Keith David Williams (born June 4, 1956) is an American actor, voice actor, and singer. His Emmy–winning voice-over career includes work as the narrator of Ken Burns films such as The War. Characters that he has voiced include the Arbiter in the Halo series, Goliath on Gargoyles, Al Simmons / Spawn on Todd McFarlane's Spawn, David Anderson in the Mass Effect series, Julius Little and himself in the Saints Row series, Sergeant Foley in Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2, Dr. Facilier in The Princess and the Frog, Chaos in Dissidia Final Fantasy and 012, the Flame King in Adventure Time, Solovar in The Flash, the President in Rick and Morty and the titan Bolo in Final Space.
Biography[]
David was born in Harlem and raised in Corona, Queens, both in New York City. His mother, Dolores (née Dickenson), was a manager at New York Telephone, and his father, Lester Williams, worked as a director of payroll operations.
He initially intended 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 High School of Performing Arts. He attended the Juilliard School's Drama Division (1975–1979, Group 8) where he graduated with a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in 1979.
From 1980–81, David toured 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 1980s 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.
Career[]
He went on to appear in films such as Oliver Stone's Platoon, The Quick and the Dead, They Live, Men at Work, Marked for Death, and Stars and Bars. He played Kirby in the 1995 film Dead Presidents, and he appeared in the 1995 Spike Lee film Clockers.
In voice acting, David is best known as the voice of Goliath from Gargoyles, the title character in the Spawn animated series, and Lemuel Kane in Archer. In the English dub of Princess Mononoke, David played the narrator and Okkoto. He played the role of Mama in the English dub of 3x3 Eyes. He provided the voice for the character Decker in the role-playing video game Fallout and the voice for the character Vhailor in Planescape: Torment. He provided the voice of the Arbiter for the video game Halo 2, later reprising that role in the Xbox 360 follow-up Halo 3. He portrayed the character again in Halo: The Master Chief Collection and also in Halo 5: Guardians, released in 2014 and 2015 respectively. He played the role of Captain David Anderson in BioWare's Mass Effect series.
He has worked with documentary filmmaker Ken Burns several times, narrating Burns' Jazz, Mark Twain, The War, Unforgivable Blackness: The Rise and Fall of Jack Johnson, and Jackie Robinson. David won the Emmy Award for Outstanding Voice-Over Performance for his work in The War and Unforgivable Blackness. He performs the narration duties in the BBC documentary, World War II: Behind Closed Doors.
The 2004 PBS documentary Ancient Refuge in the Holy Land and the 2005 History Channel documentary Crusades: Crescent & the Cross focusing on the medieval Crusades were both narrated by him, as well as the 2003 National Geographic documentary Inside Mecca. He later parodied his documentary work by narrating the 2012 episode of Community, Pillows & Blankets, a mockumentary revolving around a pillow fight between rival blanket forts.
He voiced Apollo the Sun God in Hercules, Council Member in Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within, the Black Cat in Coraline, Sergeant Foley in Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2, Dr. Facilier in The Princess and the Frog, and the Big Man for The Spectacular Spider-Man episode "Survival of the Fittest".
On May 25, 2008, he narrated Kansas City's Celebration at the Station, a Memorial Day service held annually at the World War I Memorial across from Union Station. During the ceremony, he announced the attendance of Frank W. Buckles, the last living veteran of World War I. He was the voice of Frederick Douglass in the third episode of the PBS documentary God in America: How Religious Liberty Shaped America in 2010.
David returned in the Saints Row series' newest title Saints Row IV and voices himself and Julius as well. It is mentioned repeatedly during SR4, however, that he and Julius share more than a passing resemblance, much to the chagrin of Keith (the character). He is the narrator of the History Channel series The Bible which premiered on March 3, 2013.
David voiced the superhero gorilla Solovar in the two-part Gorilla City episode of The Flash. Keith David also has a recurring role as the President of the United States in the adult animated show Rick and Morty.
Filmography[]
Animation Dubbing[]
Animated Films[]
- Kaena: The Prophecy (2003) - Voxem
- Birds of Paradise (2010) - Old Buzzard
- Snowflake, the White Gorilla (2011) - Anvil (Simka Dub)
- Frog Kingdom (2013) - Frog King
- Huevos: Little Rooster's Egg-cellent Adventure (2015) - Don Alfonso
Anime Dubbing[]
Anime[]
- Pluto (2023) - Dr. Tenma
OVAs & Specials[]
- 3x3 Eyes (1991-1992) - Mama, Cop (ep. 1) (Geneon Dub)
Anime Films[]
- Princess Mononoke (1997) - Okkoto, Narrator
External Links[]
- Keith David at the Internet Movie Database
- Keith David at Anime News Network's encyclopedia