David Ury

David Brian Ury (born September 30, 1973) is an American film and television actor, stand-up comedian and Japanese film, anime and manga translation specialist. He is a descendant of German impressionist painter Lesser Ury.

Career

Ury learned to speak Japanese while at college in Tokyo^{[citation needed]} and has worked as a translator in film, television, and manga and currently (As of May 2011^[1]) translates and writes English adaptations for Japanese comics (manga) (some notable manga include Rave Master vol.33,34,35, Basilisk, Genshiken, Gacha Gacha and The Wallflower).^[2] Ury moved to Los Angeles in August 2001 where he began performing stand-up comedy. In the spring of 2003, Ury became the "Ugly Guy" in Fox's Mr. Personality promo commercials. More recently he has appeared as the "Guy who says Yes" or the "Yes Guy" on the Internet viral Verizon parody short.

Cartoonist Keith Knight, a neighbor of his, described Ury's acting career as "Spooge man" and "a cavalcade of reprobates, sleazeballs, derelicts, & weirdos...."^[3]

Appearances

TV Series & Movies

David Ury has made several film and television appearances, including an episode of Tim Kring's Crossing Jordan and in Shoot 'Em Up. He also appeared in Heroes, Malcolm in the Middle, Life, Without a Trace, Breaking Bad and Zeke and Luther.

YouTube

David Ury also has YouTube channels/accounts/personalities or alter-egos, which include Karaoke Steve and Ken Tanaka, the so-called adopted twin brother of David Ury. Tanaka is described as a Caucasian man adopted as an infant by Japanese parents Hideo and Mari Tanaka, and raised in Shimane Prefecture of Japan; he returns to Los Angeles to find his birth parents Jonathan and Linda Smith. Ken Tanaka bears a resemblance to lonelygirl15 with Ken Tanaka's first appearance on YouTube.^[4]

Ken Tanaka speaks Japanese and English with a heavy Japanese accent and makes videos about Ken's search for his birth parents, culture and life in Japan and Los Angeles. Many viewers are convinced that Tanaka's story is true, while others believe that he is merely a character played by David Ury. After some viewers began to comment that Tanaka looked a lot like actor David Ury, Tanaka made a video where Tanaka goes to meet Ury.^[5] The video shows David Ury and Ken Tanaka meeting and discovering that they are identical twin brothers.

As of 22 August 2011 (2011-08-22) Ken Tanaka has over 200 YouTube videos in both his two YouTube channels (helpmefindparents and kentanakajapan). Tanaka's videos also document his visual art career and the making of his book "Everybody Dies- A Children's Book for Grown Ups" ISBN 0-615-46493-9 . Tanaka's work is sought after by collectors of the work of German impressionist painter Lesser Ury presumably by those who believe that Tanaka is actually David Ury.

David Ury's Ken Tanaka is also famous by YouTube series of "How to speak fluent Japanese (without saying a word #1 - #2; hardly saying a word; with Remi, Takeo, and Ken Tanaka; by Speaking English #1 - #2 - #3)" (with appearances of Remi February (Artist), David "Takeo" Neptune (Short film Director) and Masataka "Polo" Yazaki (Musician of former band Nirf)) and "I AM ROBOT" (which won "YouTube Video Awards Japan 2009" award).

Ken Tanaka has also made appearances in YouTube with MissHannahMinx and Gimmeabreakman (aka Victor from Japan).

Filmography

References

• http://articles.latimes.com/2009/apr/10/entertainment/et-tanaka10
• http://search.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/nn20090528f2.html
• http://ikimashou.net/2006/05/18/interview-with-a-translator-david-ury

External links

• David Ury at the Internet Movie Database
• David Ury at the ISBN Database
• Ken Tanaka at the ISBN Database