Detailed Biography

David James Arquette is an American actor, film director, producer, screenwriter, and former professional wrestler. A member of the Arquette acting family, he first became known during the late 1990s after starring in several Hollywood films; including the Scream trilogy. He is set to star in the upcoming installment in the Scream series along with the original castmembers Courtney Cox Arquette and Neve Campbell. He has since had several television roles, including playing "Jason Ventress" on ABC's In Case of Emergency. In addition to his acting career Arquette took a brief foray into professional wrestling in early 2000, appearing for World Championship Wrestling and becoming a one-time WCW World Heavyweight Champion; a booking decision which has been cited as being pivotal to the degradation of the title and the downfall of WCW.

Personal life

Arquette was born in a Subud commune in Winchester, Virginia, the son of Brenda "Mardi" Olivia , an actress, poet, theater operator, activist, acting teacher and therapist, and actor Lewis Arquette. Arquette's paternal grandfather was comedian Cliff Arquette. His mother was Jewish, the daughter of a Holocaust refugee from Poland, and his father was a convert to Islam and a descendant of explorer Meriwether Lewis and is thus of partial Welsh descent. Arquette's siblings are actors Rosanna, Alexis, Richmond, and Patricia Arquette.

Arquette married actress Courteney Cox on June 12, 1999. Their first child, a daughter named Coco Riley Arquette, was born on June 13, 2004. Jennifer Aniston, is the baby's godmother.

He serves as Chair of the Entertainment Council for Feeding America, the nation's largest domestic hunger-relief organization.

Hollywood career

He has appeared in a number of movies including 1992's Buffy the Vampire Slayer and 1994's Airheads . He also did guest spots on television shows like Blossom , Beverly Hills, 90210 , Friends .

Arquette arguably achieved his biggest success in the horror/slasher film trilogy Scream as Dewey Riley. It was during the filming of the first film in 1996 that he first met his future-wife: Courteney Cox. Much like their characters, the couple married in 1999. Together they appeared in a 2003 advertisement for Coke. The same year they formed production company Coquette and have produced a number of films and television series, including Daisy Does America, Dirt, and Cougar Town, the latter two starring Courtney Cox-Arquette.

Arquette appeared in the Sega video game ESPN NFL 2K5, both voicing himself as a "celebrity adversary" and manager of his own team; the Los Angeles Locos, as well as appearing as an unlockable character in Season Mode. He also appeared in the 2001 EA video game SSX Tricky, as the voice of lead character Eddie.

Arquette also starred alongside Jonathan Silverman and Kelly Hu in the 2007 ABC comedy series In Case of Emergency, which was canceled after one season after only airing 12 of its 13 episodes. Since then he has appeared in the 2008 film Hamlet 2 as Gary and is currently set to reprise his role as Dewey Riley in the latest Scream 4, again acting alongside his wife.

Wrestling

In 2000, after filming the World Championship Wrestling produced movie Ready to Rumble, Arquette was brought into WCW storylines. He made his first appearance on the April 12 episode of Thunder, first sitting in the crowd then leaping into the ring to take part in a worked confrontation with Eric Bischoff and his New Blood stable. Afterwards he was placed into an alliance with Chris Kanyon and the reigning WCW World Heavyweight Champion Diamond Dallas Page, and with their help defeated Bischoff in a singles match in the April 24 episode of WCW Monday Nitro. On the following Thunder , Arquette teamed with Page in a match against Bischoff and Jeff Jarrett with the stipulation that whichever man got the pin would take the championship. Arquette pinned Bischoff again in the match's finish, receiving the WCW World Heavyweight Championship in the process.

During his time as champion, Arquette was mostly used as comic relief. He only appeared on two shows as champion, the May 1 Nitro and May 7 Slamboree pay-per-view. During the former, a vignette was shown, filmed on the set of Arquette's film 3000 Miles to Graceland, which also featured his wife, Courteney Cox, and their co-star, Kurt Russell. In the vignette, Courtney informs Russell that Arquette is the WCW Champion, causing Russell to laugh and walk off and Arquette to chase after him with a steel chair. In another portion of the show he's seen backstage wetting himself in fear and attempting to "give back" the belt. He did, however, successfully defend the belt against Tank Abbott with help from Diamond Dallas Page.

He held the championship until the May 7 Slamboree pay-per-view. During the show he was booked to defend the championship against Jarrett and Page in a Triple Cage--the same match featured in the climax of Ready to Rumble--and ended up turning on Page in the end, giving the victory to Jarrett. He made one final WCW appearance after Slamboree, cutting a promo on the May 8 Nitro explaining that his entire friendship with Page and title run was a "swerve," prompting Page to run to the ring and deliver a Diamond Cutter to him.

In 2002, Arquette made one more appearance on a professional wrestling show, popping up in the crowd of the February 8, 2002 episode of the World Wrestling Federation's SmackDown! holding up a sign reading "Former WCW World Champ."

After World Wrestling Entertainment purchased WCW, Arquette's championship run was listed as the top reason for the "failure" of Nitro in a WWE Magazine list.

Arquette was vehemently against becoming the WCW World Champion, believing that fans would detest a non-wrestler winning the title. Vince Russo, who was the head booker for WCW at the time, insisted that Arquette becoming the world champion would be good for the company and for publicity. Arquette reluctantly agreed to the angle. All the money he made during his WCW tenure was donated to the families of Owen Hart Brian Pillman and Darren Drozdov

In wrestling

Championships and accomplishments

In popular culture

The band, The Black Math Experiment, produced a tongue-in-cheek song about Arquette's acting and wrestling career entitled, “You Cannot Kill David Arquette”. Arquette himself helped promote the band, notably on MTV’s Total Request Live and during his promotional tour for The Tripper. He also used the band's music for the B-roll in the DVD of the film.