David Roya

Besides David Roya's acting career, he has been an intense exercise and health food enthusiast for more than 50 years. Most people don't know that David is a 4th Degree Black Belt instructor in Tae Kwon Do and a certified yoga instructor who was trained in India. David began his acting career doing college plays at Brooklyn College. After graduating, he did summer stock with Karen Black and then was off-Broadway with Eli Mintz, a star of Yiddish theatre. At 23, David relocated to Los Angeles to pursue acting. He did a lot of low budget horror movies. While doing one of them, someone suggested he send an 8x10 to Tom Laughlin. David remembers having about five auditions at Tom's house for Billy Jack (1971). After Billy Jack, David guest-starred on a lot of the popular television shows of the 70s like Mod Squad (1968), Mission: Impossible (1966), The Rookies (1972), Cannon (1971), Toma (1973), The Smith Family (1971), Black Sheep Squadron (1976) and CHiPs (1977). He was always cast as a villain but he wanted to be a "movie star" so he started to turn down the TV shows he was offered. Not a great decision. The well known and powerful casting director Joyce Selznick, told David that he was one of the best actors in town and he wasn't getting work because he had a bad reputation. However, she believed in him and gave him a small part in King Kong (1976) with Jessica Lange. The job lasted about a month but most of his part was cut out of the film. Then Joyce cast David in The White Buffalo (1977) with Charles Bronson and Clint Walker. David hoped that with Joyce's help that this would be an opportunity for a comeback. Sadly, she passed away in 1981. David wasn't getting enough work to stay in L.A. and he was married with a daughter, Amber. So they moved to New York in 1981 and he became a NYC teacher to support his young family. David acted sporadically and also taught Tae Kwon Do and yoga and trained people in physical fitness. His son Louis was born in 1983. David divorced in the late 80s and soon after his children came to live with him. David spends time exercising, playing flamenco guitar, drawing, painting, doing crossword puzzles, reading and contemplating nature. David has had some guest spots on Law & Order (1990) over the past several years. He would like to pursue an acting career more seriously and expects to release an exercise/fitness DVD in 2010.