That's because David Kaye (born as David V. Hope on October 14, 1964 in Peterborough, Ontario, Canada) is the second most well-known voice of Megatron behind Frank Welker (although Kaye is considered the definitive Voice Actor for the Beast Era version of the character). He is also very well-regarded for his roles as either strong Pretty Boy characters, big badasses, or confident Big Bads. He seems to be voicing a lot of robots. Despite such recognition and how long he has performed his Megatron voice, he has an exceptional range that makes it difficult to point single out any particular role as being him.
Kaye is one of the most versatile voice actors out there, not only in terms of vocal range, but just in terms of the stuff he had done, especially while he was still living in Vancouver - he started out in radio, and then did a fair amount of voicing in Western Animation, Anime, Video Games, commercials, doing theater and on-camera guest appearances etc. for a good number of years, while also occasionally travelling to Los Angeles to do some animation and video game work, before finally moving to L.A. in 2007. Now he does work for a lot of TV promos and movie trailers (one of his mentors in that field was Don LaFontaine himself!), narrates segments for HBO's Last Week Tonight, and has several regular roles on American cartoons and some video game franchises.
A running joke among the fandom is that he was also the announcer for the Enzyte "Male Enhancement" commercials... we're sure the Missus is very happy with him, yeeesss!
Not to be confused with the character Tom Rooney played on This is Wonderland, noooooo; also not to be confused with the child actor who did voices in Superbabies: Baby Geniuses 2, he is David A. Kaye, never to be confused with the pedophile rabbi featured on To Catch a Predator.
Has a Twitter account
and a Youtube account.
Not to be confused with Davy Kaye.
Tropes Pertaining To David Kaye
- Acting for Two: On Transformers: Animated, he voiced Optimus Prime, Grimlock, Cliffjumper, and Sparkplug.
- Evil Sounds Deep: Whenever he plays a bad guy, he usually gives them a deep voice to match. Examples include Megatron, Vandal Savage, and Gibeon.
- Irony As He Is Cast:
- On Transformers: Animated, Kaye, who's better known as having voiced two separate incarnations of Megatron, voiced Optimus Prime
- In addition to Prime, he's also played two other major American icons—Captain America and Superman—while being a native of Canada.
- Large Ham: Anytime he voices Megatron, he's got enough ham to pass around for everyone, yeeeeeees.
- Meme Role Reprise: He's voiced Beast Megatron for a few videos for Jobby the Hong.
- No Celebrities Were Harmed: He based his Megatron voice as a combination of Sean Connery, Anthony Hopkins, and a lizard.
- The Other Darrin:
- After Miguel Ferrer passed away, he took over his roles on Stretch Armstrong and the Flex Fighters and Young Justice
- He took over the role of Commissioner Gordon from Tom Kane in Batman: Arkham City, though Kaye didn't return for Arkham Origins or Arkham Knight.
- Due to the death of Gary Owens, Kaye has assumed the role of Powdered Toast Man.
- What Could Have Been: He auditioned to reprise his role as Megatron for Transformers: Animated, but the role went to Corey Burton instead. Instead, he wound up, ironically, as Optimus Prime.
Roles
- Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood - Salai
- Barbie as Rapunzel - Hugo the Dragon
- Batman: Arkham City - Commissioner Gordon
- Battlestar Galactica (2003) - James McManus
- Be Cool, Scooby-Doo! - Bradwick Haverall
- Beetle Adventure Racing - Announcer
- Being Ian - Jousting Tournament Announcer note
- Ben 10:
- Ben 10: Omniverse - Khyber, Shocksquatch
- Ben 10/Generator Rex: Heroes United - Shocksquatch
- Ben 10 (2016) - Max Tennyson, Humongosaur, Shock Rock
- Broken Saints - Lear Dunham
- Class of the Titans - Cronus
- Coconut Fred's Fruit Salad Island - Bunga Berry, additional voices
- The Cramp Twins - News Anchor
- DC Nation - Shazam, Ibac, Bizarro
- DC Super Friends - Superman
- Dead Island - Logan Carter
- Death Note (2006) - Koreyoshi Kitamura
- Disney Infinity 3.0 - Mysterio, J.A.R.V.I.S., The Vision
- Disney Infinity: Marvel Super Heroes - Mysterio, J.A.R.V.I.S.
