David Jeremy Leon was born in Newcastle-upon-Tyne (July 24, 1980)  and was a talented footballer playing briefly for Blackburn Rovers FC.   His Mum, Ann J. Brown was a secretary and Dad, Anthony N. Leon, worked in a power station.  He is Jewish on his father's side and describes himself as half-Jewish. 

When he left school (Dame Allan's School) at age eighteen he successfully auditioned for the National Youth Theatre but exited early in order to take a role in Oliver Stone's 'Alexander" (2004).  He quickly established himself with small parts in British television  like Merseybeat, Cutting It and Strictly Confidential.

In 2008, he  played Malcolm, a Scottish junkie, in Guy Ritchie's RocknRolla (a part originally written for Brad Pitt) and there was no doubt that his career was taking off.  During the 2010's he was able to parlay this success into writing, directing and producing a number of award winning short films, culminating in the writing and directing of his first feature length film, Orthodox, in 2015.

He studied photography under Magnum at UAL.   He is an alumni of the Berlinale Talent Labs and was selected as part of the BFi Network x Bafta crew. 

Best known for playing Joe Ashworth on ITV's Vera, fans were thrilled when he returned to the show for its final 2 series (2025).   (source:  Wikipedia, IMDB)