Keith David

Highest Rated: 100% Horror Noire: A History of Black Horror (2019)

Lowest Rated: 0% American Dresser (2018)

Birthday: Jun 4, 1956

Birthplace: Harlem, New York, USA

Actor, singer, and voice actor Keith David has spent much of his career on the stage, but also frequently works in feature films and on television. A native of New York City, David first performed as a child, singing in the All Borough Chorus and later attended the prestigious High School of Performing Arts. Shortly after graduating from Juilliard, where he studied voice and theater, David landed a role in a production of Coriolanus at Joseph Papp's Public Theater. He starred opposite Christopher Walken. David made his Broadway debut in Albee's The Lady From Dubuque (1980) and, two years later, had his first film role in John Carpenter's The Thing. He would not appear in another feature film until he played King in Oliver Stone's Platoon (1986). In between, David alternated between stage and television work. He appeared in five films in 1988, including Clint Eastwood's Bird, where he gave a memorable performance as jazz sax player Buster Franklin. In 1992, David showed his considerable skill as a singer and dancer and won a Tony nomination for starring in the musical Jelly's Last Jam, opposite Gregory Hines. David's film career really picked up in the mid-'90s, with roles ranging from a gunslinger in Sam Raimi's The Quick and the Dead to a New York cop in Spike Lee's Clockers to an amputee who owns a pool parlor in Dead Presidents (all 1995). In 1998, David had a brief but memorable role as Cameron Diaz's boisterous stepfather in the Farrelly brother's zany Something About Mary. In one of the film's funniest scenes, David tries to help Diaz's prom date, Ben Stiller, extricate himself from an embarrassingly sticky situation. He is also well known to animation fans for his voice work in, among other projects, Disney's Gargoyles, HBO's Spawn, and the English-dubbed version of the Japanese-animated film Princess Mononoke. In 2000 he appeared in Requiem for a Dream, Pitch Black, and Where the Heart Is, as well as providing the narration of Ken Burns documentary on the history of jazz. He continued to work steadily in a variety of projects including Barbershop, 29 Palms, Agent Cody Banks, Mr. and Mrs. Smith, and the 2005 Oscar winner for Best Picture, Crash. He also found work in Transporter 2, The Oh in Ohio, Meet Monica Velour, Lottery Ticket, and the 2010 remake of Death at a Funeral.

