// The David Gallagher Resource //

Interviews - YM
The 10 Hottest Guys on TV (March 2003, YM magazine)

Okay, sometimes the plots get a little lame. So here are the real reasons why we're couch potatoes.

"People always expect me to be like Simon, but I'm not," says David Gallagher, seventeen, of the squeaky-clean minister's son he's played on 7th Heaven since 1996. "Sometimes he's so good I don't even want to say my lines."

David and Simon do have one thing in common, though. They're both from big, close families. (David has two younger sisters, Michelle and Kelly, and two younger brothers, Kyle and Killian; Killian is autistic, which is what prompted David to become a spokesman and board member of the organization Cure Autism Now.) A lot of teenagers would rather do anything than hang with their parents, but David brought his dad, who runs his official Web site, www.dgnews.net, to our shoot. They pulled up in a white Ford Lightning truck blaring Jurassic 5.

David tells us he's pretty fanatical about two things: music and dancing. He's been playing guitar for about five years and recently started DJing for friends. Though he worships Linkin Park, his favorite music is hip-hop and rap. "I'm more into beats than rhymes. I'm a huge fan of anything touched by the Neptunes," says David. That's mostly because he knows he'll be able to move to it. "Dancing is kind of my thing. I go out with my friends as often as I can on weekends, and I'm always drawn to girls with rhythm."

Apparently, a lot of girls, rhythmic or otherwise, are drawn to him, too. "I've had some really intense moments with fans," says David, whose career started with print ads for Fisher-Price and Hasbro when he was just a few months old. "I've had groups of girls try to rip my clothes off. That's not the right way to get an autograph. It's the way to get me to run."

That's also the way to get him to change addresses. So many fans kept stopping by the Gallagher's house that they had to find a new one in a more secure neighborhood. "I had girls knocking on my door saying, 'Hi, is David around?'" he says, "My dad would think it was a friend and come get me, but I'd be like, 'Who the hell are you?'" For the most part, David's cool with his popularity. Plus it comes in handy when talking to girls. "Being on TV kind of breaks the ice," says David, laughing (he's single, by the way).

At the moment, school and work are more important than romance with David. He's a senior at a Catholic school in West Hills, California, and he's planning on leaving the show next season to go to college. "I just finished my application to U.S.C which is where I really, really want to go," says David. "I'm trying to get into their film school like crazy."

And why stop at just acting? David also plans to write, produce, and direct in the near future. "If I get my hands into it, watch out, because I'm going to take it to the extreme," says David, who's just a few months away from graduation. Right now he and his roommate, Doug (they share an apartment over the garage of David's parents' house), are making revisions on a screenplay they've submitted to Sony. "Hopefully it'll be made in a year or so," he says. "I'd tell you more about it but I don't want to jinx it."

YM: Do you go to regular school?
DG: I do, actually. My whole life I've been going through the Catholic school system. I've always had the school fax the work to the set at the beginning of the week. And then I'll do as much as I can and fax it back at the end of the week. I also have a tutor. I'm a senior this year; so far so good.

YM: Do you ever see other students or do you just do your work on the set?
DG: When I have days off during the week, I go to school and talk to my teachers. When I first started going to high school, the kids were kind of surprised that I was there. As everyone matured, it got a lot easier.

YM: Do you fit into part of a clique at school?
DG: Actually, I'm really neutral. I have friends in all of the cliques; I'm clique-jumper. I'm not there long enough to really get into one. I'll go once or twice in a three-week period. So I'll show up in classes, and kids will be like, "I forgot you were even in this class."

YM: What are some of your favorite or least-favorite classes?
DG: I'm one of those "better at literature, not as good at math" kids. I've always disliked math, but last year I went through pre-calculus which is required for college. So I have a nice schedule this year. I still have literature class - I'm in a "tragic hero" class which is cool. We have to read through Hamlet, The Great Gatsby, and Oedipus.

YM: What sort of kid were you? Were you always putting on backyard performances for your family?
DG: No, my brothers and sisters do that kind of stuff. I was more the "stay in my pajamas/video game" kind of kid. When I was little, I hated going outside and getting dirty. I was always the kid who wanted to stay inside and finish his video game. But as soon as I got my driving license, my parents couldn't keep me in the house.

YM: Is it weird for you to see yourself as a little kid on reruns?
DG: Oh, I hate it! It's embarrassing. Having my voice change was pretty interesting to go through on the set. I still have to deal with the crew poking [fun] at me about that. My first kiss ever was on 7th Heaven - before I ever dated or had a girlfriend, I had to kiss this girl [in a scene]. I was so incredibly nervous and everybody knew it, too, which made it even worse because the whole crew wanted to watch.

YM: If you could trade places with another celeb for a day, who would you be?
DG: I'm not sure I can think of any celebrity whose shoes I'd want to jump into. I know that being a celebrity isn't this huge, glamorous thing all the time. People don't realize it's not a hobby, it's work. So I don't really envy any celeb enough to trade places with them.

YM: Do you have any nicknames?
DG: Gary. Geoff and George Stults, who play Ben and Kevin, gave it to me. We always come in on a Monday morning and say what we did over the weekend and I tell them these great stories. Then they call me Gary Gallagher - it's like my evil alter ego to them. It's my weekend persona. When I go out on the weekend, I'm no longer David, I'm Gary.
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