He made his first appearance before the camera at the age of 14 in Douglas Fairbanks 's The Thief of Bagdad (1924) Young Dave became the US tumbler champion in 1925 and 1926. Still in his teens, he began taking bit parts in films. His big break came in Masked Emotions (1929). It led him to a series of Hal Roach comedies. In 1933 Ajax Pictures signed him as one of the leads in its "The Boyfriends" series. In the 1930s he played a variety of roles in many B westerns. He was one of the three leads, with with Charles Quigley and Bruce Bennett , in the Republic Pictures serial Daredevils of the Red Circle (1939). While at Republic he met stuntman Yakima Canutt and began doing stunt work. Dave doubled for almost every western lead at Republic and also some of the ladies. In 1942 Monogram Pictures signed him as one of the leads in its Range Busters western series. Dave appeared in three of them: Texas to Bataan (1942), Trail Riders (1942) and Haunted Ranch (1943). Dave joined the US Army Air Corps and and rose to the rank of captain. After his discharge he returned to Hollywood and confined his career mainly to stunt work and second-unit directing. He doubled Douglas Fairbanks Jr. and Tony Curtis in all of their action films. He didn't restrict his stunt work to just films, though; he also doubled the leads in such TV series as "The F.B.I." (1965), "Adventures of Wild Bill Hickok" (1951) and many others. He was also seen as the old lady in the wheelchair on "The Red Skelton Show" (1951). Dave was inducted into the Stuntman's Hall of Fame in 1970, and in 1978 contracted ALS, also known as Lou Gehrig's Disease.

He was one of the famous members of Republic's stable of stuntmen. Republic would often have him doing double duty playing his own character and also doubling for other actors in the same film.Doubled Tony Curtis , Marlon Brando , Alan Ladd , Tyrone Power , John Derek and both Douglas Fairbanks and Douglas Fairbanks Jr.Appeared in over 4,500 films, while working for every studio in Hollywood in a career that stretched seven decades. Sharpe told film historian Mark Hall, "When Shana Alexander interviewed me for Life magazine in 1952, she gave up after 4,000. At one time or another, I've worked for every studio in Hollywood, for almost every director with most of the actors and actresses."Probably holds the honor of being in more films (albeit, often uncredited as a stuntman) than any other person in Hollywood history. Sharpe's film/TV resume, if complete, would likely total more than 5000 entries. Ranks with Yakima Canutt as Hollywood's premier stuntman.He won the US National Tumbling Championship in 1925, when he was 15. He won it again the next year.In 1943 Sharpe, then 32 years old, enlisted in the Army Air Corps and was trained as a fighter pilot. He shot down several enemy planes in combat. He was discharged as a captain and returned to Hollywood.Inducted in the Hollywood Stuntman's Hall of Fame in 1980.In an early film appearance, the director secretly shot a scene rehearsal and printed it, to Sharpe's displeasure. From that point on he habitually rehearsed with a cigar clamped in his teeth so the rehearsal could not be cut into the film.Per his entry on the 1910 U.S. Census in St. Louis, his paternal grandmother was a Hindu woman from India.