Saturday, April 21, 2007

David Faustino

David Faustino is a former child actor best known for his role as "Bud Bundy" on the successful FOX sitcom Married With Children from 1987-1997. Fans of Married With Children saw Faustino grow from a youth into a young adult. Here are pictures of a young Faustino from his early years on the show:

One of the major themes with the character Bud, was Bud's completely inept skills with the ladies. Faustino's character was also known for his long mullet. When the show started, Faustino was an undersized runt. The show's producers probably thought that Faustino would eventually grow into the role, but it never happened, as Faustino appeared to stop growing at age 12.

Unlike many of the child stars profile on this blog, I actually think that Faustino was perfect for his role. He was funny and was very believable as Bud Bundy. The fact that he stopped growing at a young age probably helped prolong the show. Married with Children was a decent enough show, and was definitely very funny at times, but it is pretty obvious that the show's producers ran out of ideas in the first few seasons, but somehow managed to stretch the show into a 10th season. Faustino's character was definitely a major factor in show's success.

Faustino, like other child stars (such as Brian Austin Green, Corey Feldman, and Dustin Diamond), made an unsuccessful attempt to branch out into singing. Faustino called himself "D L'il" and released a rap album in 1992 entitled "Balistyx," named after a hip-hop/funk nightclub he owned on Sunset Boulevard in Hollywood, California. The album was a critical and commercial failure and Faustino apparently abandoned his rap stardom aspirations after the album's release.

Faustino's foray into rap was parodied on Married With Children. Specifically, in several of the episodes in the early 1990s Faustino's Bud Bundy character began calling himself "Grandmaster B," a white rapper. Everyone else in the Bundy family would conveniently forget his name and instead call him names like "Grandma B," "Crossdresser B," "Bedwetter B," and "Grandmaster Virgin."

Faustino actually managed to score a hot wife, Andrea Elmer, in 2004. They look like the odd couple in the picture below, with his wife towering over the diminutive Faustino. Their marriage life was apparently troubled and Faustino filed for divorce in 2007.



Ever since Married With Children's cancellation in 1997, Faustino has struggled to revive his career. Faustino's biggest role in the past 10 years was on the 2002 celebrity/reality television special Celebrity Boot Camp. You probably don't remember him from the show because as far as I can tell nobody watched that series. He has also appeared in crappy movies such as the 2001 low-budget film Killer Bud.

Like fellow washed-up celebrity Jeremy Miller, Faustino has recently appeared in a McDonald's "Menuaires" commercial. All of this makes David Faustino one washed-up celebrity!

42 comments:

Anonymous said...

I saw him on those McDonalds commercials too. I wonder what Washed Up Celebrity will show up next?

Anonymous said...

Great work as always Kurt. I didn't mind DF or Married with Children either, but I still wanna wrap a huge turd up in his mullet.

Anonymous said...

With that cheeky grin of his, I'd let him sit on my face and strain...

Anonymous said...

I thought DF was great, and I loved married with children. I wish they did a cross over on my series so we could scissor our crotches into each other!

That little fuck did steal my mcdonalds ads though!

Anonymous said...

His wife looks really hot. He seemed like a decent enough guy. He should have known something was up when a woman taller than him who looks like that was after him. A good man knows his limitations and Bud was probably taken advantage of this woman who looks like she might be a gold digger.

Anonymous said...

http://www.tmz.com/2007/05/15/bundy-busted/

"Bud" caught with bud!!!!

Anonymous said...

Met him. Good people. He has other irons in the fire. A future ahead of him. Not washed up.

Anonymous said...

If he lives in Los Angeles, what was he doing in Florida where he got busted?

Frank Da'Ma'Ge said...

He, along with fellow "washed up actor" Pauly Shore have both made recent appearances on HBO's Entourage. Ironically, in his two second appearance, he established that he was a friend of the main character's brother (played by Kevin Dillon) who is considered a B actor and only a heartbeat away from being washed up. Pauly got thrown out of the Playboy mansion. I think it was his finest and funniest performance to date!

Anonymous said...

Great blog, Movie fan. Always good for some laughs and some useless info.
Anyway, there are some more who could be on this blog. Edward Furlong, Danielle Fishel. And what happened to Fred Savage? Not to mention, VH1 has this special: 100 greatest teen stars. A bunch of them deserve a place on this blog, too.

Anonymous said...

He's a very sexy guy. I always used to find my stomach jumping around every time he would appear in a scene of M.W.C.
There's something so hot about a short fit guy with a big cheeky smile. There's some recent photos of him in a tight red t-shirt and no-one can deny he looks HOT!

Anonymous said...

I swear I just saw him as Marishka Hargitay's rapist brother on Law And Order SVU. Although the generations seem wrong.

Frank Da'Ma'Ge said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Frank Da'Ma'Ge said...

