Unforgivable Blackness

Background:

An African-American film, TV, stage and voice actor who started out as a child performer, Keith David has made a name for himself in the entertainment industry. On the silver screen, the veteran actor first came to fame as Childs in John Carpenter's “The Thing” (1982), his film debut, and continued to build a good reputation with performances in such movies as Oliver Stone's “Platoon” (1986), Clint Eastwood's “Bird” (1988), the cult classic “They Live” (1988, again directed by Carpenter), “Article 99” (1992), Sam Raimi's “The Quick and the Dead,” Spike Lee's “Clockers,” “Blue in the Face,” “Dead Presidents” (all 1995) and more recently, the Oscar darling “Crash” (2005). He also has acted in such big films as “Armageddon” (1998), “Pitch Black” (2000), “Barbershop” (2002), “Agent Cody Banks” (2003), “Mr. and Mrs. Smith” (2005), “Transporter 2” (2005), “ATL” (2006) and “Delta Farce” (2007). On the small screen, David was handed his second Daytime Emmy nomination for his work in the biographical film “The Tiger Woods Story” (1998). He played regular roles in “The Job” (2001) and “The Big House” (2004), and guest starred in several popular series, including “Law & Order” and “CSI: Crime Scene Investigation.” On stage, the actor was nominated for a Tony Award for his performance in “Jelly's Last Jam” (1992).

As one of the top narrators and voice over artists in the industry, David, with his deep, commanding voice, won an Emmy Award for his narration in the Ken Burns-directed documentary “Unforgivable Blackness: The Rise and Fall of Jack Johnson” (2004). He is also famous among animation fans for voicing Spawn in the HBO series of the same name (1997-1999) and Goliath in “Gargoyles” (1994-1996), from which he nabbed a Daytime Emmy nomination. He has voiced several video games, including “Halo 2” and “Halo 3.”

New Yorker

Childhood and Family:

The son of Delores (Dickenson) and Lester Williams, Keith David Williams was born on June 4, 1956, in Harlem, New York. He attended the celebrated School of Performing Arts in Manhattan and after graduating in 1975, he studied at The Juilliard School, from which he received a BFA degree in theater and voice in 1979.

On September 22, 1990, Keith married Margit Edwards Williams. They later divorced.

Crash

Career:

Keith David started performing as a child by singing in the All Borough Chorus in New York and knew he wanted to become an actor after playing the Cowardly Lion in a school production of “The Wizard of Oz.” A graduate of Manhattan's High School of Performing Arts, David got a role in a production of “Coriolanus” (1979) at the Joseph Papp's Public Theater shortly after graduating from Juilliard. His costar in the play was Christopher Walken. Next, he understudied Raul Julia in the title role of “Othello” at the Shakespeare Festival in Central Park and made his Broadway debut in 1980 with Edward Albee's “The Lady From Dubuque.” He went on to tour the country with John Houseman's The Acting Company in productions of “A Midsummer Night's Dream” and Samuel Beckett's “Waiting For Godot” (1980-1981).

David appeared on the big screen in 1982 with the supporting role of Childs in the John Carpenter-directed “The Thing,” starring Kurt Russell. It was during the production of the film that David received the nickname “Chocolate Thunder” from Russell. The film paved the way for David's now-successful film career. He, however, did not appear in another motion picture until 1986's “Platoon,” a multiple Oscar-winning war movie directed and written by Oliver Stone. Costarring with Charlie Sheen, Forest Whitaker and Tom Berenger, among others, the actor earned critical praise for his performance as King. David switched between work on television and stage. One of his TV gigs was Keith the Southwood Carpenter on the series “MisteRogers' Neighborhood,” a role he played from 1983 to 1985.

In 1988, David appeared in five projects, including Christopher Crowe's “Off Limits,” “Stars and Bars” opposite Daniel Day-Lewis and Harry Dean Stanton, and “They Live,” which was again directed by John Carpenter. He also delivered a strong performance as jazz saxophonist Buster Franklin in “Bird” (1988), for director Clint Eastwood. He continued to play roles in such films as “Road House” (1989), “Men at Work” (1990) and “Marked for Death” (1990) before giving another memorable performance in 1992's “Article 99,” this time as a sick Vietnam veteran named Luther Jermoe, opposite Ray Liotta, Kiefer Sutherland and Forest Whitaker. 1992 also saw David return to Broadway with triumph in the musical production of “Jelly's Last Jam,” alongside Gregory Hines. The actor received critical praise and a Tony nomination for Best Supporting Actor in a Musical for his work in the play.

