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Keith David (born June 4, 1956) is an American film, television, and voice actor.

Early life

David was born in Harlem, New York City and 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 1980–81, 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 went on to appear in films such as They Live,Platoon, Road House, Men at Work and Stars and Bars. His role in They Live is most memorable for an interminably long alleyway brawl with Roddy Piper that lasts nearly seven minutes onscreen; they fight over whether Keith will wear a pair of sunglasses.

He played the character of Kirby, the one legged war veteran, in the acclaimed 1995 Hughes Brothers film Dead Presidents 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.

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 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 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. 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. He provides the voice for Julius in the 2006 Xbox 360 game Saints Row.

Radio

• Recorded a public service announcement for Deejay Ra's 'Hip-Hop Literacy' campaign

• Keith David also voices the US Navy's TV and radio recruiting comercials with the slogan "Accelerate Your Life".

Stage acting

In 1992 he 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. He succeeds the late Paul Winfield as narrator of the long-running A&E programme, City Confidential.

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

External links

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