Larry David's Real Name: Lawrence Gene David

Quick answer: Larry David's real name is Lawrence Gene David. He was born on July 2, 1947, in Brooklyn, New York City, and works as Larry David—the usual short form of Lawrence.

Birth name and comedy start

Lawrence Gene David grew up in Brooklyn's Sheepshead Bay area. After the University of Maryland and U.S. Army Reserve service, he worked stand-up in New York clubs and wrote for sketch TV, including Saturday Night Live (1984–85 season) (Biography.com; People photo essay; Golden Globes).

"Larry" is the everyday diminutive of Lawrence; Gene is his middle name. Credits and legal contexts use Lawrence G. David or Larry David.

Seinfeld and Curb Your Enthusiasm

With Jerry Seinfeld he co-created NBC's Seinfeld (1989–1998), serving as head writer and executive producer for much of its run; the show's "show about nothing" sensibility and many plot kernels drew on David's life and stand-up. He left as a full-time writer after season seven but returned for the finale. The series won multiple Emmys and remains a syndication staple (Biography.com; Golden Globes).

In 2000 HBO launched Curb Your Enthusiasm, a partly improvised comedy with David playing a heightened version of himself. The series ran for many seasons into the 2020s and earned David Golden Globe and Emmy attention as actor-writer-producer (Biography.com).

Other work

David wrote and starred in the film Sour Grapes (1998), appeared as the "special guest" political candidate on Saturday Night Live in 2015–16 sketches as Bernie Sanders (a cousin resemblance joke widely covered by press), and remains a producer of Seinfeld and Curb intellectual property.

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