David Rakoff facts for kids

Kids Encyclopedia Facts

Quick facts for kids David Rakoff
Rakoff at the 2006 Texas Book Festival
Born	David Benjamin Rakoff (1964-11-27)November 27, 1964 Montreal, Quebec, Canada
Died	August 9, 2012(2012-08-09) (aged 47) New York City, U.S.
Occupation	Essayist journalist actor
Nationality	Canadian-American
Alma mater	Columbia University
Years active	1986–2012
Relatives	Simon Rakoff (brother)

David Benjamin Rakoff (November 27, 1964 – August 9, 2012) was a Canadian-born American writer. He lived in New York City and was known for his funny and often personal essays. Rakoff was an essayist, a journalist, and an actor. He often shared his stories on the radio show This American Life. He saw himself as a "New York writer" who was also Canadian and studied East Asian history.

David Rakoff's Early Life and School

David Rakoff was born in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. He was the youngest of three children. His older brother, Simon Rakoff, is a comedian. His sister, Ruth Rakoff, wrote a book about her experience with cancer. David and his siblings were very close.

David's mother, Gina Shochat-Rakoff, is a doctor who practiced therapy. His father, Vivian Rakoff, is a psychiatrist. David wrote that his family often had to move from place to place. His grandparents, who were Jewish, left Latvia and Lithuania in the early 1900s. They settled in South Africa. In 1961, the Rakoff family left South Africa for political reasons. They moved to Montreal for seven years. In 1967, when David was three, his family moved to Toronto.

David went to high school at Forest Hill Collegiate Institute. He graduated in 1982. That year, he moved to New York City to attend Columbia University. He studied East Asian history and dance there. He spent his third year of college in London. He graduated in 1986. After college, he worked in Japan as a translator for a short time. At age 22, he was diagnosed with a type of cancer. He returned to Toronto for 18 months of treatment.

Rakoff's Writing Career

David Rakoff became a full-time writer in 1998. Before that, he worked in the publishing industry for 13 years. He was a publishing assistant, a publicist, and an editor. While working in publishing, he also wrote freelance articles. He wrote interviews for The New York Times Magazine from 1999 to 2002.

How David Sedaris and Ira Glass Helped Him

Rakoff said that David Sedaris and Sedaris's producer, Ira Glass, helped him start his writing career. In 1992, Rakoff wrote to Sedaris after hearing him read an essay on the radio. They became friends. Rakoff worked with Sedaris in theater, directing and acting in plays. Through Sedaris, Rakoff met Ira Glass. Glass later started This American Life, and Rakoff became involved from the beginning. Sedaris encouraged Rakoff to share his work on public radio. Rakoff's first piece for This American Life was "Christmas Freud." It was about his job pretending to be Sigmund Freud in a department store window.

Journalism and Magazine Articles

Rakoff wrote for many popular magazines. These included Conde Nast Traveler, GQ, Outside Magazine, and The New York Times Magazine. His articles also appeared in Harper's Bazaar, New York Magazine, and Vogue. He wrote about many different topics.

Books of Essays

Rakoff published three popular collections of essays. He also drew illustrations for his books. His books Fraud (2001) and Don't Get Too Comfortable (2005) both won a Lambda Literary Award. This award celebrates LGBT writers. His third book, Half-Empty (2010), won the 2011 Thurber Prize for American Humor.

Fraud

Fraud is a collection of essays that are mostly about Rakoff's own life. They are also very funny. Rakoff said the book was about feeling like a "fraud." He also said it was about loneliness and trying to stay thin. Critics praised Fraud. Publishers Weekly said Rakoff was a "talented new humorist." They said he had a "rapier wit."

Don't Get Too Comfortable

This book was published in 2005. Its full title is "The Indignities of Coach Class, The Torments of Low Thread Count, The Never-Ending Quest for Artisanal Olive Oil, and Other First World Problems." It also contains funny stories from Rakoff's life. The main idea of the book is about how people in America sometimes expect luxuries as if they are basic rights. Rakoff said the book's message was that people should be more grateful for what they have. Critics generally liked the book. The New York Times said it showed "greed, vanity, selfishness, and vapidity" in a very funny way.

Half Empty

Rakoff's third book of essays, Half Empty, came out in 2010. He said the book was about being a pessimist and feeling sad. He wanted to show that these feelings can be useful and even beautiful. This book won the 2011 Thurber Prize for American Humor.

