Keith David
☼ Born on 4 December 1956, in New York City, New York, USA
Biography
Keith David is a classically trained actor, winning 3 Emmys out of 6 nominations as well as being nominated for a Tony award. He starred in the recently concluded TV series "Greenleaf" for Oprah Winfrey's OWN network. Upcoming films include "Horizon Line" with Allison Williams ("Get Out") and "Black As Night," for Amazon.
In "Greenleaf" Keith portrayed 'Bishop James Greenleaf', the charismatic and God-fearing leader of the Calvary Fellowship and the patriarch of the family. The series followed the unscrupulous world of the Greenleaf family, their scandalous secrets and lies, and their sprawling Memphis megachurch. The series was praised for its push and pull dynamic, its hypocrisy, and its compelling characters. Keith's stellar performance was best stated by The Hollywood Reporter, "... Keith David ...is perfectly cast as Bishop Greenleaf. Whether he's playing to the congregation at the altar or getting conspiratorial in a smaller venue, this is an unusually great and meaty role for David."
On the big screen, Keith co-starred with Chadwick Boseman in "21 Bridges". Prior credits include "Night School" with Kevin Hart and Tiffany Haddish and "Tales from the Hood 2". Additional titles include the Academy award-winning films "Crash" and "Platoon." He is widely recognized for appearing in the highly-acclaimed films Disney's "The Princess and the Frog", "Requiem for a Dream", "Men at Work", "They Live", "There's Something About Mary", and "The Thing."
Other recent TV credits incl
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ude an upcoming appearance on "Creepshow," "NCIS: New Orleans", "Blackish," MacGyver", and "Fresh Off the Boat". Earlier credits include "Community", "Enlisted", "ER", and "Mister Roger's Neighborhood". On Broadway, Keith starred in August Wilson's "Seven Guitars" and "Jelly's Last Jam" for which he garnered a Tony Award nomination for Best Supporting Actor in a Musical.
Keith's work as a voice actor has made him a household name. His rich and powerful voice has been featured in national commercials, award shows, documentaries, video games, and animation. His work in narration has earned him three Emmys for Ken Burns' "Jackie Robinson", "The War", and "Unforgivable Blackness - The Rise and Fall of Jack Johnson". Some of his other voice acting credits include countless fan favorites such as "Adventure Time", "Bojack Horseman," "Rick & Morty", "Spawn", and "Gargoyles". Keith has lent his voice to many video game titles. Recently he portrayed the character "Spawn" in the reboot of the "Mortal Kombat" video game. Other appearances include the "Halo" series (games 2, 3, and 5), the "Saint's Row" series (games 1, 2, and 4), as well as the "Mass Effect" series (games 1,2, and 3).
Born and raised in New York by his parents Lester and Dolores, Keith became interested in the arts at a very young age. After appearing in his school's production of "The Wizard of Oz", he knew this was what he wanted to do for the rest of his life. He enrolled in New York's High School of the Performing Arts and continued his studies at The Juilliard School. After graduation, he was immediately hired by Joseph Papp as an understudy for the role of Tullus Aufidius in William Shakespeare's "Coriolanus." His work with Mr. Papp and the New York Shakespeare Festival launched his incredible career.
In addition to his versatile acting and voiceover work, Keith is also a remarkable singer. He's has been touring in 2 shows, "Too Marvelous for Words", in which he portrays the legendary singer Nat King Cole, and a show about the incredible Blues singer Joe Williams, "Here's to Life."
Twitter: @ImKeithDavid Instagram: @SilverThroat Facebook: @ImKeithDavid
In the role of actor
Shelby Oaks – Fantasia 2024 (21/07/2024)
A woman refuses to give up hope looking for her missing YouTuber sister in Shelby Oaks. Riley Brennan (Sarah Durn) was the post of the popular ghost-hunting YouTube series Paranormal Paranoids. In 2008, Riley and her team went missing after investigating the ghost town of Shelby Oaks, Ohio, known for its supposedly haunted amusement park. […]
American Fiction – TIFF 2023 (09/09/2023)
An African-American author’s satirical novel becomes a sudden and unexpected hit in American Fiction. Thelonious “Monk” Ellison (Jeffrey Wright) is an author and English professor, who is placed on a leave of absence after a confrontation with an overtly politically correct student. In addition, Monk is informed by his literary agent Arthur (John Ortiz) that […]
NOPE (22/07/2022)
The owners of a horse ranch try to capture proof of a UFO in the area in NOPE. OJ Haywood (Daniel Kaluuya) is the owner of the Haywood Hollywood Horse ranch, who has been struggling to make ends meets after the sudden unexplained death of his father Otis Haywood Sr. (Keith David) six months earlier. […]
The Lion King (21/07/2019)
The animated classic receives a photorealistic update with The Lion King. The son of Mufasa (James Earl Jones) and Sarabi (Alfre Woodard), young Simba (JD McCrary) is destined to one day become the king of the Pride Lands. However, Mufasa’s jealous brother Scar (Chiwetel Ejiofor) plots to usurp the throne for his own, with the […]
Night School (28/09/2018)
A high school dropout sets out to earn his GED in Night School. Teddy Walker (Kevin Hart) is a high school dropout, who tries very hard to hide this fact from his fiance Lisa (Megalyn Echikunwoke), out of fear that she’s out of his league. When Teddy suddenly finds himself out of work, he is offered a […]
Lion (10/12/2016)
An Indian man raised in Australia tries to find his hometown with the help of Google Earth in Lion. Saroo (Sunny Pawar) is an Indian boy living with his mother Kamla (Priyanka Bose) and older brother Guddu (Abhishek Bharate) in an impoverished neighborhood. One day Saroo accompanies Guddu on trip and is left by his […]
The Nice Guys (24/05/2016)
A private investigator and enforcer reluctantly team up to locate a missing woman in The Nice Guys. Holland March (Ryan Gosling) is a private investigator in 1977 Los Angeles, who is currently looking for a missing girl named Amelia Kutner (Margaret Qualley). However, Amelia doesn’t want to be found and hires Jackson Healy (Russell Crowe) to tell […]
Cloud Atlas (10/12/2012)
Six weeks into its release, I finally caught up with Cloud Atlas, the epic multi-story film directed by the collaboration of Tom Tykwer (Run Lola Run) and Andy and Lana Wachowski (The Matrix). The film is based on the novel of the same name by David Mitchell and features a large ensemble cast that includes […]
Death at a Funeral (2010) (24/04/2010)
I should make clear that there was no reason to remake the Frank Oz-directed 2007 original other than the fact that it was British and had a limited release. That said, the Chris Rock-starring remake ended up being not all that bad and I was pleasantly surprised by the film. For the most part the […]
Coraline (12/02/2009)
After directing two feature-length stop-motion films under the production of Tim Burton (those being The Nightmare Before Christmas and James and the Giant Peach), Henry Selick branches out on his own for Coraline. Of course, even though Burton is not involved with the film, you can feel a Burtonesque influence throughout. I thought the film […]