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Highest Rated Movies

Filmography

MOVIES

		CREDIT
No Score Yet	21 Bridges	Actor	—	2019
100%	Horror Noire: A History of Black Horror	Actor	—	2019
No Score Yet	The Wedding Year	Actor	—	2019
27%	Night School	Gerald	—	2018
43%	Ray Meets Helen	Harve	—	2018
25%	Love Jacked	Ed	—	2018
59%	You Might Be the Killer	Actor	—	2018
0%	American Dresser	Charlie	—	2018
71%	Tales from the Hood 2	Actor	—	2018
No Score Yet	Brothers in Arms	Actor	—	2018
No Score Yet	Union Furnace	Actor	—	2017
70%	Savage Dog	Valentine	—	2017
No Score Yet	Range 15	Colone Holloway	$1.5K	2016
93%	The Nice Guys	Older Guy	$32.3M	2016
2%	Nina	Clifton's Father	—	2016
No Score Yet	Dirty Lies	Doc	—	2016
No Score Yet	Boiling Pot	Agent Long	—	2015
No Score Yet	Frog Kingdom	Frog King	—	2015
No Score Yet	Kids vs Monsters	Barry	—	2015
40%	Field of Lost Shoes	Old Judge	—	2014
No Score Yet	Birds of Paradise	Actor	—	2014
18%	Free Birds	Chief Broadbeak	$46.7M	2013
No Score Yet	Samuel Bleak	Actor	—	2013
No Score Yet	Don't Pass Me By	David Knox	—	2013
No Score Yet	The Undershepherd	Brother Wilks	—	2013
No Score Yet	Sons Of Liberty	Actor	—	2013
No Score Yet	The North Star	Frederick Douglas	—	2013
No Score Yet	The Magic City	Actor	—	2013
No Score Yet	Christmas In Compton	Big Earl	—	2012
No Score Yet	The Last Fall	Sydney Bishop	—	2012
66%	Cloud Atlas	Kupaka/Joe Napier/An-Kor Apis/Prescient	$22.2M	2012
18%	Smiley	Detective Diamond	—	2012
No Score Yet	Double or Nothing	Homeless Dude	—	2012
No Score Yet	Highway (Hillbilly Highway)	Mustafa	—	2012
No Score Yet	Hopelessly In June	Dalbert Myers	—	2012
No Score Yet	Mark Twain	Actor	—	2012
13%	The Greening Of Whitney Brown	Clerk	—	2011
55%	Spork	Coach Jenkins	—	2011
48%	Meet Monica Velour	Claude	$32.1K	2011
No Score Yet	No Saints for Sinners	Actor	—	2011
No Score Yet	The Inheritance	Uncle Melvin Executive Producer	—	2011
No Score Yet	Blue	Actor	—	2010
29%	Chain Letter	Det. Jim Crenshaw	$0.2M	2010
35%	Lottery Ticket	Sweet Tee	$24.8M	2010
No Score Yet	Stomp The Yard 2: Homecoming	Terry	—	2010
42%	Death at a Funeral	Reverend Davis	$16.1M	2010
No Score Yet	Africa's Lost Eden	Actor	—	2010
38%	Don McKay	Otis	—	2010
85%	The Princess and the Frog	Dr. Facilier	$104.4M	2009
6%	All About Steve	Corbitt	$33.9M	2009
30%	Gamer	Agent Keith	$20.5M	2009
No Score Yet	Against the Dark	Lt. Walters	—	2009
90%	Coraline	Cat	$75.2M	2009
No Score Yet	Behind Enemy Lines: Colombia	Commander Scott Boytano	—	2009
No Score Yet	Pastor Brown	Actor	—	2009
No Score Yet	Charlie Valentine	Sal	—	2009
No Score Yet	S.I.S.	Actor	—	2008
No Score Yet	The Fifth Commandment	Max 'Coolbreeze' Templeton	—	2008
No Score Yet	My Mom's New Boyfriend	Actor	—	2008
No Score Yet	Chasing 3000	Actor	—	2008
17%	Superhero Movie	Chief of Police	$25.9M	2008
No Score Yet	The Butcher	Larry Cobb	—	2008
No Score Yet	Justice League: The New Frontier	The Centre	—	2008
12%	First Sunday	Judge B. Bennet Galloway	$38M	2008
No Score Yet	WWII Behind Closed Doors: Stalin, the Nazis and the West	Actor	—	2008
No Score Yet	S.I.S.	Joseph Armstrong	—	2008
No Score Yet	Lost Treasure of the Maya	Actor	—	2008
No Score Yet	No Bad Days	Actor	—	2008
No Score Yet	The Last Sentinel	Colonel Norton	—	2007
5%	Delta Farce	Sergeant Kilgore	$8.1M	2007
No Score Yet	If I Had Known I Was a Genius	Actor	—	2007
0%	Behind Enemy Lines II: Axis of Evil	Scott Boytano	—	2006
22%	The Oh in Ohio	Coach Popovitch	—	2006
61%	ATL	John Garnett	$21.2M	2006
21%	Dirty	Captain Spain	—	2006
No Score Yet	Crusades: Crescent & the Cross	Actor	—	2005
