With over 150 film, television and stage credits to his name, David is known for his deep, commanding voice. “The very first voice over I did was in Pittsburg back in the early ‘80s,” recalls Keith David. “I was doing a Midsummer Night’s dream at the public theater and the agency wanted an actor who was particularly versed in Shakespeare. I had recently graduated and done a lot of Shakespeare and so I got the job.” shares the Emmy Award winning actor who has carved out a distinct name in the world of voice acting and can be heard narrating History Channel‘s docudrama “The Bible.”
A 10-hour television series, “The Bible,” which premiered March 3 on the cable network had the highest-rated scripted drama on cable for the year, garnering a total of 13.1 million viewers. With almost half of the audiences ranging from ages 18 to 49, it’s a number which doesn’t surprise David.
“I think religion is a guide to a way of life. The bible is a manual for how to live in this life mostly from the Christian perspective and all of us are looking for the best way to live,” adds the actor who is one of the top voice talents working today.
With over 150 film, television and stage credits to his name, David is known for his deep, commanding voice and provided the voice for “Vhailor” in the video game Planescape: Torment and “The Arbiter” for Halo 2, and the popular “Call To Duty: Modern Warfare 2”.
He has also starred in a number of notable movies including Clint Eastwood’s “Bird” the Academy Award-winning “Crash,” as well as “There’s Something About Mary,” “Armageddon,” “Requiem for a Dream” and “Mr. and Mrs. Smith.”
A docudrama intended to introduce a new generation to the Bible, it’s a collaboration between television guru Mark Burnett (“The Voice,” “Survivor,” “The Apprentice”) and his wife, Roma Downey, and features stories from the book of Genesis to Revelation.
For David, it offered an opportunity to do a voice over with a difference.
“It’s a British production so the director has some British-isms which was foreign to my ear so we sometimes would do two pronunciations, a British pronunciation and an American one but we navigated through it pretty nicely.”
Featuring a musical score by Grammy and Oscar-winning composer Hans Zimmer, “The Bible” combines one of the greatest collections of stories ever assembled with live action and state-of-the-art CGI. Starring Portuguese actor, Diogo Morgado as Jesus, it also features powerful performances, exotic locales and great visual effects.
“The story is also motivating,” adds David “And that’s usually my reason for doing projects.”
The complete series of “The Bible” will arrive on Blu-ray, DVD and Digital HD on April 2 with hours of exclusive special features and extras including the making of the series and a behind-the-scenes look at how the docudrama came together.
Samantha Ofole-Prince is a journalist and movie critic who covers industry-specific news that includes television and film. She serves as the Entertainment Editor for Trendy Africa.
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