David Hayter

David Hayter is a Canadian-American actor, screenwriter, director, and producer. He is well known as the English-language voice actor for Solid Snake and Naked Snake in the Metal Gear video game series. He wrote the film X-Men and co-wrote X2 and Watchmen, and was awarded the Saturn Award for Best Writing in 2000 for his work on X-Men. Hayter voiced King Shark on The Flash.

Early life

Hayter's father, Stephen, worked in the pharmaceutical industry. David Hayter started acting at the age of nine. He spent most of his childhood living around the world, and moved to Kobe at the age of 15, graduating from its international Canadian Academy in 1987. After this, he attended Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute for two years until transferring to the Toronto Metropolitan University in Toronto. He stayed there until the age of 20, when he moved to Hollywood.

Career

Early acting career

Hayter did some live acting in the early 1990s, most notably in an episode of the sitcom Major Dad, but soon became more interested in voice acting and later landed the role of Captain America in the popular 1994 Spider-Man animated series. He also provided the voice of Arsène Lupin III in the English version of the anime film The Castle of Cagliostro and the voice of Tamahome in the English version of the anime series Fushigi Yūgi. He also starred in the 1994, straight-to-video movie, Guyver: Dark Hero, as the protagonist, Sean Barker (a role he took over from the previous actor, Jack Armstrong); Hayter has since gone-on to use the character's name as an alias in various work credits.

Metal Gear Solid series

Hayter began providing the English voice of Metal Gear series protagonist Solid Snake in the 1998 video game Metal Gear Solid, which also served as the series's transition from 2D to 3D. Hayter would go on to play Solid Snake and his progenitor Naked Snake throughout all the succeeding installments (including spinoffs, re-releases and adaptations) up to and including Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker (2010). Hayter also has an extended live-action cameo as himself in one of the fictional TV programs prior to the start of Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots (2008); where he wears the "Solid Eye", the technologically advanced eye patch that the main character wears throughout the game. Outside the Metal Gear series, Hayter also voiced the character in Super Smash Bros. Brawl (2008).

His work with the Metal Gear series has also led Hayter to do voice work in other video game projects such as Eternal Darkness: Sanity's Requiem and Star Wars: The Old Republic. He cited the series as an influence on his screenwriting, stating that "Kojima and I have different styles," "but I've certainly learned things from him, especially about ambiguity and telling a story without giving all the answers."

Hayter is one of the few Metal Gear actors to have played and completed the games he's voiced in. According to Paul Eiding, Hayter gave up half of his own paycheck in order to bring back the cast of the original Metal Gear Solid for the 2004 remake Metal Gear Solid: The Twin Snakes.

Following the announcement of Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain in the 2013 Game Developers Conference, Hayter announced that he was not asked to reprise as the main character for this entry. This was later confirmed when Konami announced that Kiefer Sutherland would be the character's voice during E3 the same year. Hayter has since revealed in an interview that he had to re-audition for the role suggesting that the series' creator Hideo Kojima was already considering recasting the part much earlier, with Kurt Russell (Snake Plissken in Escape from New York and Escape from L.A.) having been allegedly offered the role during the development of Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater (2004).

After Kojima's departure from Konami, Hayter would reprise the role in a Metal Gear Solid-themed advertisement for the 2016 Ford Focus SE aired in 2016. In 2018, Hayter provided the character's voice in two video games: Super Bomberman R (which added two playable characters based on both Solid Snake and Naked Snake in an update) and Super Smash Bros. Ultimate.

Filmmaking

Hayter in 2006

In 2000, he wrote the screenplay for the movie version of X-Men, for which he was awarded the 2000 Saturn Award for Best Writing, and then went on to co-write the screenplay for its sequel X2 with writing team Michael Dougherty and Dan Harris. Shortly after his work on X-Men, Hayter was hired to write and direct a project based on the heroine Black Widow. However, due to the limited success of similar themed films featuring female vigilante protagonists at the time, Marvel withdrew their offer to Hayter stating, "We don't think it's time to do this movie". Hayter's daughter Natasha, born whilst he was writing the Black Widow script, is named after the titular character.

