David Hyde Pierce has received three Emmy Awards, a Golden Globe Award, a Screen Actors Guild Award, four American Comedy Awards and four Viewers for Quality Television Awards for his portrayal of the snobbish psychiatrist Dr. Niles Crane, brother to the title character on "Frasier".

"His relationship with Frasier is a mix of sibling rivalry, condescension, passive aggression and brotherly love," says Pierce about Niles.

Pierce was born in Saratoga Springs, New York.

He received a B.A. from Yale with a double major in English and theatre arts. In 1981, with degree in hand, he went to New York City and quickly got a job selling ties in Bloomingdale's while he studied acting.

He landed his first professional acting job in Beyond Therapy on Broadway, followed by stints off-Broadway and in regional theatre. Between 1983 and 1985 he worked in various productions at the Guthrie Theatre in Minneapolis before returning to appear in the New York Shakespeare Festival production of Hamlet.

He interrupted his stage work for a role in his first feature film, Bright Lights, Big City, before departing on a tour of the Soviet Union and Japan in The Cherry Orchard, from 1988 to 1989. Pierce's big break came when he appeared on Broadway in The Heidi Chronicles for six months, earning him the attention of the media and his peers. More feature roles followed in such films as Little Man Tate (as Dianne Wiest's assistant) and The Fisher King (as Jeff Bridges' agent). His other feature credits include Crossing Delancey, Rocket Gibraltar, Sleepless in Seattle, Wolf and Nixon.

During his recent hiatus, Pierce completed production on the film Isn't She Great, starring opposite Bette Midler and Nathan Lane. During the fall of 1998, his voice can be heard in A Bug's Life, Disney's animated feature also starring Dave Foley (NewsRadio), Kevin Spacey (L.A. Confidential) and Julia Louis-Dreyfus (Seinfeld).

Prior to Frasier, Pierce starred in the former NBC series The Powers That Be, in which he portrayed Theodore Van Horn, a chronically depressed and suicidal United States congressman. His additional television credits include guest-starring roles on the series Crime Story, Spenser: For Hire, NBC's Caroline in the City, The Outer Limits and The Simpsons.

In his leisure time, Pierce enjoys playing piano (he used to be a church organist) and skiing. He currently lives in Los Angeles.

His birthday is April 3rd.