- Dragon Ball Z (Ocean dub) - Recoome, Guru (darrining Robert O. Smith)
- DuckTales (2017) - Duckworth, Rhutt Betlam
- Exo Squad - General Draconis, Lt. Hallas
- Fantastic Four: World's Greatest Heroes - Tony Stark
- Farzar - Barry Barris, Billy Barris, Clitaurus, Gorpzorp, Harold
- Fatal Fury anime specials and movie - Jeff Bogard, Kim Kaphwn
- Fat Dog Mendoza - Cry Baby Cry Announcer, Superboots Spokesperson, Pterodactyl, Big Al
- Fuse - Oculus
- Generation O! - Fred Topple
- Geronimo Stilton - Chippy P. Crunchrat
- Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex OVAs - Batou
- G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero - General Hawk
- G.I. Joe: Renegades - Patrick O'Hara, Narrator
- Green Eggs and Ham (2019) - Crony 1
- Happy Gilmore - Reporter
- He-Man and the Masters of the Universe (2021) - Cringer/Battle Cat
- Hot Wheels: Battle Force 5 - Kromulax
- Western Animation/Hurricanes - Narrator
- I Know That Voice - Himself
- Impossible Creatures - Upton Julius, henchmen
- Inuyasha - Sesshomaru
- Jackie Chan Adventures - Elvin Elf, Santa Claus
- Kessen - Announcer
- Kingdom Hearts III - Olympus narrator
- Kleo The Misfit Unicorn - Slim, additional voices
- Kong: The Animated Series - Professor Ramon De la Porta, News Anchor, Lex
- Last Week Tonight with John Oliver - Narrator
- Legend of the Three Caballeros - Dapper Duck
- Martian Child - Andy
- Marvel Cinematic Universe - Arishem the Judge
- Marvel Nemesis: Rise of the Imperfects - Iron Man, Wolverine
- Marvel Ultimate Alliance 2 - Captain America, Nick Fury
- Marvel Universe:
- Ultimate Spider-Man (2012) - J.A.R.V.I.S.
- The Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes - Supreme Intelligence
- Avengers Assemble - J.A.R.V.I.S., The Vision, Baron Zemo, Corvus Glaive
- Guardians of the Galaxy (2015) - Corvus Glaive
- Marvel vs. Capcom: Infinite - Jedah Dohma
- Medusas Child - Anchor
- MegaMan NT Warrior - ProtoMan
- Mobile Suit Gundam Wing - Treize Khushrenada
- Nickelodeon All-Star Brawl: Powdered Toast Man (replacing the late Gary Owens)
- Night Warriors: Darkstalker's Revenge - Pyron
- Playstation All Stars Battle Royale - Clank
- PlayStation Move Heroes - Clank
- Pokémon Horizons: The Series - Gibeon
- Project ARMS - Iwao Takatsuki
- Psychonauts - Ford Cruller, Linda the Hulking Lungfish
- Ranma ½ - Soun Tendo
- Ratchet & Clank - Clank
- ReBoot - Head Spectral
- Regular Show - Reginald, additional voices
- Rescue Heroes - Rock Miner
- Resistance - Nathan Hale
- Robot Chicken - Megatron, Invisible Man, 8-bit Blacksmith
- Ronin Warriors - Narrator, Ancient One
- Scooby-Doo! and the Gourmet Ghost - Henry Metcalf, Edward DuFlay
- Scooby-Doo! Mystery Incorporated - Argus Fentonpoof, Dr. Phobos, Bill Buntman
- Skysurfer Strike Force - Jack Hollister/Skysurfer One
- Spider-Man: Shattered Dimensions - Mysterio
- Splinter Cell: Pandora Tomorrow - Suhadi Sadono
- Star Wars: The Clone Wars - General Tandin
- Street Fighter - Akuma
- Street Sharks - Dr. Robert Bolton
- Stretch Armstrong and the Flex Fighters - Stretch Monster
- Stroker and Hoop - Ansel, Announcer
- Teen Titans Go! - Death, Ferryman, Whimsy Robin, Whimsy Cyborg, Buster, Dragon
- Tom and Jerry Tales - Mauricio
- Transformers:
- Beast Machines - Megatron
- Beast Wars - Megatron
- Transformers: Animated - Optimus Prime, Grimlock, Lugnut, Cliffjumper, Warpath
- Transformers: Armada - Megatron/Galvatron
- Transformers: Cybertron - Megatron/Galvatron
- Transformers: Energon - Megatron/Galvatron
- Transformers: Prime - Hardshell
- Transformers: Robots in Disguise - Hammerstrike, Slashmark
- Up - Newsreel Narrator
- The Wacky World of Tex Avery - Narrator
- Walter Melon - Alien Father, NASA Reporter
- The Wolf Among Us - Dr. Swineheart
- Xiaolin Chronicles - Clay Bailey, Chase Young, F-Bot
- X-Men: Evolution - Professor X, Apocalypse
- Young Justice: Outsiders - Vandal Savage, Elongated Man
