David Kaye

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For the former English goalkeeper, see David Kaye (footballer)
David Kaye

Birth name David V. Hope
Born October 14, 1964 (1964-10-14) (age 43)
Peterborough, Ontario
Occupation(s) Voice actor, announcer
Website David Kaye.com

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 well-known roll is as Sesshomaru in the shonen anime, InuYasha and as Megatron in 5 Transformers series (Beast Wars, Beast Machines, Armada, Energon and Cybertron).

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[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
Daniel Riordan
2001-2002
Robots in Disguise		 Voice of Megatron/Galvatron
2002-2006
Unicron Trilogy		 Succeeded by
Frank Welker
2007
Video Game
Preceded by
Peter Cullen
2007
Video Game and Live-Action Movie		 Voice of Optimus Prime
2008-
Animated		 Succeeded by
present