David Michael Hasselhoff (born July 17, 1952) is an American actor and singer. He is best known for his lead roles as Michael Knight in the popular 1980s U.S. series Knight Rider and as L.A. County Lifeguard Mitch Buchannon in the series Baywatch. Hasselhoff also produced Baywatch for a number of series in the 1990s up until 2001 when the series ended with Baywatch Hawaii. Hasselhoff also crossed over to a music career during the end of the 1980s and the early 1990s and was noted for his performance when the Berlin Wall was brought down in 1989. He enjoyed a short lived success as a singer primarily in German-speaking Europe, particularly in Germany and Austria. More recently Hasselhoff has been involved with talent shows such as NBC's America's Got Talent in 2006. Hasselhoff's autobiography, Making Waves, was released in the United Kingdom in September 2006.

Early career

Hasselhoff in 1986 Hasselhoff portrayed Dr. William "Snapper" Foster, Jr. on the soap opera The Young and the Restless from 1975 to 1982. In 1979 he played the role of Simon in Starcrash. He later went on to star as Michael Knight in the Glen A. Larson-created series Knight Rider from 1982 to 1986 (a role he would reprise in Knight Rider 2000 (1991) and cameo in 2008's Knight Rider TV film).

Hasselhoff describes Knight Rider as more than a TV show: "It's a phenomenon. It's bigger than Baywatch ever was." On the success of Knight Rider — "It's because it was about saving lives, not taking lives, and it was how one man can make a difference. And we had a blast making it, and we made sure nobody died on the show; as we made sure nobody ever drowned on Baywatch." He describes the acting he has done as "a little more difficult than if you had a regularly well-written script – like, if I was going to be in, say, Reservoir Dogs, or The Godfather, or Dances with Wolves or Lawrence of Arabia or ER. I had to talk to a car."

European popularity

While his star rose, fell and rose again in the US, Hasselhoff's popularity remained a little longer in Europe during the end of the 80s. Hasselhoff had one number-one hit in the German pop charts in 1989 ("Looking for Freedom"), which very much resonated with the fall of the Berlin Wall at that time, and two more top-ten hits in 1989 and 1993.

Baywatch

Hasselhoff returned to television on Baywatch which premiered in 1989. Although it was canceled after only one season, he believed the series had potential, so Hasselhoff revived it for the first-run syndication market in 1991, investing his own money and additionally functioning as executive producer. His contract stipulated royalties to be paid to him from the rerun profits, which gave him the financial liberty to buy back the rights to Baywatch from NBC.