What is Keith David’s Net Worth?
Keith David is an American actor, voice artist and producer who has a net worth of $5 million. Keith David is known for starring in films like “Armageddon,” “Barbershop,” “The Chronicles of Riddick,” and “Cloud Atlas.” Keith is also a prolific voice actor and narrator, providing the voices many beloved characters in films.
Early Life
David was born on June 4, 1956 in Harlem, New York City and raised in Queens. His father, Lester Williams, worked as a director of payroll operations at a company while his mother, Dolores, was a manager at New York Telephone.
While in school, David played the Cowardly Lion in a production of “The Wizard of Oz,” and decided that he wanted to pursue acting. He began studying at Manhattan’s High School of Performing Arts. He then attended the prestigious Juilliard School as part of their Drama Division. He graduated from Juilliard with a Bachelor of Fine Arts in 1979.
Early Career
David started his career with John Houseman’s, The Acting Company. He toured the country with the company in 1980 and 1981, putting on productions of “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” and “Waiting for Godot.” His film career took off shortly afterward, as he went on to star as the character Childs in “The Thing” opposite of Kurt Russell in 1982. From 1983 until 1985, he appeared as Keith, the handyman, in the popular series, “Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood,” appearing in a total of nine episodes.
Success
He booked a number of film and television roles throughout the late 1980s, including roles in “Platoon,” “Hot Pursuit,” “Off Limits,” and “They Live.” He also appeared in “Roadhouse,” “Men at Work” and “Reality Bites.” In 1995, he booked roles in “Dead Presidents” and also in Spike Lee’s “Clockers.” He also has appeared in independent films like, “Requiem for a Dream” in 2004 and a number of big budget action movies like “Mr. & Mrs. Smith” and “Transporter 2.” Throughout this time, David also continued appearing in television episodes of shows like “The Outer Limits,” “The Legend of Tarzan,” The Job,” and “CSI: Crime Scene Investigation.”
The 2010s continued to be successful for David. He was cast in the NBC series, “The Cape” and also booked a recurring role on the sixth season of the popular show, “Community.” In 2015, he was cast in a leading role in the drama series, “Greenleaf.” Additionally, he appeared in films like “Assault on Wall Street,” Boiling Pot,” “Night School,” “21 Bridges,” and “Most Guys Are Losers.” He has also participated in several documentary films which focus on African American history and the horror film genre. These include “Horror Noire: A History of Black Horror” and “In Search of Darkness.”
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Theater Work
In addition to films and television, David has also continued appearing in stage productions. In 1992, he received a Tony Award for Best Supporting Actor in a Musical for his work in “Jelly’s Last Jam.” He also has been highly praised for his performances in Central Park of various works of Shakespeare. In 1995, he appeared in the Apollo revival of “The Wiz” along with Whitney Houston, Cedric the Entertainer, and Samuel E. Wright. His other notable theater work includes an appearance in the musical “Hot Feet” on Broadway in 2006, the revival of “Joe Turner’s Come and Gone” in 2013, and “Paul Robeson” in 2014. Additionally, he starred as the character Dolomite in the off-Broadway play, “ToasT” which tells the story of prisoners at Attica Prison using poetic prose.
Voice Acting and Narration
David is also very well-known for his voice acting work, providing the voice for various characters in television and film, video games, and even a character on a ride at Magic Kingdom. Some of the characters he has voiced include Goliath from “Gargoyles,” the title character in the “Spawn” animated series,” and a recurring character on the adult animated show, “Archer.” He also voices a character and serves as narrator in the English dub version of “Princess Mononoke.” He voices characters in the video games “Fallout,” “Planescape: Torment,” and a number of the games in the “Halo” series.
He has also collaborated a number of times with rapper Ice Cube, lending his voice to the intro of several of Ice Cube’s projects like “Terrorists Threats,” Cube’s solo albums “Raw Footage” and “I Am the West,” and also serving as narrator for the documentary, “Beef II,” which features Ice Cube.
David has also worked a number of times with documentary filmmaker, Ken Burns. He has narrated a number of Burns’ films such as, “Jazz,” “Mark Twain,” “Unforgiveable Blackness: The Rise and Fall of Jack Johnson, Jackie Robinson and Muhammad Ali,” and “The War.” For his voice work in the latter two films, David wan the Emmy Award for Outstanding Voice-Over Performance.
He has also provided narration and voice-over work for other documentaries like, “Ancient Refuge in the Holy Land,” “Crusades: Crescent & the Cross,” and “Comic Book Superheroes Unmasked,” among others. He took over as the narrator for the A&E show, “City Confidential,” and also voices the police detective role in the audiobook version of three novels by James Patterson.
Personal Life
David married his first wife, Margit Edwards, in 1990, though the relationship did not work out and the two quickly divorced the same year. However they do share a son together named Owen. David didn’t meet the woman who would become his second wife until some years later. In 2001, he married Dionne Lea Williams, a singer an actress. Together they share two daughters – Ruby and Mae Lea.
Source: Celebrity Net Worth
