David Hoyle (born in the seaside town of Blackpool, Lancashire, England) first became known as a British performance artist, actor and comedian. He has lived in Manchester and been a regular on the alt-gay club circuit here or many years.
He became notable for his 1999 arts TV show Divine David Presents on Channel 4 under his stage persona The Divine David. This was followed a year later by the series The Divine David Heals. Hoyle is openly gay.
Hoyle publicly killed off this character in 2000 and put his career on hold to cope with a nervous breakdown. After many years as a recluse, David began to make occasional appearances as he says he finds his artistic expression "therapeutic and cathartic".
His two series of shows, Magazine and Magazine the Reprint, in London have played to capacity audiences. In a recent episode of Magazine the Reprint, David Hoyle raised the issue of HIV and AIDS, presenting a film of his own HIV test, taken earlier that day.
His most notable acting role to date was in the comedy Nathan Barley (Channel 4), although he also gave a cameo in Todd Haynes's film Velvet Goldmine, playing a member of Brian Slade's entourage.
He also appeared prominently in the music video for Faith No More's cover of I Started a Joke.
Hoyle performed in ensemble theatre piece For All The Wrong Reasons, a collaboration with Contact Theatre (Manchester) & Victoria Theatre Co. (Belgium) alongside other work. From November 2007, David wrote a column for Gay Times magazine, called "David's Debateables"
In October and November 2009 David presented two new pieces of work - On The Couch with David Hoyle and David Hoyle's Theatre of Therapy - at Chelsea Theatre as part of their SACRED season.