Keith David's complete spelography explained

Of all the Hollywood stars who have lent their voice talents to the world of video games, Keith David might just be the most iconic. Having risen to prominence through cult classic masterpieces such as The Thing and PlatoonDavid began appearing in interactive media in the late 1990s, cementing a legacy in the medium over the course of the next two decades.

Although his first major acting role was as Dekker in the very first one Fall-outDavid would eventually go on a historic run in the late 2000s and early 2010s. During this time he featured in a plethora of well-received games such as Halo 2often in key roles for which he gave superb performances.

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The arbitrator/ Thel 'Vadam – Halo 2

Starting with one of David's most significant gaming roles, we have Thel 'Vadam, also known as the Arbiter, a character introduced in Halo 2 as the second main character. Arbiter is part of the Sangheili, a race of aliens first introduced as an enemy faction in the first Halo: they are known as Elites and are featured exclusively as enemies in the game. Putting players directly into the shoes of such an elite in the sequel therefore required expert writing and acting to succeed, as the audience had already been given a negative bias.

Thankfully, David did a fantastic job portraying this religious fanatic, the man's instantly recognisable, rich and deep voice is especially fitting for such a mysterious character. David recast his role as Arbiter in Halo 3 and Halo 5 also.

David Anderson – Mass Effect

To me, this is Keith David's most defining video game role. Introduced in the first Mass effect as the captain of the Normandy, David Anderson quickly hands over control of the ship to Shepard, the player character. He continues to play somewhat of a mentor role to Shepard throughout the series.

As with The Arbiter, David portrays this character as serious and upright, but with much more relief; sometimes he lets loose and cracks a few jokes. Despite appearing in all three games, David Anderson's role diminishes somewhat as Shepard grows into her position as a Specter and galactic hero. Still, he tends to steal whatever scene he's in, bringing a certain charisma to what could have been a bog-standard military archetype.

Julius Little & Self – The Saints Row Franchise

Julius Little is the founder of the 3rd Street Saints, the gang the player character belongs to Saints Row franchise. This is another example of David taking on a leadership role in a game, although this time he's much more morally gray, ruling with an iron fist and bending his own ethical rules to get his way.

When Saints Row 4 was released, Julius was out of the picture, but David himself was not. Deep Silver brought him back in a suitably meta and absurd way befitting the IP's move into the ridiculous: he plays himself as the Vice President of the United States, serving alongside the player character, who is the President. The game contains several rather pointed jokes about how David reminds the team of Julius and how he has decided to enter politics after “conquering” the realm of acting.

Keith David's other video game roles

While the aforementioned playing achievements are certainly David's most memorable and iconic, they are far from the only ones. In fact, the actor has appeared in several other video games, both big and small, and both well received and not.

• covers – Fall-out

• Apollo – Disney's Hades Challenge

• Vhailor- Planescape: Torment

• Lord Vekk- Lords of EverQuest

• Barricade – Transformers: The Game

• Dr. Facilities – Disney The Princess and the Frog

• Sergeant Foley – Modern Warfare 2

• the cat – Coraline

• Psycho Delic – DreamWorks Megamind: Mega Team Unite

• Nick Fury – Marvel Heroes

• Chaos – Dissidia Final Fantasy

• Moloch – Darksiders Genesis

• Spawn – Mortal Kombat 11

• Zavala – Destiny 2: The Final Shape

David made his video game debut with Fall-out 1997, where he commanded scenes through his portrayal of Decker, a sort of complex crime boss. His CRPG tenure would continue with cerebral Planescape Tormentwhere he portrayed the fanatical justice-bringer Vhailor, whom the player can either fight or manipulate into becoming an ally. Other original characters include Zavala from Destiny 2pp The final shape expansion (replacing the late Lance Reddick), Sergeant Foley from Modern Warfare 2and Moloch from Darksiders Genesisalthough this latter character is actually based on a figure from real religion.

David also reprized his roles as The Cat in the Coraline video game, Spawn in Mortal Kombat 11and Apollo in Disney's Hades Challenge—he played the same characters in the corresponding movies or, in the case of Spawn, a TV show. The same cannot be said for Barricade, in which David only voices Transformers game customization. His appearances in Dissidia Final Fantasy and Marvel Heroes are also one-offs, which is a shame – Keith David can voice a killer Nick Fury.