Keegan-Michael Key

Keegan-Michael Key (born March 22, 1971) is an American actor, comedian, screenwriter, and producer.

Key was born in Southfield, Michigan, on March 22, 1971, the son of an African-American father, Leroy McDuffie, and Carrie Herr, a woman of Polish and Flemish descent.

He was adopted at a young age by a couple from Detroit, Michael Key and Patricia Walsh, who were both social workers.

Like his birth parents, his adoptive parents were a black man and a white woman.

Through his biological father, Key had two half-brothers, one of whom was comic book writer Dwayne McDuffie.

Key discovered the existence of his half-siblings only after both had died.

Raised Catholic, Key attended the University of Detroit Mercy as an undergraduate, earning a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in theater in 1993, followed by a Master of Fine Arts in theater at Pennsylvania State University in 1996.

While at the University of Detroit Mercy, he was a brother of Phi Kappa Theta.

He also acted in the sketch series Mad TV (2004–2009), sitcom Playing House (2014–2017), the comedy series Friends from College (2017–2019) and the series Reboot (2022).

In 2004, Key joined the cast of Mad TV midway into the ninth season.

He and Jordan Peele were cast against each other, but both ended up being picked after demonstrating great comedic chemistry.

Key played many characters on the show.

One of his most famous characters is "Coach Hines", a high school sports coach who frequently disrupts and threatens students and faculty members.

On the penultimate episode of Mad TV, Hines revealed that he is the long-lost heir to the Heinz Ketchup company and only became a Catholic school coach to help delinquent teenagers like Yamanashi (Bobby Lee).

During seasons 9 and 10, Key appeared as "Dr. Funkenstein" in blaxploitation parodies, with Peele playing the monster.

Key also portrayed various guests on Real **********ing Talk like the strong African Rollo Johnson and blind victim Stevie Wonder Washington.

He often went "backstage" as Eugene Struthers, an ecstatic water-or-flower delivery man who accosts celebrities.

There was also "Jovan Muskatelle", a shirtless man with a jheri curl and a shower cap who interrupts live news broadcasts by a reporter (always played by Ike Barinholtz), annoying him with rapid-fire accounts of events that have happened frequently exclaiming "It was crazy as hell!"

Celebrities that Key impersonated on the show include Ludacris, Snoop Dogg, Roscoe Orman (as his character Gordon from Sesame Street), Matthew Lillard, Bill Cosby, Al Roker, Terrell Owens, Tyler Perry, Keith Richards, Eddie Murphy (as his character James "Thunder" Early from the movie Dreamgirls), Sherman Hemsley (as his character George Jefferson on The Jeffersons), Charles Barkley, Sendhil Ramamurthy (as Mohinder Suresh), Tyson Beckford, Seal (originally played by Peele until Peele left the show at the end of season 13), Sidney Poitier, Lionel Richie, Barack Obama, Kobe Bryant and Jack Haley (as the Tin Man from The Wizard of Oz).

He also played female celebrities, including Phylicia Rashād, Robin Antin, and Eva Longoria (as Gabrielle Solis on a Desperate Housewives parody).

He hosted The Planet's Funniest Animals on Animal Planet (2005–2008), and hosted Game On! in 2020.

He and Jordan Peele co-created and co-starred in the sketch series Key & Peele (2012–2015) for which he received a Primetime Emmy Award.

Key and his Mad TV castmate Jordan Peele starred in their own Comedy Central sketch series Key & Peele, which began airing on January 31, 2012, and ran for five seasons until September 9, 2015.

He also appeared alongside Peele in the first season of the series Fargo in 2014, and had a recurring role on Parks and Recreation from 2013 to 2015.

Key later starred in the musical comedy series Schmigadoon! (2021–2023).

Key has had supporting roles in several films, including Horrible Bosses 2 (2014), Pitch Perfect 2 (2015), Don't Think Twice (2016), Dolemite Is My Name (2019), The Prom (2020), and Wonka (2023).

He has provided voice-work for The Lego Movie (2014), the subsequent films of the Hotel Transylvania franchise (2015–2022), Storks, The Angry Birds Movie (both 2016), The Star (2017), Wendell & Wild (2022), The Super Mario Bros. Movie (2023), and Migration (both 2023).

In 2015, he appeared at the White House Correspondents' Dinner as the Key & Peele character Luther, President Barack Obama's anger translator.

Key was introduced by President Barack Obama at the 2015 White House Correspondents' Dinner as Luther, Obama's Anger Translator, one of Key's characters from Key & Peele.

Key played the most prominent male character, Ethan Turner, on the Netflix ensemble comedy Friends from College, about a group of Harvard University graduates and friends now in their late 30s living in New York City.

He plays an award-winning fiction writer who is being encouraged to start writing for young adult fiction audiences.

Key was one of the founders of Hamtramck, Michigan,'s Planet Ant Theatre, and was a member of the Second City Detroit's mainstage cast before joining the Second City e.t.c. theater in Chicago.

Key co-founded the Detroit Creativity Project along with Beth Hagenlocker, Marc Evan Jackson, Margaret Edwartowski, and Larry Joe Campbell.

The Detroit Creativity Project teaches students in Detroit improvization as a way to improve their communication skills.

Key performed with The 313, an improv group formed with other members of Second City Hollywood that appears around the country.

The 313 is made up primarily of former Detroit residents and is named for Detroit's area code.

He made a cameo in "Weird Al" Yankovic's video "White & Nerdy" with Peele.

Key and Peele produced and starred in the 2016 action-comedy film Keanu.

In 2017, Key made his Broadway debut in the comic play Meteor Shower.

He has also voiced roles in Disney's Toy Story 4 (2019) and the live-action remakes of The Lion King (2019), and Pinocchio (2022).