David Marshall Grant

David Marshall Grant, born June 21, 1955, in Westport, Connecticut, is an American actor, writer, and singer whose parents were both physicians. A student at Juilliard during summer breaks from high school, he later attended Connecticut College, where he earned an M.F.A., and received a certificate in fine arts from the Yale School of Drama. During his college years he joined the Yale Repertory Company, and in 1978 made an early impression in the play Bent. His first professional paying role came directly after graduation, when he was cast as Richard Gere's lover in the Broadway production of that same play. Grant is a distant cousin of Ulysses S. Grant, the 18th president of the United States, and is the great-great-grandson of the first couple to have their wedding featured in the announcement section of The New York Times.

Grant's Broadway career spanned 1979 to 1997 and included appearances in The Survivor, The Three Sisters, and both parts of Tony Kushner's Angels in America. He portrayed Joe Pitt in Angels in America: Millennium Approaches and Angels in America: Perestroika, the first Broadway production of Kushner's landmark work, and received a 1994 Tony Award nomination for Best Featured Actor in a Play for that performance.

His screen career began with the 1979 film French Postcards. In 1985 he co-starred alongside Kevin Costner in American Flyers, director John Badham's film centered on bicycle racing, and in 1987 appeared as Sonny Binkley in the Matt Dillon film The Big Town. He also took on the role of Digger Barnes in the television miniseries Dallas: The Early Years. In 1989 Grant was cast as Russell Weller, a gay character, on the drama series thirtysomething, appearing in four episodes through 1990. One episode, which depicted his character in bed with another male character, drew significant attention and prompted outcry from conservative sponsors. Additional television and film credits include Happy Birthday, Gemini, Legs, Labor of Love, CSI: Miami, Law & Order, Criminal Minds, Alias, a May 2009 episode of Party Down, and the fifth season premiere of A Million Little Things in February 2023. He played a gay husband in the 2004 remake of The Stepford Wives and the father of Anne Hathaway's character in the 2006 film The Devil Wears Prada.

In 1998 Grant expanded his career into playwriting. His debut play, Snakebit, premiered at Grove Street Playhouse before transferring to the Century Theatre and received a 1999 Drama Desk Award nomination for Outstanding Play as well as a nomination for the Outer Critics Circle Award. His second play, Current Events, was produced by Manhattan Theatre Club in 2000, and Pen opened at Playwrights Horizons in 2006. That same year he joined the drama series Brothers & Sisters as a screenwriter and story editor, advancing to series producer beginning with the show's second season in September 2007. Brothers & Sisters was co-produced by Ken Olin, with whom Grant had previously worked on thirtysomething. In 2012 he served as a writer and producer on the musical drama series Smash.