Keith David: Difference between revisions

{{Status|RealWorld}}

[[File:Keith David.jpg|200px|thumb|Keith David.]]

[[File:Voiceactor_-_Thel_Vadum.png|200px|thumb|Keith David in a voice test in Bungie Studios]]

'''Keith David''' is an African American voice actor. He voiced the [[Arbiter]], [[Thel 'Vadam]], in ''[[Halo 2]]'', ''[[Halo 3]]'', the [[The Hunter and the Hunted|announcement trailer]] of ''[[Halo: The Master Chief Collection]]'' and ''[[Halo 5: Guardians]]''.

He was born in Harlem, [[New York City]] on June 4, 1956. David 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 New York's [[wikipedia:High School of the Performing Arts|High School of the Performing Arts]].

His first acting job was an unaccredited role as a disco club patron in ''[[wikipedia:Disco Godfather|Disco Godfather]]'' in 1979, but it was his starring role as Childs less than two years later when he went on to star opposite Kurt Russell in John Carpenter's ''[[wikipedia:The Thing (film)|The Thing]]'' that bought him attention as an actor.

He went on to appear in films such as ''[[wikipedia:They Live|They Live]]'', ''[[wikipedia:Platoon (movie)|Platoon]]'' (usually considered his best film), ''[[wikipedia:Road House (1989 film)|Road House]]'', and ''[[wikipedia:Stars and Bars (movie)|Stars and Bars]]''. His role in ''They Live'' is most memorable for an alleyway brawl with Roddy Piper that was the longest fight sequence in cinema history at the time, lasting nearly seven minutes on-screen, and all over wearing a pair of sunglasses. In the early 1990s he received a Tony Award nomination for Best Supporting Actor in a Musical. He also played the role of Steven Seagal's best friend and partner in ''Marked For Death''.

He played the character of Kirby the one legged war veteran in the acclaimed 1995 Hughes Brothers film ''[[wikipedia:Dead Presidents|Dead Presidents]]'' and followed this up with roles in big films such as ''[[wikipedia:Volcano (movie)|Volcano]]'', ''[[wikipedia:Armageddon (movie)|Armageddon]]'', ''[[wikipedia:There's Something About Mary|There's Something About Mary]]'', ''[[wikipedia:Pitch Black|Pitch Black]]'', ''[[wikipedia:Barbershop (movie)|Barbershop]]'', ''[[wikipedia:Chronicles of Riddick|Chronicles of Riddick]]'', ''[[wikipedia:Agent Cody Banks|Agent Cody Banks]]'', ''[[wikipedia:Delta Farce|Delta Farce]]'', and ''[[wikipedia:Crash (2004 film)|Crash]]''

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 ''[[wikipedia:Gargoyles (animated series)|Gargoyles]]'' and the title character in the ''[[wikipedia:Spawn (comics)|Spawn]]'' animated series. He provided the voice for the character of Vhailor in the video game ''[[wikipedia:Planescape: Torment|Planescape: Torment]]''. His voice narrated the 2001 documentary series ''[[wikipedia:Jazz (documentary)|Jazz]]'' by Ken Burns and is also popular in advertising, and has done voice-over work for countless other documentaries and most recently the highly successful games ''[[Halo 2]]'' and ''[[Halo 3]]'' by [[Bungie Studios]]. He has also voiced [http://masseffect.wikia.com/wiki/Anderson Captain David Anderson] in the game ''[http://masseffect.wikia.com/wiki/Mass_Effect Mass Effect]'' (he also reprises his role in ''[http://masseffect.wikia.com/wiki/Mass_Effect_2 Mass Effect 2]'' and ''[http://masseffect.wikia.com/wiki/Mass_Effect_3 Mass Effect 3]'') and Julius Little in the games Saints Row and Saints Row 2. Most recently, he voiced Sergeant Foley, a U.S. Army Ranger in [http://callofduty.wikia.com/wiki/Call_of_Duty:_Modern_Warfare_2 Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2]. David also voiced Barricade in Transformers: the Game.

David received raves for his Shakespeare work on stage in Central Park, New York City. He now does the narration for A&E's show ''[[wikipedia:City Confidential|City Confidential]]'', succeeding Paul Winfield who died in 2004. He was also the narrator for a history channel documentary on comics.