Hayter also wrote an adaptation of the graphic novel Watchmen by Alan Moore and David Gibbons. Noted for being a harsh critic of translations of his works to film, Moore said of the script "David Hayter's screenplay was as close as I could imagine anyone getting to [a film version of] Watchmen. That said, I shan't be going to see it. My book is a comic book. Not a movie, not a novel. A comic book. It's been made in a certain way, and designed to be read a certain way." Hayter and writer Alex Tse shared credit on the finished screenplay. Tse drew "the best elements" from two of the project's previous drafts written by Hayter. The script did not keep the contemporary atmosphere that Hayter created, but instead returned to the original Cold War setting of the Watchmen comic. Warner Bros. was amenable to the 1980s setting, and the director also added a title montage sequence to introduce the audience to the events of alternate history United States in that time period.

On September 7, 2012, it was announced that Hayter would pen the screen adaptation Caught Stealing, and would star Patrick Wilson and Alec Baldwin.

On September 13, 2012, Hayter began filming on his directorial debut, Wolves.

On July 8, 2013, Hayter was hired by Lakeshore Entertainment to write the film The Sword, based on the Image Comics series.

Television

On August 7, 2013, it was announced Hayter was developing a television show on Fox tentatively titled World War III, about a fiction global conflict that chronicles "a perfect storm of world events places us in the center of a global battle which may bring the world as we know it to an end." Hayter will be writing the series' story bible and pilot episode, as well as producing and serving as showrunner.

On September 28, 2018, Hayter announced he was co-writing and producing the Netflix series Warrior Nun, based on the 1994 comic book series Warrior Nun Areala, with Simon Barry serving as series creator and showrunner. Season 1 debuted on Netflix on July 2, 2020.

On January 31, 2022, it was announced that Hayter would be writing and producing a television adaptation of the 2000 video game American McGee's Alice.

Filmography

Anime (English dubbing)

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1994	Moldiver	Hiroshi Ozora
1996	Rakusho! Hyper Doll	Reporter	as Sean Barker
	They Were Eleven	Doricas Soldam IV	as Sean Barker
1997	Street Fighter II V	Additional Voices	as Sean Barker (Animaze dub)
	Black JackTemplate:Broken anchor	Leslie Harris	as Sean Barker
1998–2000	Fushigi Yûgi	Tamahome / Taka Sukunami / Yoshui	as Sean Barker
1998	Giant Robo: The Animation	Shoji Gen	as Sean Barker
	Yu Yu Hakusho: The Movie	Kurama	as Sean Barker
1999	Mobile Suit Gundam 0080: War in the Pocket	Bernard Wiseman	as Sean Barker
2000	The Castle of Cagliostro	Arsène Lupin III	as Sean Barker (Manga dub)
2000–01	Dual! Parallel Trouble Adventure	Additional Voices

Animation

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1996–97	Spider-Man	Captain America	TV series; 8 episodes
2006	Metal Gear Solid: Digital Graphic Novel	Solid Snake
2013	Metal Gear Solid 2: Digital Graphic Novel	Solid Snake	Motion comic adaptation of the Metal Gear Solid 2 graphic novel included as extra content in Metal Gear Solid: The Legacy Collection

