David Schwimmer was born on November 2, 1966, in Flushing, Queens, New York City, to attorneys Arthur and Arlene Colman-Schwimmer. He has an older sister named Ellie (born 1965). His family subsequently moved to Los Angeles, where Schwimmer had his first experiences of acting at the age of 10 when he was cast as the fairy godmother in a Jewish version of Cinderella. In 1979, Schwimmer went to a Shakespeare workshop given by English actor Ian McKellen in Los Angeles. He recalls that he was riveted by the experience. Schwimmer then entered a contest in the Southern California Shakespeare Festival three years in a row, winning two first prizes.

In 1989, Schwimmer made his television debut in the ABC movie “A Deadly Silence,” where he was cast in a supporting role. He followed this with roles on the legal drama “L.A. Law” in 1992, and the comedy-drama series “The Wonder Years.” He made his feature film debut in “Crossing the Bridge” (1992). Schwimmer had a recurring role as a lawyer-turned-vigilante in “NYPD Blue” and appeared briefly in “ER” in 1993, before auditioning, unsuccessfully, for a series pilot called “Couples.” He landed his first regular series role as the liberal son of a conservative talk show host (Henry Winkler) in the sitcom “Monty.”

Schwimmer received his breakthrough role in 1994 when he was cast as Ross Geller in NBC's situation comedy “Friends,” a series that revolved around a group of friends who live together in Manhattan, New York City. He played a hopeless-romantic paleontologist who works at a museum and later becomes a professor at a university. Schwimmer notes when first approached about the role of Ross, he turned it down, but accepted the role afterwards. Executive producer Kevin S. Bright said that he had previously worked with Schwimmer, the character of Ross was written with him in mind, and he was the first actor cast. Schwimmer based Ross on Nicolas Cage's role of Charlie from the 1986 film “Peggy Sue Got Married.” The show debuted on September 22, 1994 and was watched by almost 22 million American viewers.

"Friends" quickly developed a loyal audience, with the show and Schwimmer receiving strong reviews. The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette was complimentary of Schwimmer, calling him "terrific". Variety's television reviewer, said: "All six of the principals, especially (Courteney) Cox and Schwimmer, appear resourceful and display sharp sitcom skills." For this performance, he earned an Emmy Award nomination in the category of Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series in 1995.

Following the end of “Friends,” Schwimmer starred in the 2005 independent drama Duane Hopwood, in which he plays the titular character. Upon release, the movie received ambivalent reviews. Despite the reception, Schwimmer's performance was favored by critics; Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Times reported that the role was Schwimmer's "career-transforming performance". Duane Hopwood was screened at a special presentation at the 2005 Sundance Film Festival. Furthermore in the same year he voiced Melman, a hypochondriac giraffe, in the computer animated film “Madagascar” (2005). The Washington Post noted that Schwimmer is particularly appealing as Melman. Despite the mixed response from critics, the film was a commercial success, earning $532 million worldwide, making it one of the biggest hits of 2005, and the film remains his most commercially successful picture to date.