Keith David
Born	June 4, 1956(1956-06-04) New York City, New York, U.S.
Years active	1980 â€" present

Keith David (born June 4, 1956) is an American film, television, and voice actor most known for his roles as Goliath in the cartoon Gargoyles as well as voice overs for Navy recruitment commercials.

Biography

Early life

David was born Keith David Williams in Harlem, New York City to Delores (Dickenson) and Lester Williams.[1] He first knew he was going to become an actor after playing the Cowardly Lion in a school production of The Wizard of Oz and went on to study at Manhattan's School of the Performing Arts.

Film and television acting

In 1980â€"81, David honed his craft touring the country with John Houseman's The Acting Company in productions of A Midsummer Night's Dream and Samuel Beckett's Waiting For Godot. Less than two years later he went on to star as Childs, opposite Kurt Russell in John Carpenter's The Thing, and his lengthy on-screen career had begun. In the '80s run of Mister Rogers' Neighborhood, he portrayed Keith the Southwood Carpenter in the Neighborhood of Make-Believe segments. He also played Keith, the game coin collector in an episode where Rogers and a small child learn to play the arcade game Donkey Kong.

He went on to appear in films such as They Live, Platoon, Road House, Men at Work and Stars and Bars. He played the character of Kirby, the one legged war veteran, in the acclaimed 1995 Hughes Brothers film Dead Presidents and 1995 Spike Lee's film "Clockers" and followed this up with roles in big films such as Volcano, Armageddon, There's Something About Mary, Pitch Black, Barbershop, Agent Cody Banks, The Chronicles of Riddick, and most recently in the critically acclaimed Crash and the film ATL.

At the same time he has appeared in numerous independent films including the critically-acclaimed Requiem for a Dream. He has also appeared extensively in TV productions since the 1980s and as a regular character Lieutenant Williams on the short-lived TV series The Job. In 2004, he had small role in the Chris Rock film Head Of State

Voice acting

Although known for his roles in films and TV, he has also done extensive voice-acting work, and is noted for his deep, commanding voice. He is known most notably as the voice behind Goliath from Gargoyles and the title character in the Spawn animated series. In the English dub of Princess Mononoke, David played the narrator and Okkoto. Additionally, he provided the voice for the character Decker in the CRPG Fallout and also the voice for the character Vhailor in a similar CRPG Planescape: Torment. David also provided the voice of the Arbiter for the video game Halo 2, released in 2004; he will also reprise his role as the Arbiter in the upcoming Xbox 360 game, Halo 3. Keith David lends his voice to the 'Captain' in the new official promo trailer[2] to Bioware's Mass Effect on Xbox 360.

He narrated the 2001 documentary series Jazz by Ken Burns and is also popular in advertising, particularly in United States Navy recruitment commercials. He has done voice-over work for many other documentaries including several for National Geographic. He also currently performs narration for the popular A&E show City Confidential, taking over after the 2004 death of the original narrator Paul Winfield, and also voiced the trailer for the movie Primeval which was released in the U.S. on January 12, 2007.

Keith also provides the voice for Julius in the 2006 Xbox 360 game Saints Row. Other voice roles include Bebe Proud Clone from The Proud Family Movie, Atlas from the Teen Titans animated series and the Decepticon Barricade in Transformers: The Game.

David is the voice for BMW commercials. He also recorded a public service announcement for Deejay Ra's 'Hip-Hop Literacy' campaign and voices the US Navy's TV and radio recruiting comercials with the slogan "Accelerate Your Life". David also does voiceovers for promos on the Versus Network, particularly college football.

Stage acting

In 1992, David received a Tony Award nomination for Best Supporting Actor in a Musical for his performance in Jelly's Last Jam. David received raves for his Shakespeare work on stage in Central Park, New York City.

As of May 2006, he was appearing in the musical Hot Feet on Broadway in New York.

Filmography

• The Thing (1982)
• Platoon (1986)
• They Live (1988)
• Road House (1989)
• Men at Work (1990)
• Marked for Death (1990)
• Clockers (1995)
• Dead Presidents (1995)
• The Quick and the Dead (1995)
• Volcano (1997)
• Armageddon (1998)
• There's Something About Mary (1998)
• Pitch Black (2000)
• Requiem for a Dream (2000)
• Barbershop (2002)
• Agent Cody Banks (2003)
• The Chronicles of Riddick (2004)
• Crash (2004)
• Mr. & Mrs. Smith (2005)
• ATL (2006)
• Delta Farce (2007)

Voice work

• Christmas in Tattertown (1987)
• 3x3 Eyes (1991)
• Fantastic Four (1995)
• Yellowstone: Realm of the Coyote (1995)
• Gargoyles (1994-1997)
• Hercules (1997)
• Spawn: The Animation (1997)
• Princess Mononoke (1997)
• Fallout (1997)
• Hercules: The Animated Series (1998)
• Spawn 3: Ultimate Battle (1999)
• Planescape: Torment (1999)
• The Legend of Tarzan (2001)
• Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within (2001)
• House of Mouse (2001-2002)
• PBS Hollywood Presents (2001)
• Tales From the Crypt: Fare Tonight, Followed by Increasing Clottiness! (2002)
• Lords of Everquest (2003)
• Justice League (2003)
• Spider-Man: The New Animated Series (2003)
• Kaena: The Prophecy (2003)
• Beef II (2004)
• The Chronicles of Riddick: Dark Fury (2004)
• Teen Titans (2004)
• Halo 2 (2004)
• City Confidential (2004)
• The Proud Family Movie (2005)
• Saints Row (2006)
• Walking the Bible (2006) - narrator of Torah passages
• Halo 3 (2007)
• Primeval (movie trailer) (2007)
• Transformers: The Game (2007)
• Mass Effect (2007)

References

External links

• Keith David at the Internet Movie Database
• Keith David at the Notable Names Database
• Keith David at the Internet Broadway Database