- Keith David
Infobox actor
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birthdate = Birth date and age|1956|6|4|mf=y
birthplace =New York City, New York , U.S.
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yearsactive = 1980 – present
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emmyawards = awd|Outstanding Voice-Over Performance|2005|Unforgivable Blackness |awd|Outstanding Voice-Over Performance|2008|The War |Keith David (born
June 4 ,1956 ) is anEmmy Award -winning African-Americanfilm ,television , and voiceactor . He is perhaps most known for his roles as Childs in John Carpenter's "The Thing", King inOliver Stone 's "Platoon", voicing Goliath on theDisney series "Gargoyles", playing the Arbiter in "Halo 2 " and "Halo 3 ",Julius Little in theXbox 360 game "Saints Row " and Big Tim in "Requiem for a Dream ", as well as voice overs forUnited States Navy recruitment commercials and the voice of Captain David Anderson in theXbox 360 game "Mass Effect ".Biography
Early life
David was born Keith David Williams in
Harlem ,New York City , the son of Delores (née Dickenson) and Lester Williams. [ [http://www.filmreference.com/film/28/Keith-David.html Keith David Biography (1956?-) ] ] He first knew he was going to become an actor after playing theCowardly Lion in a school production of "The Wizard of Oz" and went on to study at Manhattan'sSchool of Performing Arts .Film and television acting
In 1980–81, David honed his craft touring the country with
John Houseman 'sThe Acting Company in productions of "A Midsummer Night's Dream " andSamuel Beckett 's "Waiting For Godot ". Less than two years later he went on to star as Childs, oppositeKurt Russell inJohn 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 theNeighborhood of Make-Believe segments. He also played Keith, the game coin collector in an episode where Rogers and a small child learn to play thearcade game "Donkey Kong".He went on to appear in films such as "
They Live " (reuniting with his "Thing" director,John Carpenter ), "Road House", "Men at Work", "Marked for Death ", "Stars and Bars", andOliver Stone 's Platoon. He played the character of Kirby, the one legged war veteran, in the acclaimed 1995Hughes Brothers film "Dead Presidents " and 1995Spike 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 ", playing the role of Big Tim and speaking the famous line "I know it's pretty baby, but I didn't take it out for air." to a desperateJennifer Connelly . 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". Most recently, he was the narrator for the documentary "The War" byKen Burns .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 theCRPG "Fallout" and also the voice for the character Vhailor in a similarCRPG "". David also provided the voice of the Arbiter for the video game "Halo 2 ", released in 2004; later reprising that role in theXbox 360 follow-up, "Halo 3 ". He also played the role of Captain David Anderson inBioWare 's "Mass Effect " onXbox 360 . David can also be heard on the intro of severalIce Cube projects, includingWestside Connection 's 2003 release,Terrorist Threats , andIce Cube 's 8th solo album,Raw Footage .He has worked with documentary filmmaker
Ken Burns several times, narrating Burns's "Jazz", "Mark Twain", "The War", and "". David won theEmmy Award for Outstanding Voice-Over Performance for his work in the latter two films.David is also popular in advertising, particularly in
United States Navy recruitment commercials. He has done voice-over work for many other documentaries including several forNational Geographic and the documentary "Comicbook Superheroes Unmasked " for the History Channel. He also currently performs narration for the popular A&E show "City Confidential ", taking over after the 2004 death of the original narratorPaul Winfield , and also voiced the trailer for the movie "Primeval " which was released in the U.S. onJanuary 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 theDecepticon Barricade in "".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 commercials with the slogan "Accelerate Your Life". David also does voiceovers for promos on the Versus Network, particularly college football.David will also voice the character of "the cat" in the upcoming film adaptation of "Coraline".
On
July 5 ,2007 , it was reported that David would be doing the voice of Dr. Facilier, the villain of Disney's upcoming 2009 film, "The Princess and the Frog ".cite web | date=2007-07-05 | work=The Hollywood Reporter | accessdate=2007-07-05 | url=http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/hr/content_display/film/news/e3ib1ebc09603fb86d273ed37cc3efda00b | title=David hops aboard 'Frog']tage acting
In 1992, David received a
Tony Award nomination for Best Supporting Actor in a Musical for his performance inJelly'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)
* "The Whoopee Boys" (1986)
* "Platoon" (1986)
* "Stars and Bars" (1988)
* "They Live " (1988)
* "Road House" (1989)
* "Men at Work" (1990)
* "Marked for Death " (1990)
* "Final Analysis " (1992)
* "Clockers " (1995)
* "Dead Presidents " (1995)
* "The Quick and the Dead" (1995)
* "Eye for an Eye" (1996)
* "Volcano" (1997)
* "Loose Women" (1997) (cameo )
* "Armageddon" (1998)
* "There's Something About Mary " (1998)
* "Pitch Black" (2000)
* "Requiem for a Dream " (2000)
* "Where the Heart Is" (2000)
* "The Replacements" (2000)
* "Novocaine" (2001)
* "29 Palms" (2002)
* "Barbershop" (2002)
* "Agent Cody Banks " (2003)
* "Head of State" (2003)
* "Hollywood Homicide " (2003)
* "" (2004)
* "The Chronicles of Riddick " (2004)
* "Crash" (2004)
* "Mr. & Mrs. Smith" (2005)
* "Transporter 2 " (2005)
* "Dirty" (2005)
* "The Oh in Ohio " (2006)
* "Behind Enemy Lines II " (2006)
* "ATL" (2006)
* "If I Had Known I Was a Genius " (2007)
* "Delta Farce " (2007)
* "The Last Sentinel " (2007)
* "Beautiful Loser" (2008)
* "First Sunday " (2008)
* "Superhero Movie " (2008)
* "Chasing 3000 " (2008)
* "My Mom's New Boyfriend " (2008)
* "Charlie Valentine " (2009)Voice work
* "
Christmas in Tattertown " (1987)
* "3x3 Eyes " (1991)
* "Fantastic Four" (1995)
* "" (1995)
* "Gargoyles" (1994-1997)
* "Hercules" (1997)
* "" (1997)
* "Princess Mononoke " (1997)
* "Fallout" (1997)
* "" (1998)
* "" (1999)
* "" (1999)
* "The Legend of Tarzan " (2001)
* "" (2001)
* "House of Mouse " (2001-2002)
* "PBS Hollywood Presents " (2001)
* "Empires: Egypt's Golden Empire" (2001)
* "Jazz" (2001)
* "" (2002)
* "Lords of Everquest " (2003)
* "Justice League" (2003)
* "" (2003)
* "" (2003)
*Westside Connection :"Terrorist Threats " (intro) (2003)
* "Beef II " (2004)
* "" (2004)
* "Teen Titans" (2004)
* "Halo 2 " (2004)
* "Halo 3 " (2007)
* "City Confidential " (2004)
* "The Proud Family Movie " (2005)
* "Dirty " (2005)
* "Saints Row " (2006)
* "Walking the Bible" (2006) - narrator of Torah passages
* "Primeval (movie trailer) (2007)
* "" (2007)
* "Mass Effect " (2007)
* "The War" (2007)
* "" (2008)
* "TheNavy commercials -narrator
* "The Spectacular Spider-Man" (2008)
*Ice Cube : "Raw Footage " (intro) (2008)
* "Saints Row 2 " (2008)
* "Coraline" (2008)
* "The Princess and the Frog " (2009)References
The Princess and the Frog (2009)
External links
*imdb name|0202966|Keith David
*ibdb name|37388|Keith David
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