'Baywatch' Star David Charvet Doesn't 'Miss the Fame' After Leaving Hollywood to Build Houses and His Raise Kids – Now His Son Has People Saying He Looks Like His Father's 'Clone'

Walking away from a career he loved brought an identity shift for the actor, but it also gave him something Hollywood could not. Years later, his son is drawing comparisons to his younger self. See the "Baywatch" star's "clone" son in the photos at the end of the article.

David Charvet spent much of the 1990s as one of television's familiar heartthrobs, first gaining widespread attention as Matt Brody on "Baywatch" before joining another defining show of the decade — "Melrose Place."

The French-born actor also pursued music, a career that took him around the world and kept him firmly in the public eye. But the life that came with entertainment eventually began to conflict with the one he wanted at home.

By the time David became a father, the demands that once came with the job no longer fit easily into his plans. He shares daughter Heaven Rain and son Shaya Braven with his former wife, Brooke Burke, and he had made her a promise about the kind of father he intended to be. The actor shared in 2025:

"The goal was when I got my children, when they were born, was that I was going to be hands-on. I promised Brooke that I would be that man."

For David, being hands-on meant more than fitting family life around filming schedules. Before Heaven was born, his music career alone had taken him through 42 countries over five years, and continuing to act could have meant leaving Los Angeles for productions elsewhere.

Rather than accept the distance as part of his profession, he decided his career would have to change. "I wanted to stay home, and I wanted to be a good dad. I wanted to be there for my children every single day," he said in 2022.

That decision eventually led him away from the industry that had defined roughly two decades of his life. As for his next career, it began unexpectedly while he was working on something far more personal.

In 2006, David was building a home in Malibu when he became dissatisfied with the contractor's work and fired him. He then took over the project alongside the contractor's project manager.

Once the house was finished, visitors began asking whether he could build another one. The experience developed into a new profession, and in 2008, David and a business partner started Jones Builders Group.

Jones Builders Group is a residential construction company focused primarily on luxury homes in the Los Angeles area. In 2022, David revealed that the company was building between ten and 14 houses annually.

Seventeen years after moving into construction, the experiences that followed his Hollywood career had changed him.

Changing professions, however, was not as simple emotionally as exchanging a television set for a construction site. David acknowledged that walking away from work he had loved for years also meant confronting the loss of an identity he knew well.

"There was also a sense of sadness because I really loved what I did for 20 years," he explained in 2022. "You know, there's also an identity change, which is something that, for every man, I don't wish for [...]."

Still, while the actor continued learning within that new professional world, his memories of Hollywood had become more nuanced. There were parts of the experience he remembered fondly, particularly the relationships formed behind the scenes.

"I miss the camaraderie that I had with the people on the sets. I had old-school producers and old-school people that worked as a unit, and it was a real family," he shared.

But what he replaced that with was a role he described very differently from his years as an actor and singer. "My job today is I service people. I'm a service person. I'm no longer the star," David said.

The trade-off gave him something he had specifically reorganized his life to protect — time with Heaven and Shaya. Rather than being away for concerts or productions, he could wake up at home and be there as his children grew. David admitted:

"I don't miss the fame. I don't miss the workload that we had because we used to work a lot, and it's very hard to raise a family that way. I commend all of the actors who have families that are able to balance that."

Seventeen years after moving into construction, the experiences that followed his Hollywood career had changed him. "I wouldn't change anything," he stated.

The "Baywatch" star further explained that raising his children and living through those years had taught him about relationships, kindness, and the importance of approaching life with greater humility.

Now one of the children at the center of that decision has grown into a young man who reminds some people of the man David was before he left Hollywood.

In recent years, Shaya has attracted attention on social media for his resemblance to his father during David's younger years, when the actor's dark hair and features were familiar to millions of "Baywatch" viewers.

The similarities prompted reactions ranging from double takes to predictions that another lifeguard could be in the family. "omg thought it was david [sic]!!!" one person typed while another shared, "Looks like his father's twin!"

Others drew the comparison directly to David's best-known television role. "Next Baywatch Lifeguard, like father like son [sic]," one person commented.

Another netizen was equally struck by the family resemblance, writing, "Look like your dad here. God you were blessed with some amazing genetics. Needed to be studied🔥[sic]." For one commenter, even "twin" did not quite capture it: "You look just like your father. A clone."

The resemblance connects two very different periods in David's life. Although he has spoken about missing the people and camaraderie of his former profession, David has been clear that fame itself is not something he wants back.

The career he built after Hollywood allowed him to remain in Los Angeles, build homes, and, most importantly to him, put in the time with Heaven and Shaya.

Now grown, his son is giving people a glimpse of a familiar face from David's own younger years — and readers can see the father-son resemblance in the photos below.

David Charvet

Shaya Charvet