David Kaye

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For other uses, see David Kaye (disambiguation).
David Kaye

Kaye at an autograph session at Botcon 2008 in Cincinnati, Ohio
Born David V. Hope
October 14, 1964 (1964-10-14) (age 44)
Peterborough, Ontario
Occupation Voice actor, announcer
Official website

David V. Hope (born 14 October 1964), known professionally as David Kaye, is a Canadian actor who is better recognized for his work as a voice actor. His most recognized roles include Sesshomaru in the shōnen anime InuYasha, Treize Khushrenada in Mobile Suit Gundam Wing, Megatron in five of the Transformers series (Beast Wars, Beast Machines, Transformers: Armada, Transformers: Energon, and Transformers: Cybertron), and Clank in the Ratchet And Clank series of video games.

Contents

[edit] Career

Kaye began his career in radio in the early 1980s, working in London, Ontario and eventually transferring to station LG73 (also known as CKLG, which became CHMJ (AM) in 2001) in British Columbia, Vancouver from 1989 to 1994. Whilst there he was part of "The Morning Zoo" team, writing and improvising material as well as creating characters such as "Cowboy Dick." Kaye also had his own slot, the time of which changed over the years. In 1991 his slot aired from 10:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m., Mondays to Fridays.

His acting studies include film and television, cold reading, classical theater acting and character voice study.

His big break in animation came in 1989, when he was cast as the voice of General Hawk in G.I Joe. Consequently, Kaye became disinterested in radio, an integral reason behind his departure from LG73. Since then, he has voiced hundreds of characters, his excellent range allowing a wide variety of ages, accents and dialects. For many, his most notable role is of Megatron in Beast Wars. Kaye continued to voice the subsequent incarnations of Megatron in Transformers: Armada, Transformers: Energon, and Transformers: Cybertron series. Kaye was not asked to voice Megatron for the Transformers: Robots in Disguise series. He originally was not going to play the character in Transformers: Cybertron, however, Kaye was later asked to reprise his role after a handful of episodes were recorded with a different actor. This gap was the reason the initial three episodes of the series did not air in the United States until later (and even then, the first two were compressed into a single episode) He has played Megatron for the longest duration when compared with other voice actors of the character. Kaye currently provides the voice of Megatron's antithesis Optimus Prime in Transformers: Animated, which makes him the first actor who has voiced both Megatron and Optimus Prime on a regular basis.

He is also well versed in automated dialogue replacement (ADR, commonly known as dubbing) in anime, playing Sesshomaru in the popular InuYasha and Soun Tendo in Ranma.

His voice has also carried him into audiobooks, video games and commercial radio and television announcing and advertising. He is the current voice over for the Fox Sports Network and can be heard on radio stations worldwide.

Kaye's live action roles consist of a large majority from the Sci-fi genre, such as Battlestar Galactica, The X Files, and The Twilight Zone. He is often typecast as a television reporter or anchor. Kaye has stated that he often becomes more interested with the technical aspects of live action acting rather than preparing for the roles themselves.[citation needed] Consequently, his on-camera roles have waned. Besides there is little time, as 12 hour days in studio recording tend to cut into his time to seriously pursue on-camera roles. He's been asked on several occasions to 'jump back in'. "When the time is right and I can devote more time to the craft, you bet." Additionally, his theatre work has included the popular plays A Streetcar Named Desire and Of Mice and Men.

Currently, Kaye has chosen to dedicate his working hours to voice work, placing his theatre and live action roles on the sidelines.

[edit] Filmography

[edit] Animation

[edit] Live action

[edit] Video games

[edit] Other

  • 8th PBS ident - Man with cowboy hat in "Cowboy", voice of announcer for "Performers", voice of announcer for "Cowboy"

[edit] External links

Preceded by
Frank Welker
1986-1987
Original Series		 Voice of Megatron
1996-2000
Beast Wars/Beast Machines		 Succeeded by
Daniel Riordan
2001-2002
Robots in Disguise
Preceded by
Daniel Riordan
2001-2002
Robots in Disguise		 Voice of Megatron
2002-2006
Unicron Trilogy		 Succeeded by
Frank Welker
2007
Video Game and prequel
Preceded by
Peter Cullen
2007
Video Game and Live-Action Movie		 Voice of Optimus Prime
2007-2009
Animated		 Succeeded by
Peter Cullen
2009
Live-Action Movie Sequel
Preceded by
Gregg Berger
1984-1986
Original Series		 Voice of Grimlock
2008-2009
Animated		 Succeeded by
present
Preceded by
Marc Worden		 Voice of Iron Man
2007		 Succeeded by
Stephen Stanton
Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Kaye"
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