David Leidy was born on July 2, 1991 in Muscatine, Iowa. While earning a Bachelor of Arts degree in Literature and Creative Writing minor from New York University (NYU), he became one of the founding members of the reinstated cinema society Delta Kappa Alpha (DeKA): an organization whose members include George Lucas, Alfred Hitchcock and Steven Spielberg. During this time, Leidy also wrote many published articles as a staff writer for Washington Square News.

In Los Angeles, David Leidy was mentored by Emmy® winner of the College Television Awards Justin Lerner and interned for Mike Medavoy at Phoenix Pictures (production company of Shutter Island (2010). He then wrote, directed and produced Atonia (2013) with cinematography by SXSW® nominated Tobias Deml under Prodigium Pictures (production company of Gaming Wall St (2022) and Monster Party (2018). This led to David being requested by another film director to be a screenwriter on Paradise (2014) starring Cortney Palm of Sushi Girl (2012).

David Leidy's short film Faded Love (2015) won Best Film Noir of the Year at the 2018-2019 Annual Awards of Independent Shorts Awards (ISA). His film Platonic (2016) won for Best Director of the Year at AOF MegaFest (highest honors among 16 interrelated festivals) of the Action on Film International Film Festival and acquired limited theatrical distribution from Fourwalled in 2019.