David Warner once described his childhood as "messy." His father changed jobs often and moved from town to town. David attended eight schools and "failed his exams at all of them." His parents separated when he was a teenager and he only saw his mother again seven years later, on her deathbed.

After a series of odd jobs, he was accepted at the Royal Academy Of Dramatic Arts (RADA) where he was very unhappy.

After RADA, he became a member of the Royal Shakespeare Company and got the part of Blifil in TOM JONES.

With the title role in MORGAN: A SUITABLE CASE FOR TREATMENT and a two-year stint as Hamlet with the RSC, Warner became a star at 24.