Keith David

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Date of Birth : Jun 4th 1956

An American film, television, and voice actor most known for his roles as Childs in John Carpenter’s The Thing, Goliath in the cartoon Gargoyles, playing the Arbiter in Halo 2 and Halo 3, as well as voice overs for Navy recruitment commercials.

David was born Keith David Williams in Harlem, New York City to Delores (Dickenson) and Lester Williams. He 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 Performing Arts.

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 also played Keith, the game coin collector in an episode where Rogers and a small child learn to play the arcade game Donkey Kong.

He went on to appear in films such as They Live, Platoon, Road House, Men at Work and Stars and Bars. He played the character of Kirby, the one legged war veteran, in the acclaimed 1995 Hughes Brothers film Dead Presidents and 1995 Spike 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.

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 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; later reprising that role in the Xbox 360 follow-up, Halo 3. He will also play the role of Admiral David Anderson in Bioware’s Mass Effect on Xbox 360.