Video games

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1998	Metal Gear Solid	Solid Snake	English dub
2001	Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty	Solid Snake / Iroquois Pliskin	English dub
2002	Eternal Darkness: Sanity's Requiem	Roman Legionnaire 1 / Roman Legionnaire 2 / Angkor Thom Guard
2004	Metal Gear Solid: The Twin Snakes	Solid Snake
	Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater	Naked Snake	English dub
2005	Metal Gear Acid 2	Snake	English dub
2006	Metal Gear Solid: Portable Ops	Naked Snake	English dub
2008	Super Smash Bros. Brawl	Snake	English dub
	Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots	Old Snake	English dub; Also has a live-action cameo playing himself.
2010	Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker	Naked Snake	English dub
2011–	Star Wars: The Old Republic	Jedi Knight Male
2013	Marvel Heroes	Winter Soldier
2013–15	République	Daniel Zager
2014	Oddworld: New 'n' Tasty!	Mudokons
2015	Dragon Age: Inquisition	Lieutenant Renn	The Descent DLC
2016	The Long Dark	Jeremiah
	Deponia Doomsday	Old Rufus
2018	Super Bomberman R	Solid Snake Bomber / Naked Snake Bomber	English dub; Characters added in the Ver. 2.1 update patch, released on June 27, 2018
	Super Smash Bros. Ultimate	Solid Snake	English dub; re-uses voice work recorded for Super Smash Bros. Brawl
2019	Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night	Zangetsu, Narrator
2020	Phantom: Covert Ops	General Nikolai Zhurov
2020	Yakuza: Like a Dragon	Osamu Kashiwagi ("The Bartender")	English dub
2020	Super Bomberman R Online	Solid Snake Bomber / Naked Snake Bomber / Old Snake Bomber	English dub; Old Snake Bomber was added on May 27, 2021
2021	Retroninjacyberassassin	Doc Ninja	David recorded a few voice lines for Doc Ninja, the healer character, they were added in an update to the early access version.
2023	Synapse	Colonel Peter Conrad
2024	Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth	Osamu Kashiwagi ("The Bartender"), additional voices	English dub
TBD	Metal Gear Solid Delta: Snake Eater	Naked Snake	English dub; re-uses voice work recorded for Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater

Live action

Year	Film	Director	Writer	Producer	Notes
1998	Burn	Template:No	Template:No	Template:Yes	Unreleased on home media. Uploaded on David Hayter's Youtube channel on May 2, 2019.
2000	X-Men	Template:No	Template:Yes	Template:No
2002	Lost in Oz	Template:No	Template:Yes	Template:Yes	TV movie
	The Scorpion King	Template:No	Template:Yes	Template:No
2003	X2	Template:No	Template:Yes	Template:No
2009	Watchmen	Template:No	Template:Yes	Template:No
2010	Chasm	Template:Yes	Template:Yes	Template:No	Short film
2014	Wolves	Template:Yes	Template:Yes	Template:No	Directorial debut
2015	A Christmas Horror Story	Template:No	Template:No	Template:Yes
2020	Warrior Nun	Template:No	Template:Yes	Template:Yes	2 episodes
TBA	Untitled Voltron live-action film	Template:No	Template:Yes	Template:No

Acting roles

Year	Film	Role	Notes
1993	Major Dad	Misha Sarotsky	Episode: "From Russia with Like"
1994	Guyver: Dark Hero	Sean Barker
	Long Shadows	Ed's secretary	TV movie
1996	The Great War and the Shaping of the 20th Century	Voice	Episodes: "Stalemate" and "Total War"
1997	Drive	Cop #1
1998	Burn	Tom Rice
2000	Wild on the Set	Narrator	TV series
	X-Men	Museum Cop
2014	Devil's Mile	Toby McTeague
2016–2019	The Flash	King Shark	4 episodes Voice only
2022	Turning Red	Additional Voices

Webshow

Year	Webshow	Role	Notes
2009	Hey Ash, Whatcha Playin'?		Episode: "The Sons of Big Boss" Voice only
2017	The Jimquisition		Episode: "Slay to Pay" Voice only
2018	Boundary Break	Solid Snake	Episode: "Metal Gear Solid"
2019	Khonjin House	Solid Snake	Episode: "Infiltrator 2" Voice only
2022	Did You Know Gaming?	Narrator	Episode: "Metal Gear Solid's Cut Content" Episode: "Metal Gear Solid's Insane Cut Content" Voice only

External links

• Template:Official website
• Template:IMDb name
• Template:BTVA person
• David Hayter Geeks Out with NERDSociety Template:Webarchive
• 10 Questions: David Hayter at IGN
• This Week In Geek Interview with David Hayter
• Audio Interview (2010) with The Rafferty/Mills Connection podcast
• David Hayter Discusses Watchmen at AMCtv.com
• Template:Twitter