David Parfitt's acting career began at the age of 12 when he landed the part of Peter Redway in the Thames Television series "And Mother Makes Three" (1971-73), a role he later reprised in "And Mother Makes Five" (1974-76). Cast in the original stage production of Julian Mitchell's "Another Country", which speculated on the private school experiences of future spies Guy Burgess and Donald Maclean, he met RADA phenom Kenneth Branagh. Though the two went their separate ways immediately afterwards, they eventually reteamed and in 1987 founded the Renaissance Theatre Company, responsible for a string of celebrated West End theatrical productions including "Hamlet", "As You Like It" and "King Lear", most of which featured Branagh.

The pair branched into films with Branagh's "Henry V" (1989), a project which began as an idea for a joint theater-television venture, and Parfitt, discovering that he far preferred producing duties, jettisoned his acting career. He worked exclusively on Branagh's features ("Peter's Friends" 1992, "Much Ado About Nothing" 1993 and "Mary Shelley's Frankenstein" 1994) before branching out as a producer for other directors, first for Nicholas Hytner acclaimed film version of Alan Bennett's "The Madness of King George III" (1995). Parfitt served as producer for two vehicles starring Helena Bonham Carter, Trevor Nunn's uneven adaptation of the Bard's "Twelfth Night" (1996) and Iain Softley superb rendering of Henry James' "The Wings of the Dove" (1997). He had his biggest success both artistically and financially with the romantic comedy "Shakespeare in Love" (1998), teaming Joseph Fiennes (as the playwright) and Gwyneth Paltrow (as his muse).