Khary Payton
Khary Payton is a Los Angeles-based actor and producer. His voice is recognizable from the wealth of animated characters he has played, including Cyborg from Teen Titans & Teen Titans Go!, Aqualad from Young Justice, Grimlock from Transformers: Robots in Disguise, and many more.
Born in Augusta, GA, Khary headed west to Southern Methodist University in Dallas to study acting. After school, he stayed in Texas honing his craft in classical and experimental theatre. A few years later, an LA Casting Director recommended that he make the move all the way west.
Khary started his career starring in the features Dracula II: The Ascension and Hellraiser: Hellworld for Dimension Films. He then moved on to lighter, comedic fare with C. Jay Cox’s Latter Days, National Lampoons: The Legend of Awesomest Maximux, and festival favorite, Ping Pong Playa from Academy Award winning Director Jessica Yu.
In 2012, Khary was honored with Best Actor awards at the IFS Film Festival, Boston Science Fiction Film Festival, and the Fargo Film Festival for his performance of Michael Forrest in the acclaimed independent Sci-Fi feature, Astronaut: The Last Push. Khary also co-wrote & produced the film, picking up numerous awards from film festivals here in the U.S. and as far away as London, Germany & Israel.
Along with his animated voice acting roles, Khary has also voiced a variety of video game characters, including Drebin in Metal Gear Solid, Azrael & Killer Croc from the Batman: Arkham Series, Cyborg & Doomsday from Injustice: Gods Among Us, Reigel from Starcraft: Nova Covert Ops, Blade in Marvel: Ultimate Alliance, Bishop & Nick Fury in X-Men Legends II: Rise of Apocalypse, Emmett Graves in Starhawk, Quinn Derringer in Republique, Knox in Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare, and many more. If you’ve played video games in the last 10 years, there’s a good chance that Khary’s voice has accompanied your adventures somewhere along the way.
His other cartoon and animated series credits include the roles of Hex & Manny in the Ben 10 series, Ripcord/Wallace Weems in G.I. Joe: Renegades, Barley in Sofia The First and Maurice in CodeName: KidsNextDoor, just to name a few. He is also currently the voice of Rafiki in the new Lion King animated series, The Lion Guard.
You can learn more about Khary Payton by visiting his IMDB page, and by following @kharypayton on Twitter & Instagram.
