Isaac Keys (born June 6, 1978 in

St. Louis, Missouri St. Louis () is the second-largest city in Missouri, United States. It sits near the confluence of the Mississippi and the Missouri Rivers. In 2020, the city proper had a population of 301,578, while the bi-state metropolitan area, whic ...

) is an American actor and former American and

Canadian football Canadian football () is a sport played in Canada in which two teams of 12 players each compete for territorial control of a field of play long and wide attempting to advance a pointed oval-shaped ball into the opposing team's scoring area ( ...

player. He served as a

National Football League The National Football League (NFL) is a professional American football league that consists of 32 teams, divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC). The NFL is one of the ma ...

linebacker for the Minnesota Vikings, Arizona Cardinals, Green Bay Packers. In 2007, he played for the

Edmonton Eskimos The Edmonton Elks are a professional Canadian football team based in Edmonton, Alberta. The club competes in the Canadian Football League (CFL) as a member of the league's West Division and plays their home games at the Brick Field at Comm ...

in the

Canadian Football League The Canadian Football League (CFL; french: Ligue canadienne de football—LCF) is a professional sports league in Canada. The CFL is the highest level of competition in Canadian football. The league consists of nine teams, each located in a ...

Early life

Keys attended

Hazelwood Central High School Hazelwood Central High School is located at 15875 New Halls Ferry Road in unincorporated St. Louis County, Missouri, adjacent to the current northeast boundary of Florissant. The school is one of three high schools in the Hazelwood School Distr ...

in St. Louis, Missouri, and won varsity letters in football and baseball. He is an alumnus of

Morehouse College , mottoeng = And there was light (literal translation of Latin itself translated from Hebrew: "And light was made") , type = Private historically black men's liberal arts college , academic_affiliation ...

in Atlanta, Georgia.

Post-football career

In 2010, Keys appeared as one of the 12 contestants on the TV One

reality television Reality television is a genre of television programming that documents purportedly unscripted real-life situations, often starring unfamiliar people rather than professional actors. Reality television emerged as a distinct genre in the early 19 ...

dating game show Dating game shows are game shows that incorporates a variety of matchmaking systems and services in the form of a game with clear rules. Human matchmaking is involved only in selecting the game's contestants, who are usually selected more for the ...

The Ultimate Merger ''Donald J. Trump Presents The Ultimate Merger'' is an American reality television dating game show. A spin-off of '' The Apprentice'', the series premiered on TV One on June 17, 2010. The series' first season starred Omarosa, who in 2004 appe ...

'', which stars former ''

Apprentice Apprenticeship is a system for training a new generation of practitioners of a trade or profession with on-the-job training and often some accompanying study (classroom work and reading). Apprenticeships can also enable practitioners to gain a ...

'' contestant

Omarosa Omarosa Onee Manigault Newman () ( Manigault; born 1974), often known as Omarosa, is an American reality television show participant, writer, and former political aide to former US President Donald Trump. She became widely known as a contestan ...

. He returned to his home town of St. Louis in 2011 to star in the hit stage play ''

Issues of Love Issue or issues may refer to: Publishing * ''Issue'' (company), a mobile publishing company * ''Issue'' (magazine), a monthly Korean comics anthology magazine * Issue (postal service), a stamp or a series of stamps released to the public * ''I ...

'', written and directed by Joel P.E. King, where he played the character Tye, who had compassion for his sister Bridgette, was preyed on by a married woman and was disliked by her husband. Since 2017, Keys has had a recurring role as Ed, a gang enforcer, on the TV series ''

Get Shorty ''Get Shorty'' is a 1990 novel by American novelist Elmore Leonard. In 1995, the novel was adapted into a film of the same name, and in 2017 it was adapted into a television series of the same name. Plot summary The story centers on Ernest ...

''. 1978 births American football outside linebackers Arizona Cardinals players Canadian football linebackers Edmonton Elks players Living people Participants in American reality television series Minnesota Vikings players Morehouse Maroon Tigers football players 21st-century American male actors {{linebacker-1970s-stub In 2022, Keys debuted the character Diamond in the Starz show and 'Power' spin-off 'Power Book IV: Force'.