No Score Yet	Death to the Supermodels	Executive Producer	—	2005
52%	Transporter 2	Stappleton	$43.1M	2005
59%	Mr. & Mrs. Smith	Father	$186.3M	2005
100%	Unforgivable Blackness: The Rise and Fall of Jack Johnson	Narrator	—	2005
No Score Yet	Forbidden Fruits	Rev. Walters	—	2005
74%	Crash	Lt. Dixon	$55.4M	2004
No Score Yet	Beef II	Narrator	—	2004
7%	Kaena: The Prophecy	Actor	—	2004
No Score Yet	The Chronicles of Riddick: Dark Fury	Abu `Imam' al-Walid	—	2004
29%	The Chronicles of Riddick	Imam	$56.9M	2004
14%	Agent Cody Banks 2: Destination London	CIA Director	$23.3M	2004
No Score Yet	NOVA: Ancient Refuge in the Holy Land	Actor	—	2004
No Score Yet	Horatio's Drive: America's First Road Trip	Narrator	—	2003
0%	29 Palms	The Sheriff	—	2003
29%	Hollywood Homicide	Leon	$30.1M	2003
30%	Head of State	Bernard Cooper	$37.8M	2003
39%	Agent Cody Banks	CIA Director	$47.3M	2003
No Score Yet	Empires: Kingdom of David: The Saga of the Israelites	Actor	—	2003
No Score Yet	National Geographic	Actor	—	2003
No Score Yet	Egypt's Golden Empire	Actor	—	2002
82%	Barbershop	Lester	$75.1M	2002
No Score Yet	Inside Islam	Narrator	—	2002
No Score Yet	Innocents	Detective Davis	—	2002
No Score Yet	Pretty When You Cry	Det. Charles Desett	—	2001
38%	Novocaine	Lunt	$1.6M	2001
45%	Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within	Council Member No. 1	—	2001
No Score Yet	Home Invaders	Actor	—	2001
41%	The Replacements	Lindell	$44.1M	2000
35%	Where the Heart Is	Moses Whitecotten	—	2000
59%	Pitch Black	Imam	—	2000
93%	Princess Mononoke (Mononoke-hime)	Actor	—	1999
No Score Yet	Spawn 3: The Ultimate Battle	Director Actor	—	1999
No Score Yet	ATF	F.B.I. Director Richard Long	—	1999
83%	There's Something About Mary	Mary's Stepfather	—	1998
38%	Armageddon	Gen. Kimsey	—	1998
No Score Yet	Executive Target	Lamar	—	1998
No Score Yet	The Tiger Woods Story	Earl Woods	—	1998
50%	Volcano	Lt. Ed Fox	—	1997
54%	Johns	Homeless John	—	1997
No Score Yet	Vanishing Point	Warren Taftley	—	1997
No Score Yet	Murder, She Wrote: South by Southwest	Agent Bartles	—	1997
No Score Yet	Jewels of the Caribbean Sea	Narrator	—	1997
No Score Yet	Never Met Picasso	Actor	—	1996
11%	Larger Than Life	Hurst	—	1996
No Score Yet	The Grave	The Priest	—	1996
8%	Eye for an Eye	Martin	—	1996
No Score Yet	National Geographic	Actor	—	1996
No Score Yet	Flipping	Leo Richards	—	1996
41%	Blue in the Face	Jackie	—	1995
44%	Dead Presidents	Kirby	—	1995
69%	Clockers	Andre the Giant	—	1995
57%	The Quick and the Dead	Sgt. Cantrell	—	1995
No Score Yet	Gargoyles: The Movie	Goliath	—	1995
No Score Yet	World of National Geographic	Narrator	—	1995
26%	The Puppet Masters	Holland	—	1994
No Score Yet	The Last Outlaw	Lovecraft	—	1994
No Score Yet	There Are No Children Here	John Paul Rivers	—	1993
66%	Reality Bites	Roger	—	1993
No Score Yet	Ocean Drifters	Actor	—	1993
No Score Yet	Masters of American Music: Bluesland - A Portrait of American Music	Host	—	1993
No Score Yet	National Geographic	Actor	—	1993
No Score Yet	Nails	Owenns	—	1992
43%	Article 99	Jerome	—	1992
52%	Final Analysis	Det. Huggins	—	1992
22%	Marked for Death	Max	—	1990
28%	Men at Work	Louis Fedders	—	1990
67%	Always	Powerhouse	—	1989
38%	Road House	Ernie Bass	—	1989
85%	They Live	Frank	—	1988
80%	Bird	Buster Franklin	—	1988
50%	Off Limits	Maurice	—	1988
No Score Yet	Braddock: Missing in Action III	Embassy Gate Captain	—	1988
No Score Yet	Stars and Bars	Teagarden	—	1988
No Score Yet	Ladykillers	Actor	—	1988
No Score Yet	Hot Pursuit	Alphonso	—	1987
88%	Platoon	King	—	1986
84%	The Thing	Childs	—	1982
No Score Yet	The Magic City (Magiki polis)	Actor	—	1954

