Keith David Williams (born June 4, 1956), better known as Keith David, is an American film, television, voice actor, and singer. He is perhaps most known for his live-action roles in such films as Crash, There's Something About Mary, Barbershop and Men at Work. He has also had memorable roles in numerous cult favorites, including John Carpenter's films The Thing (as Childs) and They Live (as Armitage), the Riddick films Pitch Black and The Chronicles of Riddick (as the Imam), the General in Armageddon, King in Oliver Stone's Platoon, and Big Tim in Darren Aronofsky's Requiem for a Dream. David is also well known for his voice over career, primarily his Emmy winning work as the narrator of numerous Ken Burns films. Characters that he has voiced include Goliath on the Disney series Gargoyles, Spawn/Al Simmons on Todd McFarlane's "Spawn: The Animated Series" which aired on HBO, the Arbiter in Halo 2 and Halo 3, David Anderson in the Mass Effect series, the Decepticon Barricade in Transformers: The Game, Julius Little in Saints Row and Saints Row 2, Sgt. Foley in Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2, Dr. Facilier in The Princess and the Frog, and Chaos in Dissidia Final Fantasy and Dissidia 012 Final Fantasy.
Following the film Platoon , Charlie Sheen - who starred in the film - did a TV interview and credits David with saving his life. While shooting in an open-doored Huey gunship, the helicopter banked too hard, and Sheen was thrown towards - and would have gone through - the open door. David grabbed Sheen by the back and pulled him back in.
Very popular voice-over actor.
Took over as narrator for the documentary series "City Confidential" after the death of Paul Winfield.
Nominated for Broadways 1992 Tony Award as Best Actor (Featured Role - Musical) for "Jellys Last Jam".
Frequent voice collaborator with fellow voice actor Ron Perlman. Computer games: Fallout: A Post-Nuclear Role-Playing Game , Lords of EverQuest , Halo 2 , Halo 3 . Animated series: "Aladdin" , "Fantastic Four" , "Justice League" , "Teen Titans" . And they have both had a guest appearance on the television series "The Outer Limits" .
His ex-wife attended Hunter College of the City University of New York (CUNY) with Lisa Nicole Carson where they both appeared (and worked backstage) in theater department productions.
Studied acting with Michael Howard in New York City.
In February 2010, he became the first actor to provide his voice for two films nominated for Academy Awards for Best Animated Feature. He played the role of The Cat in Coraline and the villain Dr. Facilier in The Princess and the Frog .
Profiled in "Character Kings: Hollywoods Familiar Faces Discuss the Art & Business of Acting" by Scott Voisin.
Has three children: daughters Ruby and Maelee with his current wife and a son Owen from his previous marriage to Margit.
Not to be confused with fellow actor David Keith.
Parents are Lester and Dolores Williams.
He appeared in two Best Picture Academy Award winners: Platoon and Crash .
Has portrayed both President and Vice President of the United States in instances of aliens threatening to destroy Earth in his voiceover work. Played himself as Vice President Keith David in the video game Saints Row 4 and played "The President" in season 2, episode 5 of Rick & Morty titled, "Get Schwifty". Mr. Davids success rate stands at 50%. As President, Earth survived the "Cromulons" test. Against the Zin in Saints Row 4 however, the Earth did not fare quite as well, although some of humanity (those abducted by the Zin) did survive.
He was awarded the 1996 Drama Logue Award for Performance for "Seven Guitars" at the Ahmanson Theatre in Los Angeles, California.
He was awarded the 1991 Drama Logue Award for Outstanding Lead Performance for "Jellys Last Jam" at the Mark Taper Forum Theatre in Los Angeles, California.
Actually, I wanted to be an actor when I was two years old.
I came out singing, the doctor slapped me on the head, and I started,singing.
I am working on my nightclub act, definitely want to do more singing.
Well, you know, I played Mufasa in the workshop of The Lion King.
My whole life, I always wanted to be an actor.
I loved old movies as a kid, so I always watched old movies.