Well, it may not exactly take him out of the "Washed Up Celebrity" category and maybe it shouldn't! David Faustino stars with another W.U.C. you might remember, Corin Nemec (former star of Parker Lewis Can't Lose) in a web series that started earlier this year, called "Star-Ving".

In the series, "Faustino plays an exaggerated version of himself — he's broke, can't find a job and his wife has left him for Coolio." Faustino has said of the show, "We don't push the envelope, we're shredding it."

In some cases, that's an UNDERSTATEMENT! There's definitely one episode (within the 7 I've seen so far) where I can say it's not simply in BAD TASTE because BAD TASTE would be at least three steps up, but funny? Hell yes!

Sam Kass, a former writer and producer on Seinfeld, directed the first 12 episodes ordered by Crackle (formally known as Grouper). Look for guest appearances from the entire Married with Children cast, as well as Coolio, Gilbert Gottfried, Seth Green, Kato Kaelin, Jeremy Miller (remember Ben from Growing Pains!?) Ron Jeremy and more.

If you are a fan of David's @ss (literally) then this might be your dream come true. Twisted, rude, offensive and very, very funny.

Check it out at http://crackle.com/c/Star-ving/

Anonymous said...

what could someone possibly post that would cause you to remove the comment?? There is some vile shit in the comments that you let stay on. I can't imagine what someone would put to get censored. Do tell!!!

Anonymous said...

He is so hot in Starv-ing, his body is soooo sexy!

Frank Da'Ma'Ge said...

To the Anon who posted December 31, 2009 10:27 PM asking about why the comment was deleted; it was actually done by myself due to some typo and omitted info that needed to be added, but could not be done by editing the comment. Nothing any more offensive than my previous comment and for the most part, it was exactly the same.

Now while I'm here I should inform those fans of David Faustino that his online show Star-ving has been nominated for a Streamy Audience Choice Award (they say it's like an emmy award, but "better"...ok, sure). In any case, you can vote for Star-ving at http://vote.streamys.org (once a day through 4/11/2010). Now that Star-ving is nominated for the Streamy Audience Choice Award, David and Corin are willing to up the ante to get your vote (which by the look of their video, may imply a BJ for everyone (though personally I'm in for the ...show, yeah, yeah, for the show). Who knows, if they win we can be pretty assured of seeing more of them in one hell of a funny series on CRACKLE.COM. If you haven't seen last years episodes yet, they're still posted for free, you don't even need to sign up to watch! So remember, you can vote ONCE A DAY. Cheers!

Anonymous said...

I lived in LA in the 1990's and I went into a music store and they were selling his rap cd for some ridiculous amount of money like 25 cents in the delete bin and they had a huge stack of them! Me and a friend bought all of them and starting handing them out to homeless people and others on the street! People would often take the cd, curse and throw it away right after getting it! Even homeless people did not want them because they could never resale them for beer money!

heather said...

I had a crush on DF and still watch the re-runs! Funny tho, was it just me or did "Kelly" get dumber as the show went on? lol DF was awesome for that part and will most likely never out-live "Bud Bundy" lol

Jean said...

He was on an episode of "Entourage."

Elle said...

I actually always liked Faustino. Yeah he could play the sexless nerd pretty well but I never found him gross or disgusting, like Dustin Diamond or Jeremy Miller who all looked sleazy when they got older. I found Fasutino kind of handsome actuallt and he wasnt that short. It's too bad he could never get out of the Married with Children role but when he is old and grey he will still be Bud "Grandmaster 'B'" Bundy. Classic...

Anonymous said...

Actually, David has been fairly busy since 2004 if you check the IMDB website. There was one movie, however, that he definitely was not well cast for - he played Albert De Salvo (the Boston Strangler) in The Boston Stranger - the untold story in 2008

Anonymous said...

The poor guy. He's a capable actor and he seems like a decent guy who doesn't make trouble. I hope that he makes a comeback.

Anonymous said...

With all the money an actor makes in a sitcom u would think they would go to college on the side and get a degree to late now.

Anonymous said...

For the poster who speculated on the money the "actors made from sitcoms". . meaning, I presume, MWC, got news for you. When all four of the principles signed their contracts for the initial season, they agreed to forgo any residuals. MWC wasn't a surety and no one knew it would catapult as the years went by. So. . those royalites aren't there.

Unless, the show's producers went back and cut a sweetheart deal. Anyone know? "Bud" has been the one actor from the series who's struggled the most. A recent LA magazine has him back in the nightclub promotion biz. Good luck.

Anonymous said...

Laugh at his career if you want, but he's still supposedly worth $7.5m. How much is the author of this blog worth? He hasn't had a decent paying gig in 15 years and yet he's still got that kind of money which tells you that he invested wisely.

Anonymous said...

I love watching married with children :-) he was a nerdy youngster with that miller but he sure grew into a handsome teen & later an adult

Anonymous said...

