David Warner, originally named Warshofsky, was born in Letterman Army Hospital, located on the Presidio of San Francisco, California, to parents MAJ Phillip Warner and Gerry Lee Godley.
His grandfather, EJ Warshofsky, had immigrated to the United States from Kyiv, Ukraine, which was then part of the Russian Empire, in 1908.
Professionally, Warner changed his last name back to Warshofsky in 1984 when he joined the Actor's Equity Association, and later legally changed it again when his son, Macgee, was born in 1997.
Warner attended Saratoga High School in the Bay Area, where he befriended fellow future show business professionals Lance Guest and Ed Solomon.
He graduated from the MFA Acting program at New York University's Tisch School of the Arts and currently serves as the director of the MFA Acting program at the University of Southern California's School of Dramatic Arts.
Warner is married to Kristina Lear and they have a daughter named Helen together.