Essays in Other Books

Rakoff also wrote essays for other collections of non-fiction. Some of these include:

"My first New York" in My First New York: Early Adventures in the Big City (2010)
"Utah" in State by State: a panoramic portrait of America (2008)
"Streets of sorrow" in The Best American Travel Writing 2007 (2007)
"Love it or Leave it" in The Best American Non-required Reading 2006 (2006)
"Christmas Freud" in The Dreaded Feast: writers on enduring the holidays (2009)

He also wrote short stories for fiction collections:

"Sagrada family" in Men on men 5: best new gay fiction (1994)

Book Published After His Death

On July 16, 2013, a novel written by Rakoff was published after he passed away. It was called "Love, Dishonor, Marry, Die, Cherish, Perish: A Novel." It was written in verse, like a long poem. He recorded it as an audio-book with the help of Ira Glass before he died.

Radio Stories

Rakoff was a regular writer for This American Life. This radio show features different stories each week, often told by the writers themselves. His first story was "Christmas Freud," which was also in his first book. He said the show allowed him to share his unique view of things. Most of his radio performances were recorded in a studio. He was the first person to host an episode of This American Life instead of Ira Glass. He also appeared on Canadian radio shows like Talking Books and WireTap. After he passed away, an episode of This American Life called "Our Friend David" was dedicated to his essays.

Screenplays

Rakoff helped write the screenplay for the short film The New Tenants. This film won an Academy Award. The director said Rakoff helped a lot with the dialogue. Rakoff also appeared in the film. He also sold a screenplay he wrote with Dave Hill. It was based on a fake book tour.

Acting and Voice Work

Rakoff said his first dream was to be an actor. He performed in theater in college and continued acting while working in publishing and as a writer. He enjoyed acting because it involved working with other people, unlike writing. However, he felt he wasn't very good on camera.

Rakoff felt that casting agents often put actors into stereotypes. He said he was often asked to play characters that were either "Fudgy McPacker" (a stereotypical gay character) or "Jewy McHebrew" (a stereotypical Jewish character). He continued with theater because these stereotypes were less common on stage. He also noted that as a writer, being gay or Jewish did not limit his topics or readers.

Film Appearances

Rakoff appeared in several films. However, he often found his parts were cut from the final movie. For example, his scenes were removed from The First Wives' Club (1996). His first major film role was in a short film called A cloud in trousers (1995). He played Vladimir Mayakovsky. He also appeared as a librarian in The Watermelon Woman (1996) and in Capote (2005).

Rakoff can be seen in the Academy Award-winning short film The New Tenants (2009). He plays Frank, one half of a couple moving into an apartment. The film starts with Rakoff giving a funny but serious speech about life and death.

He also appeared as himself in the documentary Florent: Queen of the Meat Market (2009).

Television Appearances

Rakoff played a modeling agent named Rich Tuchman in the soap opera As the World Turns. He wrote about this experience in his essay "Lather, Rinse, Repeat." He also appeared as Todd in Cosby (1996–2000) and as Frank in the TV show Snake 'n' Bacon (2009).

Stage Performances

Rakoff acted in theater, including off-Broadway shows. He was often in plays written by David and Amy Sedaris. Critics praised his performances. For example, in One Woman Shoe (1995), The New York Times called him "hilarious." He also played different characters in The Book of Liz (2001).

Voice Acting

Rakoff used his voice for audio books. He voiced Thomas Jefferson for Jon Stewart's book America (The Book): A Citizen's Guide to Democracy Inaction. He also voiced Leon Czolgosz (who assassinated President William McKinley) for Sarah Vowell's audio book Assassination Vacation. He was also in the voice cast for the animated pilot Snake 'n' Bacon (2009).

Directing

In 1994, Rakoff directed a play called Stitches by David and Amy Sedaris. His directing was described as "clearly focused." He also directed Jail Babes in 1996 and Mike Albo's one-man show, Spray.

Personal Life

Citizenship

Rakoff lived in the United States from 1982, first as a student. In the early 1990s, he received a green card. After living in the U.S. for 21 years, he decided to become a U.S. citizen. He wanted to be able to vote and participate in the country's politics. He wrote about becoming a citizen in his book Don't Get Too Comfortable. He became a U.S. citizen in 2003, but he also kept his Canadian citizenship.

Illness and Passing

In 2010, while writing his book Half Empty, Rakoff was diagnosed with a tumor. He later developed a type of cancer called sarcoma. This was a result of an earlier cancer treatment from his twenties. He passed away in Manhattan on August 9, 2012.

Images for kids

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Rakoff at the 2006 Texas Book Festival