David Hayter | |
|---|---|
 Hayter at the 2024 Game On Expo | |
| Born | |
| Alma mater | Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute Toronto Metropolitan University |
| Occupations |
|
| Years active | 1993–present |
| Children | Natasha Hayter |
David Hayter is a Canadian-American actor, screenwriter, director, and producer. He is well known as the English-language voice actor forSolid Snake andNaked Snake in theMetal Gear video game series. He wrote the superhero filmX-Men (2000), for which he won theSaturn Award for Best Writing. He also co-wroteThe Scorpion King (2002),X-Men’s first sequelX2 (2003), andWatchmen (2009), and was a writer and producer on the streaming television seriesWarrior Nun.
His other roles include Sean Barker/The Guyver inGuyver: Dark Hero (1994), andKing Shark onThe Flash (2016-19), and voiceover work in variousvideo games. In 2014, he made his directorial debut with the action horror filmWolves.
David Hayter started acting at the age of nine. His father, Stephen, worked in thepharmaceutical industry.[2] He spent most of his childhood living around the world, and moved toKobe at the age of 15, becoming fluent in Japanese. He once worked as a print model inOsaka.[3] He later graduated from its internationalCanadian Academy in 1987. After this, he attendedRensselaer Polytechnic Institute for two years until transferring to theToronto Metropolitan University inToronto.[4]
Hayter did some live acting in the early 1990s, most notably in an episode of the sitcomMajor Dad, but soon became more interested in voice acting and later landed the role ofCaptain America in the popular 1994Spider-Man animated series.[5] He also provided the voice ofArsène Lupin III in the English version of theanime filmThe Castle of Cagliostro and the voice of Tamahome in the English version of the anime seriesFushigi Yūgi. He also starred in the 1994, straight-to-video movie,Guyver: Dark Hero, as the protagonist, Sean Barker (a mainrole 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.
Hayter began providing the English voice ofMetal Gear series protagonistSolid Snake in the 1998 video gameMetal Gear Solid, which also served as the series's transition from 2D to 3D. Hayter would go on to play Solid Snake and his progenitorNaked Snake throughout all the succeeding installments (including spinoffs, re-releases and adaptations) up to and includingMetal Gear Solid: Peace Walker (2010).[6] Hayter also has an extended live-action cameo as himself in one of the fictional TV programs prior to the start ofMetal 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.[7] Outside theMetal Gear series, Hayter also voiced the character inSuper Smash Bros. Brawl (2008).
His work with theMetal Gear series has also led Hayter to do voice work in other video game projects such asEternal Darkness: Sanity's Requiem andStar 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."[8]
Hayter is one of the fewMetal Gear actors to have played and completed the games he's voiced in.[9] According toPaul Eiding, Hayter gave up half of his own paycheck in order to bring back the cast of the originalMetal Gear Solid for the 2004 remakeMetal Gear Solid: The Twin Snakes.[10]
Following the announcement ofMetal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain in the 2013Game Developers Conference, Hayter announced that he was not asked to reprise as the main character for this entry.[11] This was later confirmed when Konami announced thatKiefer Sutherland would be the character's voice duringE3 the same year.[12] Hayter has since revealed in an interview that he had to re-audition for the role suggesting that the series' creatorHideo Kojima was already considering recasting the part much earlier, withKurt Russell (Snake Plissken inEscape from New York andEscape from L.A.) having been allegedly offered the role during the development ofMetal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater (2004).[13][14]
After Kojima's departure from Konami, Hayter would reprise the role in aMetal Gear Solid-themed advertisement for the2016 Ford Focus SE aired in 2016.[15] 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) andSuper Smash Bros. Ultimate (which simply reused his performance fromBrawl).[16] He reprised his role as Naked Snake for the 2025 remake,Metal Gear Solid Δ: Snake Eater, which also includes newly recorded lines.[17]
In 2000, he wrote the screenplay for the movie version ofX-Men, for which he was awarded the 2000Saturn Award for Best Writing,[18] and then went on to co-write the screenplay for its sequelX2 with writing teamMichael Dougherty andDan Harris. Shortly after his work onX-Men, Hayter was hired to write and direct a project based on the heroineBlack Widow.[19] 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 theBlack Widow script, is named after the titular character.[20]
Hayter also wrote an adaptation of the graphic novelWatchmen byAlan 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."[21] 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.[22] The script did not keep the contemporary atmosphere that Hayter created, but instead returned to the originalCold War setting of theWatchmen comic.[23] Warner Bros. was amenable to the 1980s setting, and the director also added a title montage sequence to introduce the audience to the events ofalternate history United States in that time period.[24]
On September 7, 2012, it was announced that Hayter would pen the screen adaptation ofCaught Stealing, starringPatrick Wilson andAlec Baldwin.[25]
On September 13, 2012, Hayter began filming on his directorial debut,Wolves.[26] On July 8, 2013, Hayter was hired byLakeshore Entertainment to write the filmThe Sword, based on theImage Comics series.[27]
On September 28, 2018, Hayter announced he was co-writing and producing the Netflix seriesWarrior Nun, based on the 1994 comic book seriesWarrior Nun Areala, withSimon Barry serving as series creator and showrunner.[28] Season 1 debuted on Netflix on July 2, 2020.