I LOVED MWC and would love to see them bring it back......I do feel bad fo DF that the poor schmuck only grew to 5'3.......it's better to be a has-been than a NEVER WAS!!!

Anonymous said...

I totally agree.....like I said "it's better to be a has-been than a NEVER-WAS!!!"

Anonymous said...

Dave should run around in his tighty whities more often. He's a cute little fucker with a nice package, and he's not shy if the pictures already out there are any indication.

Anonymous said...

It's been a rough year for the actor, but at least he has his millions of dollars to ease the pain. 39-year-old David Faustino has taken the No. 1 spot on People With Money’s top 10 highest-paid actors for 2013 with an estimated $96 million in combined earnings.

UPDATE 11/06/2013 : This story seems to be false. (read more)
David Faustino tops annual list of highest-paid actors

In 2010 it looked like the actor’s spectacular career was winding down. Suddenly, he was back on top. People With Money reports on Monday (June 10) that Faustino is the highest-paid actor in the world, pulling in an astonishing $96 million between May 2012 and May 2013, a nearly $60 million lead over his closest competition.

People With Money’s factors

In compiling this yearly list, the magazine considers factors such as upfront pay, profit participation, residuals, endorsements and advertising work.

The American actor and rapper has an estimated net worth of $275 million. He owes his fortune to smart stock investments, substantial property holdings, lucrative endorsement deals with CoverGirl cosmetics. He also owns several restaurants (the “Fat Faustino Burger” chain) in Washington, a Football Team (the “Los Angeles Angels”), has launched his own brand of Vodka (Pure Wonderfaustino - US), and is tackling the juniors market with a top-selling perfume (With Love from David) and a fashion line called “David Faustino Seduction”.

The ranking is significant for many Faustino fans, who have been waiting for his triumphant return to the glory days for what seems like a lifetime.

Unknown said...

I would like to see David Faustino pursue his acting career. I think He is a fine Talented Actor, not to mention awesomely gorgeous. In my opinion his agent isn't doing a very good job in finding him parts or roles. On the other hand if David really wanted to pursue his acting career he would push more and more and take any parts that came his way, whatever the case may be, I wish him the best of Success in all he does as long as he is Happy and has the Lord in His life. If both he can never Fail

Anonymous said...

Iam a fan of David f. so there. i love married with children .

Lily said...

I would recommend focusing a little more on someone'a character and career failures and pathetic things they do that render them washed up, not things like their heights or looks. yeah he is short. So what? So is Michael j Fox. he cannot help that his genes made him short.

At any rate, as Bud Bundy he was great but he was type cast and when you are type cast, once the show wends, you will have a hard time finding work or switching over to other roles. At least he didnt pull loser things like selling his body parts on ebay or making porn or some other pathetic thing.

Anonymous said...

SCREW OFF! To anyone calling him washed up. I'm sure he's just "so sad" living off the residuals he still receives from Married With Children and knowing that even if he never acts again,his Bud Bundy character and his name are immortal in the history and halls of Television.

He's never been out of work before starting or since the end of "M.W.C." . He's made 19 movies since 1997 (23 in total career) and is still working in TV. In front of the camera or doing voice overs. He's also a writer,producer and director.

HEY,O.P. ....What are you?

Unknown said...

All yall get a life. Funny. Anonymous. You sound obsessed. Everyone one else. Good luck becoming as rich or famous as bud. It is luck too. Old saying. Not what you know. Who you know.

Anonymous said...

You guys are all stupid. I didnt Know washed up people had million dollar homes in the Hollywood Hills and huge contracts with companies like tmobile... truth is David lives a low key lifestyle as a record producer, radio host, and voice over actor.. He dates hot women... and lives the life you all only dream about..

Anonymous said...

People who hate the David Faustino hate life and talent. DF is the wave of the future in politics, movies, music, and love.

Terry Mcgee said...

I remember this day as if it was yesterday. David was trying to build up his street credibility sometime around the summer of 1991. He kept on telling everyone that he wanted to be a member of the RSC Crips aka the Rolling 60s of South Central L.A. Somehow he met a member at a listening party for his album. To make a long story short, he eventually became a member of the RSC. Rumor around Hollyweird was that he bought his way into the gang with mouth favors and a few hundred grand. I have no idea as to whether this true or false.

East coast crips said...

He's a member of Rolling 60 Crips,that's bullshit, most of the Rolling 60 crips are snitches, and PCS in state prison

Womp said...

This was actually one of the nicest postings I've read thus. Compared to alot of other former child actors on here (Dustin Diamond, Michael Oliver, all three child actors from home improvement, Hayley Joel Osment etc) Faustino Got off lightly.

Unknown said...

The last I heard from Faustino, he was the voice of a recurring character on "Avatar: The Legend of Korra".

Very good animated series.