David Ramsey was born in Detroit, Michigan, USA and was the fourth of five children of Jeraldine and Nathaniel Ramsey. After performing in a church play, he started wanting to become an actor and after graduating from Mumford High School, he attended Wayne State University. He had his first role in Scared Stiff but his main career kicked off in 1995 when he started getting small roles in films and television series. He starred in such films as The Nutty Professor, A Very Brady Sequel, Con Air and A Short Wait Between Trains.　　From 1997 to 1998, he appeared on the UPN sitcom Good News, starring as Pastor David Randolph. He, later in 2000, starred in Ali: An American Hero as Muhammad Ali and in Pay It Forward and started a recurring role in For Your Love. He has also starred in recurring roles in All of Us, The West Wing, CSI: Crime Scene Investigation, Ghost Whisperer, Wildfire and Hollywood Residential. In 2008 to 2009, he appeared in 17 episodes of Dexter as Anton Briggs, a pot-smoking confidential informant who has an affair with Debra Morgan in Season 3 and at the start of Season 4. He appeared in an episode of Grey's Anatomy in 2010.　　Ramsey appeared in the short lived NBC courtroom drama series Outlaw in 2010