VA of the Day
DAY #1: Keith David Williams
Who is Keith David? some of you may ask. Well, Keith David is a popular voice actor, actor, and song artist who is known primarily for his work as Dr. Facilier in "The Princess and the Frog" (2009), Husker from "Hazbin Hotel" (2024-) and the Cat in "Coraline" (2009).
Early
David was born in Harlem, New York City (United States) in 1956 on June 4th, making him about 70 years old as of 2026! He was raised in Corona, Queens and is the son of Lester Williams and Dolores Dickenson. He got into his theatric interests early on when he portrayed the Cowardly Lion in a school play of "The Wizard of Oz" and later went on to study Manhattan's High School of Performing Arts, where he also joined a boys choir (that grew in popularity and was known to be city-wide). After attending Juilliard, school of Music for a few years, in 1979, Keith David graduated with a Bachelor in Fine Arts degree!
Acting Career
Between 1980 and 1981, David went on tour alongside John Houseman's The Acting Company, performing in productions such as "A Midsummer's Night Dream". He seemed to be exceptional (obviously, because he's Keith David), as only two years later was it when he scored the role of Childs alongside other actor Kurt Russell in John Carpenter's "The Thing".
His performance alongside Kurt Russell inspired Keith David to continue, starting his legendary screen appearing roles. He appeared on the 1980's "Mister Roger's Neighborhood", and portrayed two parody-esque versions of himself throughout his time on the show. He continued onwards, soon appearing in more like Oliver Stone's "Platoon", Darren Aronofsky's "Requiem for a Dream", Doug Libman and Simon Kinberg's "Mr. and Mrs. Smith", and more films. He also appeared shortly on the brief sitcom directed by Peter Tolan and Denis Leary, "The Job" as a reappearing character and was also a regular on "The Big House", made for ABC in 2004.
Continuing on with David's success, in 2015 he was cast alongside Lynn Whitfield in the Oprah Winfrey Network drama series "Greenleaf".
Voice Acting Roles
Throughout his time as a voice actor, David has played many, MANY roles. I will list out some you may recognize.
The Flame King → Adventure Time (2010-2018), created by Pendleton Ward and directed by Larry Leichliter.
Goliath → Gargoyles (1994-1997) , directed by Frank Paur and others.
King Andrias (my personal favorite) → Amphibia (2019-2022) , directed and created by Matt Braly.
Decker → Fallout (1997-) , developed and published by Interplay Productions.
Arbiter → Halo 2 (2004-) , Halo 3 (2007-) , Halo: The Master Chief Collection (2014-) , and Halo 5: Guardians (2015) , all developed by 343 Industries.
Despero → Justice League (2001-2004) , based on Gardner Fox's Justice League and developed by Bruce Timm.
Atlas → Teen Titans (2003-2006) , created by Glen Murakami.
The President of the United States → Rick and Morty (2013-) , created by Dan Harmon and Justin Roiland.
Music David is Found In
David his been found in many of Vivienne Medrano's Hazbin Hotel soundtracks, which were produced by Sam Haft and Andrew Underburg. He is known for "Loser Baby" alongside costar Blake Roman and "Love in a Bottle" with fellow Broadway stars Krystina Alabado and Kimiko Glenn.
Outside of Hazbin Hotel, David's notable role as Dr. Facilier also came with the popular "Princess and the Frog" tune called "Friends on the Other Side".
You can find all of David's music here:
Keith David has 35 songs with the most popular being Loser, Baby, Love In A Bottle and Hear My Hope.
Since the early 80's, David has brought life to hundreds of characters throughout media and is a recognized figure in our history.