On August 7, 2013, it was announced Hayter was developing a television show on Fox tentatively titledWorld 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.[29]
On January 31, 2022, it was announced that Hayter would be writing and producing a television adaptation of the 2000 video gameAmerican McGee's Alice.[30]
| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1994 | Moldiver | Hiroshi Ozora | |
| 1996 | Rakusho! Hyper Doll | Reporter | as Sean Barker |
| They Were Eleven | Doricas Soldam IV | ||
| 1997 | Street Fighter II V | Additional Voices | as Sean Barker (Animaze dub) |
| Black Jack | Leslie Harris | as Sean Barker | |
| 1998–2000 | Fushigi Yûgi | Tamahome / Taka Sukunami / Yoshui | |
| 1998 | Giant Robo: The Animation | Shoji Gen | |
| Yu Yu Hakusho: The Movie | Kurama | ||
| 1999 | Mobile Suit Gundam 0080: War in the Pocket | Bernard Wiseman | as Sean Barker[31] |
| 2000 | The Castle of Cagliostro | Arsène Lupin III | as Sean Barker (Manga dub) |
| 2000–01 | Dual! Parallel Trouble Adventure | Additional Voices |
| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1996–97 | Spider-Man: The Animated Series | 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 theMetal Gear Solid 2 graphic novel included as extra content inMetal Gear Solid: The Legacy Collection |
| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1998 | Metal Gear Solid | Solid Snake | English dub |
| 2001 | Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty | Solid Snake / Iroquois Pliskin | |
| 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 | |
| 2006 | Metal Gear Solid: Portable Ops | Naked Snake | |
| 2008 | Super Smash Bros. Brawl | Snake | |
| 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[32] | |
| 2013 | Marvel Heroes | Winter Soldier | |
| 2013–15 | République | Daniel Zager | |
| 2014 | Oddworld: New 'n' Tasty! | Mudokons | |
| 2015 | Dragon Age: Inquisition – The Descent | Lieutenant Renn | |
| 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[33] | English dub; re-uses voice work recorded forSuper Smash Bros. Brawl | |
| 2019 | Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night | Zangetsu, Narrator[34] | |
| 2020 | Phantom: Covert Ops | General Nikolai Zhurov | |
| 2020 | Yakuza: Like a Dragon | Osamu Kashiwagi ("The Bartender") | English dub[35] |
| 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[36] | David recorded a few voice lines for Doc Ninja, the healer character,[37] they were added in an update to the early access version. |
| 2023 | Synapse | Colonel Peter Conrad[38] | |
| 2024 | Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth | Osamu Kashiwagi ("The Bartender"), additional voices | English dub[39] |
| 2025 | Yakuza 0 Director's Cut | Osamu Kashiwagi | |
| Metal Gear Solid Delta: Snake Eater | Naked Snake | English dub; re-uses voice work recorded forMetal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater[40] although a handful of lines have been re-recorded with slightly altered dialogue. |
| Year | Film | Director | Writer | Producer | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1998 | Burn | No | No | Yes | Unreleased on home media. Uploaded on David Hayter's Youtube channel on May 2, 2019.[41] |
| 2000 | X-Men | No | Yes | No | |
| 2002 | Lost in Oz | No | Yes | Yes | TV movie |
| The Scorpion King | No | Yes | No | ||
| 2003 | X2 | No | Yes | No | |
| 2009 | Watchmen | No | Yes | No | |
| 2010 | Chasm | Yes | Yes | No | Short film |
| 2014 | Wolves | Yes | Yes | No | Directorial debut |
| 2015 | A Christmas Horror Story | No | No | Executive | |
| 2020 | Warrior Nun | No | Yes | Supervising producer | 2 episodes |
| TBA | UntitledVoltron live-action film | No | Yes | No |
| 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 |
| 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"[42] |
| 2019 | Khonjin House | Episode: "Infiltrator 2" Voice only | |
| 2022 | Did You Know Gaming? | Narrator | Episode: "Metal Gear Solid's Cut Content"[43] Episode: "Metal Gear Solid's Insane Cut Content"[44] Voice only |
| Games |
| ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Characters | |||||||
| Music | |||||||
| People | |||||||
| Related | |||||||
