David Toussaint (born April 23, 1964) is an American writer, commentator, theatre critic, playwright and author. Toussaint is also a contributor to ''

HuffPost ''HuffPost'' (formerly ''The Huffington Post'' until 2017 and sometimes abbreviated ''HuffPo'') is an American progressive news website, with localized and international editions. The site offers news, satire, blogs, and original content, and ...

''.

Biography

Born on April 23, 1964, to Maynard and Leona Toussaint in Walnut Creek, California, Toussaint is the youngest of five children including

Beth Toussaint Elizabeth Toussaint (born September 25, 1962) is an American former actress and model. She is best known for her television performances. Life and career Before television roles, Toussaint worked as a model, and appeared in the 1984 music video ...

. While in high school, he was an intern for the '' Contra Costa Times'' in Walnut Creek and eventually was hired as an assistant to the real estate editor. From 1977 to 1979, Toussaint attended the

American Conservatory Theater The American Conservatory Theater (A.C.T.) is a nonprofit theater company in San Francisco, California, United States, that offers both classical and contemporary theater productions. It also has an attached acting school. History The Ameri ...

and toured as an actor throughout California with the theater's Young Conservatory group. He attended the

University of California at Los Angeles The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California. UCLA's academic roots were established in 1881 as a Normal school, teachers colle ...

with a major in

English literature English literature is literature written in the English language from United Kingdom, its crown dependencies, the Republic of Ireland, the United States, and the countries of the former British Empire. ''The Encyclopaedia Britannica'' defines E ...

. Toussaint now lives in

Manhattan Manhattan (), known regionally as the City, is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the five boroughs of New York City. The borough is also coextensive with New York County, one of the original counties of the U.S. state ...

Career

Since 1997, Toussaint has written articles for ''

Brides A bride is a woman who is about to be married or who is newlywed. When marrying, the bride's future spouse, (if male) is usually referred to as the ''bridegroom'' or just ''groom''. In Western culture, a bride may be attended by a maid, brides ...

'' magazine, '' Conde Nast Traveler'', ''Working Woman'', ''

Instinct Instinct is the inherent inclination of a living organism towards a particular complex behaviour, containing both innate (inborn) and learned elements. The simplest example of an instinctive behaviour is a fixed action pattern (FAP), in which a v ...

'', '' Gay Financial Network'', ''Outsider Ink'', ''Caribbean Travel'' and ''Life and Diversion'' magazine. He has been an editor at

Conde Nast Conde may refer to: Places United States * Conde, South Dakota, a city France * Condé-sur-l'Escaut (or simply 'Condé'), a commune Linguistic ''Conde'' is the Ibero-Romance form of "count" (Latin ''comitatus''). It may refer to: * Count ...

and a three-time guest editor for

Francis Ford Coppola Francis Ford Coppola (; ; born April 7, 1939) is an American film director, producer, and screenwriter. He is considered one of the major figures of the New Hollywood filmmaking movement of the 1960s and 1970s. Coppola is the recipient of five A ...

's online magazine ''Zoetrope'', and was a full-time columnist for ''GayWeddings.com''. Currently he writes a weekly column and is a theater critic for ''EDGE magazine'', and is the senior editor for ''GuySpy.com.'' In 2003, Toussaint wrote an article entitled ''Outward Bound'' on

same-sex wedding Same-sex marriage, also known as gay marriage, is the marriage of two people of the same sex or gender. marriage between same-sex couples is legally performed and recognized in 33 countries, with the most recent being Mexico, constituting ...

s for ''Brides'' magazine. It was the first article on gay and

lesbian A lesbian is a Homosexuality, homosexual woman.Zimmerman, p. 453. The word is also used for women in relation to their sexual identity or sexual behavior, regardless of sexual orientation, or as an adjective to characterize or associate n ...

weddings to be published by any of the five major, top-selling bridal magazines, and its publication created a significant controversy. Toussaint's book, ''Gay and Lesbian Weddings: Planning the Perfect Same-Sex Ceremony'' was published by

Ballantine Books Ballantine Books is a major book publisher located in the United States, founded in 1952 by Ian Ballantine with his wife, Betty Ballantine. It was acquired by Random House in 1973, which in turn was acquired by Bertelsmann in 1998 and remains ...

in 2004, and his May 2009 ebook, ''Toussaint'', was published by Stay Thirsty Publishing. Toussaint's book "The Gay Couples Guide to Wedding Planning" was published by Sellers Publishing in 2012. His book "DJ: The Dog Who Rescued Me" was published by Turn the Page Publishing in 2013. Toussaint wrote, produced and directed a one-act play, ''Backstage Bitches'', which ran for two consecutive summers in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

(1998–1999). The play starred a young Jake Robards, son of Jason Robards, in his professional acting debut. Toussaint acted in the 2008 film ''Dissonance''.

Works

Non-fiction

* "DJ: The Dog Who Rescued ME," Turn the Page Publishing, 2013 * "The Gay Couples Guide to Wedding Planning," Sellers Publishing, 2012 * ''TOUSSAINT!'', Stay Thirsty Press, 2009 * ''Gay and Lesbian Weddings: Planning the Perfect Same-Sex Ceremony'', Ballantine, 2004

Short fiction

* ''Fire'', Literary Potpourri, 2003 * ''The Dream of the Rabbits'', Snow Monkey, 2002

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Toussaint, David 1964 births Living people People from Walnut Creek, California University of California, Los Angeles alumni Writers from New York City American male writers American dramatists and playwrights American people of French descent