Compact, feisty and slightly crazy-looking character actor David Patrick Kelly burst onto the acting scene in 1979, playing the homicidal but cowardly leader of the leather-clad gang "The Rogues" in Walter Hill's controversial New York City gang film The Warriors. Kelly's tight-lipped expressions and attitude that made him appear like a grenade with the pin pulled, got him plenty of roles playing defiant young men, often in trouble with authority. He locked horns with Eddie Murphy and Nick Nolte in Walter Hill's fast-paced 48 Hrs., was dropped over a cliff by Arnold Schwarzenegger in the violent Commando, was a member of a trio of killers after Harry Dean Stanton in David Lynch's' David Lynch's Wild at Heart, and again played a hood in the ill-fated The Crow. It's a pity Hollywood hasn't utilised Kelly in more versatile roles, as he is a wonderfully captivating character actor. Arguably, best known for his performance and unsettling screeching cries of "Warriors, come out to plaaayyy", from his debut on-screen role!
Graduated from Bishop Gallagher High School in Harper Woods, Michigan, in 1970. He is a skilled mandolin and guitar player and appears accompanying himself in Spike Lee's Crooklyn singing a song he improvised for the film and on the CDs for two Broadway shows, "Twelfth Night" and "Working". He is an avid martial artist with a Second Degree Black Belt (Nidan Rank) in Seido Karate and a practioner of three forms of Tai Chi (Chen, Yang, Palm). Plays a character with the name "Luther" in two Walter Hill movies, The Warriors and 48 Hrs.. He received an 1998 OBIE award for Sustained Excellence (sometimes called "Lifetime Achievement" Award.