David Michael Hasselhoff (born on July 17, 1952 in Baltimore, Maryland) is an American actor, best known for his lead roles on Knight Rider and Baywatch, who has also enjoyed a minor singing career, primarily in Germany.

Having played Dr. Snapper Foster on the soap opera The Young and the Restless for six years, he went on to star as Michael Knight in the Glen A. Larson-created series Knight Rider from 1982 to 1986. He launched his singing career with guest appearances on the children's program Kids Incorporated.

His contract stipulated royalties to be paid to him from the rerun profits, which gave him the financial liberty to buy back the rights to Baywatch from NBC.

Baywatch had premiered in 1989, but was cancelled after only one season. Feeling the series had potential, Hasselhoff revived it for the first-run syndication market in 1991, investing his own money and additionally functioning as executive producer.

The success of Baywatch was enormous. Running for another ten seasons, it was also well-received internationally and is said to be the highest-grossing show in syndication worldwide.

Fulfilling his original dream to be a singer, he covered "Looking for Freedom" in 1989, just as the Berlin Wall came down. In Germany, his song became an anthem of sorts at the time, and the accompanying album went gold and triple platinum, topping the charts for three months.

In 1994, he was scheduled to perform a concert on pay-per-view from Atlantic City. It was supposed to help reignite his singing career in the United States. On the night of his concert, OJ Simpson was involved in a police chase on the California highway. People who were watching the concert switched over to watch the news. Since then, Hasselhoff has not attempted another concert.

In 1996, he was given a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

In 2004, Hasselhoff played the lead role in London performances of Chicago, for three months, starting July 16.

Hasselhoff is married to actress Pamela Bach since December 8, 1989, with whom he has two daughters, Taylor-Ann and Hayley Amber. He was married to actress Catherine Hickland from March 24, 1984 to March 1, 1989 and divorced.

Hasselhoff received media attention in 2003/2004 for an alleged drinking problem. He attended a rehabilitation program in 2002, at the Betty Ford Center.

His problems with alcohol abuse apparently continued, as he was arrested on June 5, 2004 on suspicion on driving while intoxicated as a misdemeanor in the Los Angeles area in California. On October 28, 2004, his lawyer entered his no-contest plea while he was absent from the court hearing. He was fined $390 (thanks to California's "penalty assessment" law, etc., the total amount paid to the court is assumed to be over $1400), sentenced to self-supervised probation for 3 years, ordered to attend Alcoholics Anonymous meetings twice a week for 6 months, spend six months in a DUI program (several hundred more dollars), and to perform 200 hours of community service. While his driver's license was restricted for the next 90 days, he could drive only to his work, to take his children to school, and to Alcoholics Anonymous meetings.

External links

• Official website
• His weblog