TV

		CREDIT
91%	Future Man 2017		2019 2017
No Score Yet	Greenleaf 2016	Bishop James Greenleaf	2019 2018 2017 2016
62%	Superior Donuts 2017-2018	John	2017
89%	The Flash 2014	Solovar	2017
No Score Yet	Speechless 2016	The Colonel	2017 2016
92%	Person Of Interest 2011	Beale	2016
No Score Yet	Vigilados: Person of Interest 2011-2016	Beale	2016 2011
73%	Big Time in Hollywood, FL 2015	Malloy	2015
88%	Community 2009-2015	Elroy Patashnik	2015
61%	Scorpion 2014-2018	Warden	2014
86%	Enlisted 2014	Donald Cody Cody Wallace	2014 2013
63%	Once Upon a Time in Wonderland 2013-2014	Voice	2013
14%	The Bible 2013	Voice Narrator Narrator	2013
68%	Touch 2012	Dutch	2013
12%	Allen Gregory 2011	Voice	2011
No Score Yet	Hawaii Five-0 2010	Jimmy Cannon	2011
41%	The Cape 2011	Max Malini Max Milani	2011
100%	Funny Or Die Presents 2010-2011	Appearing	2010
No Score Yet	God in America 2010	Frederick Douglass	2010
No Score Yet	Ken Burns' Baseball 1994-2010	Narrator	2010 1994
No Score Yet	Numb3rs 2005-2010	Jeremiah Miller	2009
92%	Psych 2006-2014	Mr. Guster	2008
No Score Yet	Independent Lens 1999	Voice	2007
67%	The War 2007	Voice Narrator	2007
No Score Yet	ER 1994-2009	Pastor Watkins	2006
92%	Everwood 2002-2006	Brian Chapin	2005
80%	Grey's Anatomy 2005	Lloyd Mackie	2005
No Score Yet	NOVA 1974	Voice Narrator	2004
95%	Justice League 2004	Voice	2003 2002
62%	Arli$$ 1996-2002	Cecil	2002
No Score Yet	American Experience 1988	Voice	2001
No Score Yet	CSI: Crime Scene Investigation 2000-2015	Matt Phelps	2001
No Score Yet	Law & Order 1990-2010	Bronx DA John Robertson John Robertson	2001
No Score Yet	Nature 1982	Narrator	2001 2000 1999
No Score Yet	Todd McFarlane's Spawn 1997-1999	Voice	1999 1998 1997
No Score Yet	Gargoyles 1994-1997	Voice	1997 1996 1995 1994
No Score Yet	Arthur 1996	Voice	1996
No Score Yet	New York Undercover 1994-1998	Rev. Harris	1996
No Score Yet	The Equalizer 1985-1989	Cristo	1988
No Score Yet	Liverspots and Astronots 2018

QUOTES FROM Keith David CHARACTERS

Moses Whitecotten	Have you thought of a name yet?
Novalee Nation	Well, I was thinkin' about Wendi with an "I."
Moses Whitecotten	Oh no, don't you dare.

Childs

Cut me loose, dammit!

Luther Jerome	The government's come up with a whole new disease called the creeping cutback
Luther Jerome	The government's come up with a whole new disease called the creeping cutback.

Luther Jerome

This is the VA soldier. Now the enemy is behind those desks....Now you only got one chance. The gospel according to Luther. Whatever you need, you ain't gonna get. And whatever you get, ain't worth shit.

