Keegan-Michael Key

Early life

Key was born on March 22, 1971, in Southfield, Michigan, a suburb of Detroit. 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. 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 member of Phi Kappa Theta.

Career

''Mad TV''

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, Al Roker, Terrell Owens, Tyler Perry, Eddie Murphy, Tyson Beckford, Barack Obama, John Legend, Kobe Bryant, and Robin Antin.

''Key & Peele''

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.

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.

''Friends from College''

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.

Other work

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 also hosted Animal Planet's The Planet's Funniest Animals. In 2009, Key hosted GSN's "Big Saturday Night", and has co-starred in Gary Unmarried on CBS. Key was a panelist on the NPR comedy quiz show Wait Wait, Don't Tell Me... on March 27 and July 24, 2010. Key has been in several episodes of Reno 911! as the "Hypothetical Criminal".

Key and Peele were featured on the cover and in a series of full-page comic photos illustrating The New York Times Magazine article "Is Giving the Secret to Getting Ahead?" on March 31, 2013. A live-action video version was also featured on the *Times''' website. Key co-stars in the horror-comedy Hell Baby. Key is one of the rotating "fourth chair" performers in the 2013 revival of *Whose Line Is It Anyway?''.

In addition to Key & Peele, he also co-starred in the USA Network comedy series Playing House, which began airing in April 2014.

Together with Peele, Key played an FBI agent in a recurring role in the 2014 FX crime drama Fargo.

Key and Peele starred in an episode of Epic Rap Battles of History, with Key playing Mahatma Gandhi and Peele playing Martin Luther King Jr. The pair returned to Epic Rap Battles of History with the "Muhammad Ali versus Michael Jordan" battle, with Key portraying Jordan.

Key was involved in audio episodes for the marketing campaign, "Hunt the Truth" on the website for the video game Halo 5: Guardians, voicing a fictional journalist and war photographer named Benjamin Giraud, who investigates the Master Chief's background.

Key has had roles in numerous films, including 2014's Horrible Bosses 2, Let's Be Cops and the animated The Lego Movie, as well as Pitch Perfect 2, Tomorrowland, and Wonka in 2023.

Key is one of several hosts of the podcast Historically Black by American Public Media and The Washington Post.

Key voices the character Murray the Mummy in Hotel Transylvania 2, Hotel Transylvania 3: Summer Vacation and Hotel Transylvania: Transformania. The character was originally voiced by rapper CeeLo Green in the first movie.

In the summer of 2017 Key returned to the theater after what he characterized as a "19-year detour into sketch comedy" for a production of Hamlet at New York's Public Theater, playing Horatio opposite Oscar Isaac in the title role. Key, who is a Shakespearean-trained actor, fulfilled his lifelong dream to play Horatio and received rave reviews for his performance. The Hollywood Reporter's David Rooney noted that Key's comedic skills were on full display, "...but his ease with the verse and stirring sensitivity [was] a revelation."

Key voice acted in The Star, the animated film based on the Nativity of Jesus. He later went on to voice Ducky in Toy Story 4 and Kamari in The Lion King. Key voiced "Honest John" Worthington Foulfellow in the live-action film adaptation of Disney's Pinocchio, which stars Tom Hanks, Cynthia Erivo and Luke Evans, as well as Toad in The Super Mario Bros. Movie, with Chris Pratt, Jack Black, Anya Taylor-Joy, Charlie Day and Seth Rogen, and a scarlet macaw Delroy in Migration both from Illumination. In 2024, Key voiced B-127 / Bumblebee in the animated prequel film Transformers One, sharing cast with Chris Hemsworth, Scarlett Johansson, Brian Tyree Henry and Jon Hamm.

In 2017, Key made his Broadway debut in Steve Martin's comedy Meteor Shower. His hosting stint on Saturday Night Live on May 15, 2021, marked the first time a MADtv cast member has hosted SNL.

Key hosted the science show Brain Games on National Geographic for its eighth season.

On May 14, 2020, he hosted an online event by the Jazz Foundation of America to support its emergency fund for COVID-19.

In 2026, Key will reprise the voice of Toad in The Super Mario Galaxy Movie.

Personal life

Key was married to actress and dialect coach Cynthia Blaise from 1998 until 2017. They were legally separated in November 2015, with Key filing for divorce the following month. He married producer and director Elisa "Elle" Pugliese in New York City on June 8, 2018.

Key is a Christian and has practiced Buddhism, Catholicism, and Evangelicalism in the past. Being biracial has been a source of comedic material for Key, who told Terry Gross in an interview for NPR, "I think the reason Jordan and I became actors is because we did a fair amount of code-switching growing up and still do."

Key is a keen soccer fan and an avid supporter of English Premier League club Liverpool and the Belgian national team because of his roots there. He is a big fan of Penn State football (his alma mater) and he has been known to regularly impersonate Penn State's former head coach James Franklin because of their similar physical appearance. He is also a fan of the NFL's Detroit Lions.

Philanthropy

Key has worked with the Young Storytellers Foundation as an actor for their annual fundraiser alongside Max Greenfield, Jack Black and Judy Greer.

Filmography

Film

Television

Stage

Video games

Music videos

Web series

Podcasts

Books

Awards and nominations

References

References

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7. "You Made It Weird #275: Keegan-Michael Key". Nerdist Podcast.
8. (September 18, 2015). "Keegan-Michael Key Has Learned That He And Dwayne McDuffie Were Half Brothers". [[Bleeding Cool]].
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11. (December 11, 2013). "Keegan-Michael Key: Comedy Central star fondly recalls his days at university". The Varsity News.
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13. Argetsinger, Amy. (April 26, 2015). "Watch more of Keegan-Michael Key as 'Luther,' Obama's 'anger translator'". [[The Washington Post]].
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40. (November 16, 2017). "Keegan-Michael Key & Cynthia Blaise Finalize Divorce Days Before He Announces Engagement". [[People (magazine).
41. (November 16, 2017). "Keegan-Michael Key finalizes divorce settlement with wife of almost 20 years". Daily News.
42. "Keegan-Michael Key Is Married! See Photos of Actor's Wedding to Elisa Pugliese in N.Y.C.". People.
43. (November 14, 2017). "Keegan-Michael Key Is Engaged to Producer Elisa Pugliese". [[People (magazine).
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49. "Keegan-Michael Key's emotional roller coaster ride during Belgium's 2018 World Cup Knockout Round".
50. (23 August 2024). "Lions Superfan Keegan-Michael Key Discusses Detroit's Optimism for 2024 Season".
51. (October 5, 2015). "Keegan-Michael Key, Max Greenfield Set for Young Storytellers' Biggest Show Fundraiser". [[Variety (magazine).
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