David Acosta

*"See, the problem with my job is that possession looks a lot like insanity, and insanity looks a lot like possession."*
―David Acosta[src]
Father **David Acosta** is a main characters on *Evil*. He is portrayed by actor Mike Colter.

Acosta was training to be a Catholic priest when he approached skeptical psychologist Kristen Bouchard to ask for her help investigating the church's backlog of unexplained mysteries. Their job is to assess if there's a logical explanation or if something truly supernatural is at work.

## Personality

David is a kind and good-hearted man for the most part. He is patient, open-minded and willing to take on board other people's views and beliefs. Though a Catholic he does not attempt to push his faith on others but is always more than happy to elaborate for them when asked. He struggles with addiction and has been seen taking drugs more than once to 'enhance' his so-called religious visions. David does his best to do the right thing and strives to be a noble man worthy of the priesthood but can sometimes feel unworthy.

## Appearance

He's a tall, strongly built, African-American man with neat facial hair and a shaved head. David has piercing brown eyes and is usually seen in a suit.

## Occupation

Working as a self described 'assessor' for the Catholic Church means that David is sent to a wide variety of places to inspect whether people are in need of an exorcism or if their issues are caused by some outside source or psychosis. He also looks into possible miracles in an attempt to rule out hoax.

## Character Biography

As part of his work, David is sent to investigate the possible demonic possession of Orson LeRoux which is where he and colleague Ben Shakir first meet Dr. Kristen Bouchard. During this first meeting she is hostile with David and Ben accusing them of coaching LeRoux and totally ignores David's attempts to give her a crucifix. After she is attacked by LeRoux he goes to see her and offers her a position working with himself and Ben, which she accepts once he's assured her that he honestly doesn't care that she doesn't believe in demonic possession or not, in fact David valued her skepticism.

David tries to conduct himself in the noble and dignified manner one would expect of a future priest, but it soon becomes clear that his past is a constant in his mind, and he is still suffering from his use of drugs. While one part of him wants to avoid them entirely there is another part which wants to continue using them for the dream-like state they leave him in, this is a more likely reason for his so-called 'vision from God'. During his hallucinations David witnesses many bizarre things most notably being the wheat field where he sees a glassy-eyed Kristen slowly walking towards the scythe-wielding Devil Therapist - making him the third person to see this being - as he slashes at the wheat. However, due to drugs, developing insanity or perhaps just God providing a bit of humor with His messages there is a new development with the wheat field as David sees Leland Townsend quite literally pop up between the Devil Therapist and Kristen while dancing energetically to Lipps Inc's "Funkytown".

When he learns that Leland Townsend is the one asking for an exorcism in "N Is for Night Terrors" he objects, states that this is yet another of Townsend's attempts to manipulate and control; a sentiment Ben and Kristen fully agree with. Although they soon see this as an opportunity to poke around Townsend's home and see what he may be hiding, of course the bespectacled villain removed anything personal they did find a copy of the Seal Map hidden in the wall and an at home tattoo kit concealed inside an upside down crucifix which fell off the wall and hit Kristen in the head.

Even after having Kristen assess Leland herself, the church still forces the trio to move forward with the exorcism, probably for financial gain, which leaves David and Kristen angry for their assessments basically being ignored and the fact that it seems Leland now has some level of control over their branch of the Catholic church.

## Trivia

* Claims to have seen a shaman transfer his soul to a dying child.
* He dropped out so he could tour the world.

## Episode Appearances

	+ "Genesis 1"
	+ "177 Minutes"
	+ "3 Stars"
	+ "Rose390"
	+ "October 31"
	+ "Let x = 9"
	+ "Vatican III"
	+ "2 Fathers"
	+ "Exorcism Part 2"
	+ "7 Swans a Singin'"
	+ "Room 320"
	+ "Justice x 2"
	+ "Book 27"
	+ "N Is for Night Terrors"
	+ "A Is for Angel"
	+ "F Is for Fire"
	+ "E Is for Elevator"
	+ "Z Is for Zombies"
	+ "C Is for Cop"
	+ "S Is for Silence"
	+ "B Is for Brain"
	+ "U Is for U.F.O"
	+ "O Is for Ovaphobia"
	+ "I Is for IRS"
	+ "D Is for Doll"
	+ "C Is for Cannibal"

* **Season 3**
	+ "The Demon of Death"
	+ "The Demon of Memes"
	+ "The Demon of Sex"
	+ "The Demon of the Road"
	+ "The Angel of Warning"
	+ "The Demon of Algorithms"
	+ "The Demon of Cults"
	+ "The Demon of Parenthood"
	+ "The Demon of Money"
	+ "The Demon of the End"

## Gallery

* Season 1
* Season 2