David Giuntoli is an American actor. He is best known for the lead role of Detective Nick Burkhardt in the NBC supernatural drama Grimm. He co-starred in the 2016 Michael Bay film and Buddymoon.
Early life
Giuntoli was born in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, to Mary and David Giuntoli. His father is of Italian descent while his mother is of Polish and German descent. He was raised in Huntleigh, a suburb of St. Louis, Missouri. Admitting to not being very athletic as a boy Giuntoli stated "I was like three feet shorter than I am now until I was a sophomore in high school." He says his head has stayed the same size. "I was an awkward little fellow. In high school I started gravitating a little toward acting." After graduating from St. Louis University High School in 1998, he attended Indiana University Bloomington, earning a bachelor's degree in International Business and Finance in 2002. Giuntoli returned to St. Louis after college. However, his heart was in being an entertainer instead of a career in finance, something his family realized early on as he always enjoyed making people laugh from a young age. Reconnecting with his high school theater teacher, he began taking acting lessons locally.
Career
His first career break came in 2003 when he was discovered by talent scouts for MTV and cast in the network's reality series Road Rules for its. The three-month adventure in the South Pacific, and a subsequent appearance on the seventh season of Real World/Road Rules Challenge provided the resources to pay off his college debt and further cemented his decision to pursue acting as a full-time career. In 2007, he moved to Los Angeles to further pursue an acting career. There he studied under director and acting teacher Chris Fields before joining the Echo Theater Company. A long series of guest appearances on various TV series and TV movies followed, including Nip/Tuck, Veronica Mars, Grey's Anatomy, Ghost Whisperer, Privileged, Without a Trace, and Cold Case among others. Giuntoli was also in consideration for the title role of the relaunched Superman movie Man of Steel but was eventually beaten out by English actor Henry Cavill. His biggest role in TV to date is the series Grimm, which premiered in October 2011 and ran for six seasons and 123 episodes until March 31, 2017. He played the lead role of Nick Burkhardt, a Grimm detective who hunts creatures. In addition to his work on Grimm, Giuntoli was seen in 2012 in the motion picture Caroline and Jackie in a supporting role. He played the role of Scott Wickland, DS agent, in , directed by Michael Bay. In 2016, he played the lead role of David in the comedy film Buddymoon. He is currently starring in the ABC series A Million Little Things, which premiered in September 2018.
Personal life
Giuntoli dated fellow Road Rules castmate Cara Zavaleta. He often rode his bicycle to the set of Grimm. During a 2012 break in production, Giuntoli visited an elephant orphanage in Kenya, adopting one of the animals. Giuntoli married his Grimm co-star, Bitsie Tulloch in June 2017. They announced her pregnancy with their first child in October 2018, a girl, Vivian, who was born in February 2019. In January of 2020 the family moved to Washington state to be closer to family and their work in Vancouver.
