Born in Paris, France, David Mate comes from a family of musicians. His father Philippe Mate who was a well known saxophonist (Philippe passed away in 2004) and his mother, Janice Waddleton is also a musician and an author.

From a young age David pursued athletics where he earned a scholarship to the prestigious track and field dynasty, Louisiana State University. Later he went on to play professional hockey in Europe and also in the ECHL in USA.

After returning to Canada David moved to Los Angeles in 2007. Since then David has toured North America with the massive theatrical production Walking With Dinosaurs, booked his third TV co-star role in addition to many other projects.