David on the Coming to America set
A Comedic Journey By Karon Warren | Photography courtesy of David Sheffield
After a successful career as a Hollywood writer, Mississippi native David Sheffield comes home to indulge in his passions for fly fishing and writing short stories. Although you may not know the name David Sheffield, you certainly would be familiar with the screenwriter’s works, including “Coming to America,” “The Nutty Professor,” and the recent “Coming 2 America.” However, long before writing Hollywood blockbusters with writing partner Barry Blaustein, Sheffield began his career on a much smaller scale. Born in North Mississippi, Sheffield and his family moved to the Gulf Coast when he was young. After graduating from Biloxi High School, he spent one year at the University of Mississippi before transferring to the University of Southern Mississippi, where he would graduate in 1972 with a degree in theater and radio, television and film. Sheffield then spent time in front of the camera, working as a reporter for WDAM in Hattiesburg. “I was a reporter for a while,” Sheffield says. “I called myself a writer, photographer, editor, and weekend anchor. I was terrible on the air, and that’s when I decided to be behind the camera.”
During this time, Sheffield also was writing musicals for children with his brother, Buddy. Buddy also made his mark on Hollywood with credits for “In Living Color,” Nickelodeon’s “Roundhouse,” and Dolly Parton’s short-lived variety show, “Dolly.” The brothers created the Sheffield Ensemble Theater, a touring company that made the rounds from school to school in a former ice cream truck filled with sets and props. The company was quite successful, visiting 22 states and even making an appearance at The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, D.C. After approximately five years, the duo closed the touring company because the constant traveling became arduous for Buddy, who stayed on the road while David worked to make a living “any way I could writing anything I could,” he says. In 1980, Sheffield got a call from a friend who was working as a men’s room attendant at Studio 54 in New York DeSoto 21