Dave Shalansky is an American actor.
Dave Shalansky was born and raised in a Reform Jewish home in Warwick, Rhode Island. His father, Len Shalansky, was a fine artist and illustrator who studied briefly at Cooper Union and Pratt Institute in New York City. His artwork appeared on a number of 1970s Hasbro toys, including the Weeble. Shalansky's mother was a homemaker, an elementary school teacher and then became the executive director of Temple Beth-El (Providence, Rhode Island).
Shalansky earned a BFA in acting from Boston University.
He also studied improv comedy at UCB Upright Citizens Brigade in Los Angeles. In addition, he trained in the Meisner technique under noted Meisner teacher Sandy Marshall and is a Meisner-trained method actor.
After moving to New York City immediately following graduation, Shalansky found success in television commercials and continued his acting career with regular work in New York and regional theatres. In 1997, he appeared in a production of Balm in Gilead. In 2003, Shalansky moved to Los Angeles and began building his career in television and film.
Actor, writer, and director Michael Raymond-James was briefly Shalansky's roommate in Brooklyn, NY when they were starting out as young actors. Years later, Raymond-James wrote a role for Shalansky in the award-winning short film "The Missing Peace," which Raymond-James also directed and was executive produced by Jason Mamoa. Shalansky also became friends with Dailyn Rodriquez and David Graziano while they were coming up together in New York. Both later became successful TV writers, producers, and showrunners after moving to Los Angeles. Shalansky has said that the success of these three friends was a major reason he moved to Los Angeles, after they encouraged him to move "out west." He eventually drove across the country and soon began booking roles on multiple television series. One of Shalansky's first major roles was Harry on Gilmore Girls.
In October 2016, Shalansky was invited by friend John Krasinski to join the cast in a staged reading of the screenplay Good Will Hunting. Shalansky appeared with Matt Damon, Ben Affleck, John Krasinski, Emily Blunt, Daveed Diggs, Tom McCarthy, Keegan-Michael Key, Margo Martindale, and Harvey Weinstein at the Skirball Center for the Performing Arts in New York City.
In November 2016, Shalansky landed a recurring guest-star role on Grey's Anatomy. In 2022, he was cast as Henry Kissinger in Paramount +'s limited drama series The Offer. In 2023, he made his Off-Broadway debut, playing one of the leads in Leslie Epstein's Holocaust play "King of the Jews," adapted from Epstein's 1979 novel of the same name. Shalansky became the last actor to portray Kissinger in a film or television production before Kissinger's 2023 death. He continues to work steadily in television, film, and theater on both coasts.
Shalansky is also an accomplished musician, playing drums in several rock and power-pop bands in both New York and Los Angeles, including Nice Guy Eddie with guitarist Chris Jackson and bass player Robbie Rist.
In 2023, Shalansky was cast in the feature film Rosemead, starring Lucy Liu.