American actor
David Ury |
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| Born | David Brian Ury
(1973-09-30) September 30, 1973 (age 50)
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| Alma mater | Evergreen State College |
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| Occupation(s) | Actor, stand-up comedian, Japanese translation specialist |
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| Relatives | Lesser Ury (ancestor) |
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David Brian Ury (born September 30, 1973) is an American actor, stand-up comedian, YouTuber, and Japanese translation specialist.
Early life and education
Ury was born and raised in Sonoma, California. He graduated from Sonoma Valley High School, where he acted in theatre productions. He earned a bachelor's degree in linguistics at Evergreen State College in Olympia, Washington and studied abroad in Japan, where he became fluent in Japanese.[1]
Ury is a descendant of German Jewish impressionist painter Lesser Ury.[citation needed]
Career
Since studying abroad in Tokyo, Ury and has worked as a translator in film, television, and manga and currently (As of May 2011[update]) translates and writes English adaptations for manga.[2][3] Ury moved to Los Angeles in August 2001 where he began performing stand-up comedy.
Cartoonist Keith Knight, a neighbor of his, described Ury's acting career as "Spooge man" and "a cavalcade of reprobates, sleazeballs, derelicts, & weirdos."[4]
Appearances
TV Series and Movies
Ury has made several film and television appearances, including an episode of Tim Kring's Crossing Jordan and in Shoot 'Em Up. He also appeared in Heroes, Malcolm in the Middle, Life, Without a Trace, Breaking Bad, Better Call Saul, Zeke and Luther, and The Librarians.[5] In March 2015, Ury was cast for Rob Zombie's slasher film 31 as Schizo-Head.[6]
A character actor, Ury has died on screen in almost every role he has portrayed.[7]
YouTube
Ury also has several YouTube channels/accounts/personalities and alter-egos, which include Karaoke Steve and Ken Tanaka, the fictional adopted twin brother of David Ury. Tanaka is described as an Ashkenazi Jewish man adopted as an infant by Japanese parents Hideo and Mari Tanaka, and raised in Shimane Prefecture of Japan; he returns to Los Angeles to find his birth parents Jonathan and Linda Smith.[8]