It was in 1995 that David scored his real banner year. First, he memorably portrayed a gunslinger hired to kill Gene Hackman in Sam Raimi's “The Quick and the Dead” and then was cast as a hard-bitten New York cop, Andre the Giant, in the Spike Lee crime/drama “Clockers,” opposite Harvey Keitel and John Turturro. He was outstanding as Jackie Robinson in “Blue in the Face” and as a one-legged proprietor of a pool parlor in the acclaimed Hughes Brothers movie “Dead Presidents.” Still in 1995, he could also be seen starring on August Wilson's “Seven Guitars” on Broadway.

The following years found David appearing in such big movies as “Volcano” (1997), the mega-hit “Armageddon” (1998, as Lt. General Kimsey) and the Cameron Diaz vehicle “Something About Mary” (1998, as Diaz's rambunctious stepfather). Still a regular presence on the small screen, he was cast as the father of golf great Tiger Woods in the made-for-TV film “The Tiger Woods Story,” from which he received a 1999 Daytime Emmy for Outstanding Performer in a Children's Special. David also enjoyed success as a voice actor with his role of Goliath in the cartoon series “Gargoyles” (1994-1996) and “Gargoyles: The Goliath Chronicles” (1996) and was nominated for a 1996 Daytime Emmy in the category of Outstanding Performer in an Animated Program for his work in the series. He also reprised the role in several videos in 1998. Other notable voice credits included the Disney animated feature “Hercules” (1997), the HBO cartoon series “Todd McFarlane's 'Spawn'” (1997-1999) and the English-dubbed version of the Japanese-animated film “Princess Mononoke” (1997).

Entering the new millennium, David teamed up with Vin Diesel and Radha Mitchell to star in the adventure film “Pitch Black” (2000), a role he later recreated for the 2004 sequel “The Chronicles of Riddick.” He next had a pivotal role as a drug trader named Big Tim in the critically-acclaimed independent film “Requiem for a Dream” (2000), joined the cast of the acclaimed ensemble of the comedy hit film “Barbershop” (2002), appeared as The Sheriff in the thriller “29 Palms” (2002), was featured alongside young actors such as Frankie Muniz, Hilary Duff and Angie Harmon in “Agent Cody Banks” (2003), a role which he reprised in the 2004 installment “Agent Cody Banks 2,” and played the boss of Harrison Ford in the action/comedy “Hollywood Homicide” (2003). He also had a small part in the Chris Rock film “Head Of State” (2003).

Meanwhile, David was also busy pursuing his TV career. He had regular roles as Lieutenant Williams on the soon-canceled series “The Job” (2001) and Clarence on the Fox comedy “The Big House” (2004) and made guest appearances in several series, including “The Outer Limits” (2000), “Law & Order” (2001), “Going to California” (2001), “CSI: Crime Scene Investigation” (2003) and “Teen Titans” (2004). His voice could be heard in episodes of “House of Mouse” (2001-2002), Disney's “The Legend of Tarzan” (2003) and “Justice League” (2003). David narrated the documentary “Unforgivable Blackness: The Rise and Fall of Jack Johnson” (2004), for director Ken Burns, and nabbed a 2005 Emmy for Outstanding Voice-Over Performance for his work in the project.

David portrayed Lt. Dixon in the critically acclaimed “Crash” (2006), which was debuted at the Toronto Film Festival on September 10, 2004. Directed by Paul Haggis, the crime/drama was nominated for six Oscars. He continued to play roles in movies like the highly anticipated “Mr. and Mrs. Smith” (2005), starring Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie, the Luc Besson-written “Transporter 2” (2005), the crime drama “Dirty” (2005, with Cuba Gooding Jr.), “Behind Enemy Lines II: Axis of Evil” (2006) and the Chris Robinson-directed drama “ATL” (2006). David played recurring roles in the series “7th Heaven” (2006, as Stanley Sunday) and the long-running series “ER” (2006-2007, as Pastor Watkins).

Recently appearing in the movies “If I Had Known I Was a Genius” (2007), “The Last Sentinel” (2007) and the comedy “Delta Farce” (2007), David will portray Max “Coolbreeze” Templeton in the action/comedy “The Fifth Commandment” and appear in the sport-themed “Chasing 3000” (both 2008). He is also set to have roles in other upcoming projects, including “Beautiful Loser” (2007), “Seducing Spirits” (2007), “The Sensei” (2007), “Something Like a Business” (2008), “Coraline” (2008), “Between Heaven and Earth” (2008) and “The Princess and the Frog” (2009). On television, David, who recently became the narrator for the 2007 documentary “The War” by Ken Burns, is scheduled to reprise his voice role of Spawn for the fantasy series “Spawn: The Animation” (2008).

Awards:

• Emmy: Outstanding Voice-Over Performance, “Unforgivable Blackness: The Rise and Fall of Jack Johnson,” 2005