Gather ‘Round with… David James Elliott
October 18, 2009 by Nikki
Filed under Gather 'Round with... (Podcast)
Use the player below to listen to David’s interview
David James Elliott (born David William Smith on September 21, 1960 in Milton, Ontario, Canada) is a Canadian-born actor who was the star of the series JAG from 1995 to 2005, playing lead character Harmon Rabb Jr..
During his teenage years he was part of a band, quitting Milton District High School in his final year to pursue his dream of becoming a rock star. At 19 however he realized this wouldn’t happen and returned to finish high school.
After graduating high school, Smith attended the Ryerson Polytechnic University in Toronto, Canada, auditioning for the Stratford Shakespearean Festival in Ontario and was accepted as a member of its Young Company.
Subsequently moving to Los Angeles he took the stage name of David James Elliott having found there was already an actor named David Smith. He appeared in the film Police Academy 3: Back in Training in 1986, and subsequently in the television series Street Legal, Knots Landing as Bill Nolan, and in 1993′s The Untouchables as Agent Paul Robbins. The following year Elliott landed a recurring role on the hit series Melrose Place, playing “Terry Parsons”, and a guest appearance in an episode of Seinfeld as an anti-abortion furniture mover.
He is married to Canadian-born actress Nanci Chambers who also appeared in JAG as the ambitious “Lt. Loren Singer”, and with whom he has a daughter, Stephanie (born 1993), and a son, Wyatt (born 2003).
David and Nanci both became U.S. citizens a few years ago, while both of their children were born in the States – Stephanie in Chicago while David was working on The Untouchables, and Wyatt in LA during JAG’s eighth season.
He recently starred in a Canadian television movie called The Man Who Lost Himself, which was based on the true story of Terry Evanshen, a Canadian football player who was in a car accident and lost his memory due to severe head injuries. Nanci Chambers also appeared in this movie as a doctor.
In October 2006, Elliott joined the cast of legal drama Close to Home as Chief Deputy District Attorney James Conlon. Most recently, Elliott can be seen in Gooby as Jack Dandrige and in The Rainbow Tribe as Morgan.
Check out www.ForDJEFans.com – The most comprehensive fansite for David James Elliott. It’s all there: Biography. Filmography, Portraits (over 1900!), Interviews and Fan Encounters.
Nikki,thank you for doing this and for headlining David James Elliott. His openness and honesty is very refreshing.
A wonderful interview! A great new site. Thanks for having DJE as one of your guests sharing some great family moments.
Just love your site Nikki and have added you to my website favorites. What a great interview you had with DJE and thank you for making it possible for all of us to enjoy. It is so refreshing to see a normal Hollywood family. David and Nanci have strong values and healthy lifestyles and they are passing this on to their children.
Terrific interview. Special how both parents find a special interest that they share and explore with each child — for David, Shakespeare school studies with his 16-year-old, and making up music, songs and stories with his 6-year-old. Serious and committed parenting. And he loves to cook! Enjoyed hearing it all! Thank you for having this outstanding guest, and for the values you believe in and share on your site.
As a registered dietitian and a nutritional epidemiologist, it was a particular joy to hear a celebrity who is a role model for healthy, balanced living. DJE is a talented, charismatic, hard-working actor who carried a whole show (JAG) so beautifully for an amazing 10 years and who continues to have a busy schedule, yet he takes time for healthy eating, fitness, and family priorities. It was so good and gracious of him to accept to share his views. Our celeb-obsessed culture gets far too many negative messages from “Hollyweird’ types who spew incorrect, radical, and damaging information about diet, food, exercise, beauty, and life, in general and/or who, by their example embody excess and dysfunction. Even many self-appointed celeb gurus send the wrong messages to folks. They don’t realize that they have a tremendous affect on ordinary people and do more harm than good. DJE has a huge fan base (I am a fan! and tune in often to the fordjefans website))and, IMO, ironically, he and his wife are far more beautiful than their contemporaries who opt for any and every new ‘magic bullet’ to make them look and feel good. The strong values and healthy lifestyle they work hard at sustaining in their lives, indeed, bode well for themselves, their children, their fans, and others whose lives they touch. This is a great website and I will pass it along to my colleagues in diet and nutrition circles.
I’m happy to find this interesting, new (to me) site Thanks for the interview with David – a family man in Hollywood is as rare as snow!
As a fan of DJE, it’s always fun to learn new things about him and his family. Thanks to both of you for making this happen.
Thanks you so much for the interview with David. He seems like such a down to earth person–wanting to raise his children with great family values. It was so nice to hear him speak so candidly about his wife and kids.
http://www.voy/com/194767/
Great listening to David talk about his family time. David is such a Nice
guy, with fans from everywhere. What wonderful interview. I enjoyed it so
much. Thank you!!
Thanks for posting this. It’s good to hear a confirmation that he’s such a down to earth guy and family man.
Nancy Eddy
David James Elliott FanForum at Voy.com
http://www.voy.com/217480/
Great conversation Nikki! Thanks so much! As a big fan of David’s I have to say this was very enjoyable! Interesting and fun!
I enjoyed listening to your interview with David James Elliott. it was nice to hear him talk about family life. He is such a down to earth person. I hope you continue to have more interviews in the future.