My mother wanted to name me “Michael,” but my dad thought that everyone would call me “Junior” (Key’s dad’s name is Michael). They looked in a baby book, and saw “Keegan.” Then dad had the brilliant, simply brilliant, idea to use both.
Keegan-Michael Key is an American actor, comedian, producer, and screenwriter.
He co-created and co-starred alongside Jordan Peele in Comedy Central’s sketch series Key & Peele (2012–2015) and co-starred in USA Network’s Playing House (2014–2017).
Key spent six seasons as a cast member on Mad TV (2004–2009) and has made guest appearances on the U.S. version of Whose Line is it Anyway? on The CW.
He also appeared alongside Peele in the first season of the FX series Fargo in 2014 and had a recurring role on Parks and Recreation from 2013 to 2015.
Key hosted the U.S. version of The Planet’s Funniest Animals on Animal Planet (2005–2008) and hosted Game On! on CBS in 2020.
He has had supporting roles in several films, including Horrible Bosses 2 (2014), Pitch Perfect 2 (2015), Don’t Think Twice (2016) and Dolemite Is My Name (2019).
Key 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), The Lion King remake and Toy Story 4 (both 2019), and Pinocchio remake (2022).