Keith David

He married Margit Edwards, a drama student at Hunter College in 1990. He is presently married to actress Dionne Lea Williams. He and Dionne have two children.

Keith David was born on June 4, 1956 to Dolores, a manager at New York Telephone, and Lester Williams, a director of payroll operations. He played the Cowardly Lion at school and wanted to be an actor.

He studied at Manhattan's School of Performing Arts and trained at the Juilliard School's Drama Division between 1975 and1979, and acquired a Bachelors of Fine Arts degree from there.

In 1980, Keith David joined Romanian-born British–American actor John Houseman's ‘The Acting Company’ and was part of his productions such as ‘A Midsummer Night's Dream’ and ‘Waiting for Godot’.

He got his break in 1982 with ‘The Thing’, a cult science-fiction-horror super hit film directed by John Carpenter. Starring with Kurt Russell, he essayed the role of Childs.

In the 1980s, he appeared in two episodes of children's television series, ‘Mister Rogers' Neighborhood’, portraying Keith, the Southwood Carpenter in ‘Neighborhood of Make-Believe’, and Keith, the game coin collector in ‘Donkey Kong’.

He acted as Vietnam War veteran Louis Fedders, sharing screen space with Charlie Sheen and Leslie Hope in the 1990 released comedy film, ‘Men at Work’, directed by Emilio Estevez

Between 1986 and 1990, he made insignificant appearances in Oliver Stone's war movie, ‘Platoon’, in the Steven Seagal starrer ‘Marked for Death’, and in the comedy film, ‘Stars and Bars’.

In 1988, Keith David acted with Roddy Piper and Meg Foster in John Carpenter’s science fiction film, ‘They Live’, and was involved in one of the best fight scenes ever.

In 1992, he appeared in the musical ‘Jelly's Last Jam’ which chronicled the life and career of Jelly Roll Morton who popularized Jazz. He was nominated for a Tony for Best Supporting Actor.