David Lee was born in Claremont in California, the son of a bank vice-president. When he was 9 years old, his cousin took him to see My Fair Lady, and it was from then on that David decided to be involved in showbiz. His Bachelor Degree is in Music Theory & Theatre, which he obtained in 1972 from the University of the Redlands.

David's directing career began by accident. He'd trained as a director previously, but the thought of actually doing it was too scary for him. However Wings director Andy Ackerman's back went out suddenly just before an episode was due to be filmed, and David was forced to fill in for him. He found it horrifying at first, but had help from the staff and directed 5 other Wings episodes, as well as directing many Frasier episodes.

David is a homosexual but has no problems with this. He has written some episodes of Frasier like his other co-creators, but he's also directed some as well.