"Big Daddy" La Bouff	Are you ready?!
Dr. Facilier	Are you ready?!

CIA Director	Good work banks
CIA Director	Good work Banks.
Cody Banks	Noooooooooooooooooooo!
Emily	50 seven scient
Emily	50 seven scient.
Mrs. Banks	Let mother have it.

Marion Silver	"Anyway, I'm not really hooked..."
Marion Silver	Anyway, I'm not really hooked...
Little John	"Oh I know, but it's a real nice taste."
Little John	Oh I know, but it's a real nice taste.

Frank

Dirty motherfucker!

Childs

I just can't believe any of this voodoo bullshit!

Windows	Childs, what if we're wrong about him?
Childs	Well, then we're wrong!

Coraline Jones	How can you walk away from something and then come towards it?
Cat	Walk around the world.
Coraline Jones	Small world.

Bennings	Childs, Mac wants the flamethrower!
Childs	Mac wants the WHAT?
Bennings	That's what he said, now MOVE!

Blair	A Cell gets out, and it will IMITATE EVERYTHING on the face of the EARTH! AND NOTHING CAN STOP IT!
Childs	Hey, take it easy, come on, Blair, you don't want to hurt nobody.
Blair	I'LL KILL YOU!

Skip	Just tell me one thing Cleon. Why the fuck you didn't grab the cop?
Cleon	You killed him, a young brother.
Skip	You wouldn't have froze up like a bitch maybe I wouldn't have to do that shit, now wouldn't I?
Skip	If you wouldn't have froze up like a bitch maybe I wouldn't have to do that shit, now wouldn't I?
Kirby	Would y'all shut the fuck up?!
Kirby	Would y'all shut the fuck up?

Childs	(After the thing blows up, the only two alive are Childs and MacReady) So... What should we do now?
Childs	[after the thing blows up, the only two alive are Childs and MacReady] So, what should we do now?
MacReady	Why don't we just wait here for a while... See what happens (Credits Roll)
MacReady	Why don't we just wait here for a while? See what happens [credits roll]

Gen. Kimsey	Now Look. Our Fate of our world is in the hands of a bunch of retards.
Gen. Kimsey	The fate of the planet is in the hands of a bunch of retards I wouldn't trust with a potato gun.

Coraline Jones	How can you walk away from something, and then come towards it?
Cat	Walk around the world.
Coraline Jones	Small world.

Coraline Jones	I can see you don't have button eyes, but... if you're not the same cat, how can you talk?
Coraline Jones	I can see you don't have button eyes, but if you're not the same cat, how can you talk?
Cat	I just can.

Cat	You realize you're walking right into her trap.
Coraline Jones	I have to go back. They are my parents.
Cat	Challenge her then. She may not play fair, but she won't refuse. She's got a thing for "games.".
Cat	Challenge her then. She may not play fair, but she won't refuse. She's got a thing for games.

Cat	... cats have far superior senses, wait I hear something... overrr there!
Cat	We cats, however, have far superior senses than humans, and can see and smell and, shh! I hear something.

Cat	She hates cats, and tries to keep me out. head pops out of another tree But she can't of course, I come and go as I please!
Cat	She hates cats, and tries to keep me out. [head pops out of another tree] But she can't of course, I come and go as I please!
Coraline Jones	The Other Mother hates cats?!
Coraline Jones	The other mother hates cats?!
Cat	Not like any "mother!" I've ever known.
Cat	Not like any 'mother' I've ever known.

Cat	I think I mentioned that I don't like rats at the best of times.
Coraline Jones	I think you might've said something like that.
Cat	It looked like you needed this one, however. rolls ball forward
Cat	It looked like you needed this one, however. [rolls ball forward]
Coraline Jones	Thank you.

Cat	I don't like rats at the best of times, but this one was sounding an alarm.

Frank	How long have they been there?
John Nada	Who knows?
Frank	Where do they come from?
John Nada	They ain't from Cleveland.
Frank	I don't need that sh*t! What are we going to do?
John Nada	Wait.
Frank	Wait? Wait for what?
John Nada	Well when you get your master plan, you let me know, huh!!
Frank	If we can see, we've got to find the people who made these.

