David Cronenberg

Cronenberg in 2007, photo by Denis Makarenko/Bigstock.com

Birth Name: David Paul Cronenberg

Place of Birth: Toronto, Ontario, Canada

Date of Birth: March 15, 1943

Ethnicity: Ashkenazi Jewish

David Cronenberg is a Canadian filmmaker, writer, and actor. He has directed the films Stereo, Crimes of the Future (1970), Shivers/They Came from Within, Rabid (1977), Fast Company, The Brood (1979), Scanners, Videodrome, The Dead Zone, The Fly (1986), Dead Ringers, Naked Lunch, M. Butterfly, Crash (1996), eXistenZ, Spider (2002), A History of Violence, Eastern Promises, A Dangerous Method, Cosmopolis (2012), Maps to the Stars, and Crimes of the Future (2022), and episodes of the shows Peep Show and Scales of Justice. He also wrote his first four films, as well as The Brood, Scanners, Videodrome, Naked Lunch, Crash, eXistenZ, Cosmopolis, and Crimes of the Future; and co-wrote Fast Company, The Fly, and Dead Ringers. His acting roles include Clive Barker’s Nightbreed, Jason X, and Slasher season 4. He has been nicknamed “The Baron of Blood” and “King of Venereal Horror.”

He is the son of Esther (Sumberg), a musician, and Milton Cronenberg, a writer and editor. Milton was born in Baltimore, Maryland, and Esther was born in Toronto; all of his grandparents were from Lithuania.

David was married to film editor Carolyn Zeifman, until her death. He has a daughter with his former wife Margaret Hindson; and two children, writer and director Brandon Cronenberg and photographer and director Caitlin Cronenberg, with Carolyn.