Eve German reunification celebration. This past year, he was asked to perform the song again atop the wall to ring in the 2011 New Year.

His latest pop single, “Jump in My Car,” which he performed on the #1 NBC summer show, “America’s Got Talent,” where he also served as a judge for four years, hit the top of the UK charts. The “Jump in My Car” video, as well as his viral video hit, “Hooked on a Feeling” were downloaded over 16 million times and he became one of the most downloaded artists of the decade. His concerts continue to play to standing-room-only audiences worldwide.

In 2000, Hasselhoff made his long-awaited Broadway debut in the hit musical, “Jekyll and Hyde,” which was filmed by Broadway Television Network for HBO Signature. It is now available on DVD from Image Entertainment.

He went on to make his West End debut as Billy Flynn in the long-running musical, “Chicago,” and starred in the Las Vegas production of Mel Brooks’ hit musical, “The Producers.” His portrayal of the flamboyant Roger DeBris and the ‘singing Hitler’ proved to be an audience knockout.

His autobiography, Making Waves, was published by Hodder & Stoughton in the UK and made the best-seller list. A US-release, titled Don’t Hassel the Hoff, was published by St Martin’s Press. Due to its success, Making Waves was re-issued in the German-translated edition, Die Autobiographie, and reached #8 on the German-Austrian non-fiction charts.

Iconic status came for Hasselhoff when he was recently honoured by the Comedy Central channel with “The Comedy Central Roast of David Hasselhoff.” The Hoff-Roast premiered as one of the top rated comedy specials on the network and was number one in male demographics for all cable and network shows that night. It was a trending phenomenon on Twitter with over two million tweets, domestic and worldwide. His recent appearance on ABC’s #1 prime-time show, “Dancing With the Stars” garnered an impressive 36% increase in ratings from the previous year.

Hasselhoff, who founded Race for Life, a charity granting wishes for terminal and chronically ill children, is also a frequent visitor to children’s hospitals around the world. He currently is a member of Wheels for Humanity, personally delivering wheelchairs to disabled children and adults across the world. “If you’re blessed, I believe it is your moral obligation to give that blessing to someone else,” Hasselhoff says. David was recently honoured with the International Star of the Year Award for Outstanding Contribution to Global Entertainment by the Bollywood Awards, the ‘Oscars’ of India. In addition, he was awarded the Comeback Star of the Year Award on the “VH1 Big in ’06 Awards.”

He resides in southern California with his two daughters, Taylor-Ann and Hayley; his six dogs, a cockatoo named Peaches and two bearded dragons, Ikki and Nikki.

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