John Nada	I'm giving you a choice: either put on these glasses or start eating that trash can.
Frank	Not this year!

Frank	The steel mills were laying people off left and right. They finally went under. We gave the steel companies a break when they needed it. You know what they gave themselves? ...Raises.
Frank	The steel mills were laying people off left and right. They finally went under. We gave the steel companies a break when they needed it. You know what they gave themselves? Raises.

Frank

(picks up Nada) - Man, I told you, I don't want to be in-VOLVED! [punches Nada back to the ground]

Frank	We can't be the only ones who can see, we've got to find the people who made these.
John Nada	Yeah, if any of them are still alive.

Drifter	What's wrong with having it good for a change? Now they're gonna let us have it good if we just help 'em. They're gonna leave us alone, let us make some money. You can have a little taste of that good life too. Now, I know you want it. Hell, everybody does.
Frank	You'd do it to your own kind.
Drifter	What's the threat? We all sell out every day, might as well be on the winning team.

Frank	Listen, man, I don't like anyone following me if I don't know why they are.
John Nada	Well, I don't join up with anyone, unless I know where they're going.

Frank

The Golden Rule; he who has the gold, makes the rules.

Frank	So how you gonna make it?
John Nada	I deliver a hard day's work for my money. I just want the chance. It'll come. I believe in America. I follow the rules. Everybody's got their own hard times these days.

Frank	I've walked a white line my entire life, I'm not about to screw that up.
John Nada	White line's in the middle of the road, that's the worst place to drive.

Frank

(Nada and Frank are fighting, and Nada, trying to get up, grabs Frank's testicles) - You dirty motherfu*ker!

Childs

(after MacReady discovers that Clark's (who's now dead) blood was pure) - Then Clark was human, huh? Which makes you a murderer, don't it?

Childs	I just cannot believe any of this voodoo bullsh*t.
Palmer	Childs, it happens all the time, man. They're falling out of the sky like flies. Government knows all about it, right, Mac?
Childs	You believe any of this voodoo bullsh*t, Blair?
Palmer	Childs, Childs...Chariots of the Gods, man. They practically own South America. I mean, they taught the Incas everything they know.
Palmer	Childs, Childs. Chariots of the Gods, man. They practically own South America. I mean, they taught the Incas everything they know.

Blair	A cell gets out, and it will IMITATE EVERYTHING on the face of the EARTH! AND NOTHING CAN STOP IT!
Childs	Hey, take it easy, come on, Blair, you don't want to hurt nobody.
Blair	I'LL KILL YOU!

Windows	Childs, what if we're wrong?
Childs	Why, then we're wrong!

Little John	I know it's pretty big, but I didn't take it out for air.
Little John	I know it's pretty baby, but I didn't take it out for air.

Childs	Temperature's up all over the camp. ...Won't last long though.
Childs	Temperature's up all over the camp. Won't last long though.
MacReady	Neither will we.
Childs	How will we make it?
MacReady	Maybe we shouldn't.
Childs	If you're worried about me...
MacReady	If we've got any surprises for each other, I don't think either one of us is in much shape to do anything about it.

Childs	You're gonna have to sleep sometime, MacReady.
MacReady	I'm a real light sleeper, Childs.

Childs	What do we do now?
MacReady	Why don't we just wait here for a little while...see what happens...
MacReady	Why don't we just wait here for a little while. See what happens.

MacReady	Somebody in this camp ain't what he appears to be. Right now that may be one or two of us. By spring, it could be all of us.
Childs	So, how do we know whose human? If I was an imitation, a perfect imitation, how would you know it was really me?

Little John	I know its pretty big but I didn't take it out for air.
Little John	I know it's pretty baby, but I didn't take it out for air.

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On Dvd & Streaming

Keith David

Photos

Highest Rated Movies

Filmography

MOVIES

TV

QUOTES FROM Keith David CHARACTERS

News & Interviews for Keith David