He graduated from the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art (RADA) in 1973 and spent many years working in theatre, including various Shakespeare plays before eventually branching out into television, including roles in the British Broadcasting Corporation children"s drama Grange Hill.
David Cann has appeared in a number of works by Chris Morris. Cann played various roles in Brass Eye, a spoof current affairs show aired in 1997, and many roles in the disturbing sketch show Jam. Cann played the character "The Doctor" from Jam, a recurring role in the series.
"The Doctor" is a seemingly "normal" physician working in a standard British medical practice.
However, he has a habit of treating his patients in bizarre and often disturbing ways, such as prescribing a young girl heroin, making a man with a headache jump up and down in order to make his penis swing (while mirroring the patient"s bewildered jumping himself), blinding himself with an intense light in order to avoid awkward questions and insisting on examining a patient by telephone, even though he is in the same room. In 2003, Cann played another doctor in the popular British soap opera EastEnders.
Cann also had a minor role in Bridget Jones"s Diary (2001). Cann also appeared in the 2007 film "Run Fatboy Run".
In the film Cann was the head of the committee that approved Simon Pegg"s entrance into the race.
Cann appeared in the pilot of the comedy Lizzie and Sarah, broadcast on BBC2 in March 2010. The plot centres on a pair of unloved, neglected, middle-aged housewives who are pushed to breaking point. Cann again played a doctor in the first episode of Psychoville, series 2 (first broadcast 5 May 2011).
In 2011, Cann voiced the titular Peter Eagleman in the 2011 British Academy of Film and Television Arts award winning short animated film The Eagleman Stag.
