Host hits a few bumps

Picture courtesy of OUTtv

Name: Charlie David

Age: 27

Occupation: Actor, Host, Writer, Producer

Charlie David — the star of the gay soap opera Dante’s Cove and the co-host of Bump!, the gay and lesbian travel series — knew what he wanted from an early age.

He enrolled in a performing arts school in Victoria as a teenager, then went onto college, only to ditch campus life for the fast life in Las Vegas. The year was 1999 and manufactured boy bands were all the rage. A flash of a successful audition landed David with a condo and a car in Sin City. Like luck on a craps table, it lasted all but a month.

Rather than face defeat, the singer/ pianist formed his own band called 4 Now. Things looked on the up and up as their agent secured bookings for them as opening acts for such headliners as Destiny’s Child, Snoop Dog, Pink and Black Eyed Peas. EPs were released, a record deal was on the table — and then bang, speed bump No. 2 hit. Internal tensions and management issues churned out a sour note and 4 Now was soon 4-gotten. “Like the name, we were temporary,” David, 27, says. Los Angeles replaced Las Vegas as home, and singing gave way to gigs in modelling and TV hosting.

Enter speed bump No. 3. His U.S. work visa expired. “I wound up in Vancouver clearing trees on a golf course on Bear Mountain,” David says. Whilst still pursuing his craft for acting, David made the bold decision to come out at age 25, a move he says was both limiting and liberating.

“My manager said, ‘You’re going to get jobs because of it and lose jobs because of it,’” says David. “Heck, I get and lose jobs because my hair is brown. It’s important, though, to strive for more representation, and that goes for any minority group, whether it be women, racial minorities or people from the GLBT (gay, lesbian, bi-sexual and transgender) community.”

The big job he did land was the lead in Dante’s Cove. “Suddenly your face is plastered on billboards in New York and your friends are taking pictures of them and calling you. It was surreal.”

In addition to acting and hosting, David, who commutes to and from his bases in L.A. and Vancouver, also runs his own talent agency in B.C. Plus, he’s an accomplished writer and budding producer. His award-winning screenplay, Mulligans, has made its way onto film and will be showcased this year. “I call it The Graduate for a new generation,” says David, who developed the project via his own production company, Border2Border Entertainment Inc.