David Arquette (born September 8, 1971 in Bentonville, Virginia) is an American actor, director, producer, screenwriter, fashion designer, and professional wrestler.
Arquette was born on a Subud commune in Bentonville, Virginia, the youngest of five, all of whom became actors, including his older sisters Rosanna, Patricia, and Alexis. His own acting career began in the 1990s, during which time he appeared in a number of movies and had guest spots in several television shows before getting catapulted into stardom via the Scream franchise. He's generally known for playing goofy, comedic characters, even when he's playing a psycho.
He is remembered by Professional Wrestling fans for an infamous stint in World Championship Wrestling (made as a promotional stunt for one of Arquette's films, Ready to Rumble, in which production WCW was involved), where he actually won the WCW World Heavyweight Championship. For his credit, though, Arquette (a lifelong wrestling fan himself) fought against it since he knew it would annoy the fans, but he was contractually obligated, and he quietly donated his paycheck to the families of deceased and injured wrestlers, and as a result has received praise, even going back to the ring on the independent circuit in the 2010s.
He was married to Courteney Cox from 1999 to 2010.
Film Roles with TV Tropes Pages:
- 3000 Miles to Graceland as Gus
- The Adventures of Sharkboy and Lavagirl as Max's Dad
- Airheads as Carter
- Beautiful Girls as Bobby Conway
- Bone Tomahawk as Purvis
- Buffy the Vampire Slayer as Benny
- The Darwin Awards as Harvey
- The Tripper as Muff (also directed)
- Eight Legged Freaks as Chris McCormick
- A Foreign Affair as Josh Adams
- The Grey Zone as Hoffman
- Hamlet 2 as Gary
- It's a Very Merry Muppet Christmas Movie as Daniel
- The Killing Box as Murphy
- Muppets from Space as Dr. Tucker
- Never Been Kissed as Rob Geller
- Ravenous (1999) as "The Overmedicated" Pvt. Cleaves
- Ready to Rumble as Gordie Briggs
- Roadracers as Dude Delaney
- Scream (Franchise) as Dewey Riley
- See Spot Run
- Wild Bill as Jack McCall
- Spree as Kris Krunkle
- 12-Hour Shift as Jefferson
- The Storied Life Of AJ Fikry as Lambiase
Television Roles with TV Tropes Pages:
- Beverly Hills, 90210
- Blossom
- Cougar Town
- Friends
- Jake And The Neverland Pirates
- Medium
- Mrs. Davis
- My Name Is Earl
- Parenthood
- Pushing Daisies
- Son of the Beach
Video Game Roles with TV Tropes Pages:
- The Quarry as Chris Hackett
Tropes associated with David Arquette:
- Creator Backlash: He really didn't want to win the WCW World Heavyweight Championship, since he was only a fan and knew other fans would hate it (which they did). Ric Flair recounted that after winning the belt, a despondent David asked Ric's advice on what to do. Ric answered that he should wear the belt to the hotel bar and buy all the boys drinks, which David proceeded to do, thus winning at least a modicum of respect from the wrestlers. To this day, Arquette is the only person directly involved in the angle to come out of it with a somewhat positive reputation with both fans and wrestlers alike.
- I Was Just Joking: How he ended up WCW World Heavyweight Champion. As the story goes, Tony Schiavone mentioned it as a joke during a booking meeting, everyone laughed... and then Vince Russo, Head Booker of WCW at the time, thought it was a great idea.
- Keet: While he is capable of playing serious characters, he usually doesn't. The overwhelming majority of his roles are some combination of goofy, childish, and psycho.
- Promoted Fanboy: In the worst way — literally. As a longtime fan of professional wrestling, Arquette was thrilled to work with the WCW to promote Ready to Rumble right up until he learned that as part of the promotion he was going to be given the WCW World Heavyweight Championship and defend it on the main event of a pay-per-view event, despite the fact that he wasn't actually a wrestler. He went through it out of contractual obligations, even though he knew the fans would hate it, and donated every cent to the families of injured and deceased wrestlers. Beginning in 2018, he would resurface again in the wrestling world, doing appearances for various organizations. It's clear that he's having fun with it, and this time around, fan response has been much more positive. He even made headlines after getting a severe cut on his neck during a deathmatch against Nick Fuckin' Gage (Gage being a hardcore wrestling veteran who's been doing stuff like deathmatches for far longer).
- Redemption Quest: Seems to take his return to the ring as this, as interviews have him mentioning how people mock his WCW stint and how it was a black mark on something he loved. So he began training and performing in matches with various (mostly indie) organizations, including a deathmatch against hardcore wrestling veteran Nick Gage in which he suffered a severe cut on his neck.
