Karen Shenaz David[1] (born 15 April 1979[2][3][4]) is a Canadian actress, singer, and songwriter, best known for portraying Princess Isabella Maria Lucia Elizabetta of Valencia in ABC's fairytale-themed musical-comedy television series Galavant, as well as the Head of Spanish, Cesca Montoya, in the BBC One school-based drama series Waterloo Road and Layla in the American action film The Scorpion King 2: Rise of a Warrior.

She had a recurring role on The CW's Legacies as Emma, a guidance counselor and witch, and played regular character Grace Mukherjee in Fear the Walking Dead.

A. R. Rahman, who had been invited to see the show by the director Shekhar Kapur, asked David to assist him and Don Black in the development of the material for the Bollywood-themed musical Bombay Dreams.

Other work during this time includes Steven Seagal's Flight of Fury (2007) as Barnes' Operational Soldier Flanders, The Colour of Magic (2008) as Liessa, the Dragonlady, and The Legend of Dick and Dom (2009) as Fairy Frampton.

David appeared as the female lead, Layla, in The Scorpion King 2: Rise of a Warrior (2008), filmed in Cape Town, South Africa.

On the episode she performed the song "Three Little Birds", which was then released as a soundtrack single with Wendy & Lisa by 20th Century Fox TV Records on 28 February 2012.

After working alongside Rahman to produce the soundtrack for this movie, she found herself back with him in his Chennai studio, in 2007, to write and record the song, "Alive".

In 2013 David released her final personal recording to-date, the EP Dust to Stars, on which she collaborated with songwriter-producers, Stefan Skarbek, Carl Ryden, Boots Ottestad, Adam Argyle and Martin Brammer.

[30] In 2013, she married Swedish songwriter and music producer Carl Ryden,[31] at La Venta Inn in Palos Verdes Peninsula, California.