Tom Kenny | |
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 Kenny at the 2022New York Comic Con | |
| Born | Thomas James Kenny (1962-07-13)July 13, 1962 (age 63) Syracuse, New York, U.S. |
| Occupations |
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| Years active | 1981–present |
| Works | Roles and awards |
| Spouse | [1] |
| Children | 2 |
| Signature | |
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Thomas James Kenny (born July 13, 1962) is an American actor and comedian. He has been voicingthe titular character inSpongeBob SquarePants and associated media since its debut in 1999. Kenny's other voice roles include Raimundo Pedrosa inXiaolin Showdown,Heffer Wolfe inRocko's Modern Life, theIce King inAdventure Time and its spinoffFionna and Cake, the Narrator and Mayor inThe Powerpuff Girls, Carl Chryniszzswics inJohnny Bravo, Dog inCatDog,Starscream inTransformers: Animated, Hank and Jeremy inTalking Tom & Friends,The Penguin in various animated media based onDC Comics, andSpyro from theSpyro video game series. His live action work includes the comedy variety showsThe Edge andMr. Show.Kenny's accolades include twoDaytime Emmy Awards and twoAnnie Awards for his voice work as SpongeBob SquarePants and the Ice King. He is married toJill Talley, who playsKaren onSpongeBob SquarePants, with two children.
Thomas James Kenny was born inSyracuse, New York, on July 13, 1962, and was raised there. His parents were Theresa (née Donigan) and Paul Kenny.[2][3] As a young child, in the late 1960s and the 1970s, he loved drawing and collecting record albums. Kenny metBobcat Goldthwait in first grade and they became lifelong friends.[4] In their mid-teens, they saw an ad for an open-mic night atSkaneateles that featured comedianBarry Crimmins with the moniker "Bear Cat". He and Goldthwait went to the event, and performed under the monikers Tomcat and Bobcat, respectively, as a tribute to Crimmins, after which Goldthwait used Bobcat as his stage name.[5][6][7] Describing Kenny's stand-up routines, Goldthwait said, "Tom would get up there and talk about his therapist and he didn't even have a therapist, he just lovedWoody Allen."[8]
Kenny went toBishop Grimes Junior/Senior High School, a Catholic high school.[9] After college, he performed stand-up comedy around the country for about eight years before he moved on to other venues.[7]
Kenny has acted in many films and TV shows, debuting inHow I Got into College (1989) and later appeared in films such asShakes the Clown[10] (1991) andComic Book: The Movie (2004). On television, he would host the "Music News" segments ofFriday Night Videos in the early 1990s. He appeared in sketch comedy showsThe Edge which aired on Fox from 1992 to 1993, andMr. Show which aired on HBO from 1995 to 1998, both roles in the show were as a regular cast member. He appears in the live-action segments ofSpongeBob SquarePants asPatchy the Pirate, appeared onR. L. Stine's The Haunting Hour: The Series on theseason four episode, "Uncle Howee" as Uncle Howee, a high-energy kids' show host with strange powers.
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Kenny said that he voices "a lot of sweet yellow characters for some reason."[11] He describedSpongeBob's voice as in between that of a child and an adult, stating "Think aStan Laurel,Jerry Lewis kind of child-man. Kind of like aMunchkin but not quite, kind of like a kid, but not in aCharlie Brown child's voice on the TV shows."[12]
Joe Murray auditioned Kenny for voice acting roles forRocko's Modern Life in acasting call in Los Angeles, California.[13] On one occasion, the producers required Kenny to fill the role ofCharlie Adler, who was absent. He voices Cupid for the Nickelodeon showThe Fairly OddParents.[14]
Joe Murray chose Kenny for several roles on another of his projects,Camp Lazlo as Scoutmaster Lumpus and Slinkman, because Murray, after seeing Kenny's previous work forRocko's Modern Life, felt that Kenny "adds writing to his roles" and "brings so much".[15]
He voiced Dog inCatDog, as well as the voice of Cliff. He voices many characters inThe Powerpuff Girls, including the Mayor, the Narrator, Mitch Mitchelson, Snake and Little Arturo from the Gangreen Gang, Rainbow the Clown, etc. He voiced Eduardo and various other characters inFoster's Home For Imaginary Friends, Dr. Two-Brains in thePBS Kids show,WordGirl, and the villains Knightbrace, the Common Cold and Mr. Wink inCodename: Kids Next Door.
Kenny is thePenguin in the 2004 TV seriesThe Batman.
He voiced the character Squanchy onRick and Morty.[16]
He plays a number of roles in theTransformers Animated TV show. A few of the characters he voices in this series areStarscream and his clones, Isaac Sumdac andWaspinator. Kenny also voicedseveral characters on the animated showXiaolin Showdown, as well as theAutobotsSkids andWheelie in the live-actionTransformers film series. OnDilbert, Kenny voiced Ratbert, Asok, Dilbert's shower, and some minor characters. He played Mr. Hal Gibson in the animated kids showSuper Robot Monkey Team Hyper Force GO!.
In 2009, Kenny became a regular cast voice in the Fox comedy seriesSit Down, Shut Up. He voices Muhammad Sabeeh "Happy" Fa-ach Nuabar, the secretive custodian who is plotting a terrorist attack, as well as Happy's interpreter. The series premiered on April 19, 2009.Kenan Thompson,Kristin Chenoweth,Jason Bateman,Nick Kroll,Cheri Oteri,Henry Winkler,Will Arnett, andWill Forte are the other main cast members.[17]
He plays theIce King and Magic Man onAdventure Time. In 2011, Kenny took over the role ofRabbit fromKen Sansom inWinnie the Pooh. From 2012 to 2014, Kenny voiced Woody Johnson onComedy Central'sBrickleberry. He voiced various characters in the Cartoon Network programmeMixels, Sumo in the Cartoon Network programmeClarence, Daddo inHenry Hugglemonster,Dr. Otto Octavius onThe Ultimate Spider-Man, and Leo Callisto inMiles from Tomorrowland.
He has also provided voices in television advertisements forBest Buy (as an elf for a Christmas spot),[18]Experian (as a talking modem alongsideDC Douglas),[19] and Talking Hank in theYouTubeweb seriesTalking Tom and Friends.[20]
In video games, Kenny is best known as the voice ofSpyro the Dragon, having replaced previous voice actorCarlos Alazraqui. He first voiced Spyro inSpyro 2: Ripto's Rage!, and continued to voice the character up untilSpyro: A Hero's Tail, where he was replaced byJess Harnell. He also voiced another character in the series, Sgt. James Byrd, inSpyro: Year of the Dragon.[21] He reprised both roles inSpyro Reignited Trilogy, a collection of modern remakes of the original Spyro trilogy.[22] He also voicedCrash Bandicoot live atE3 1997, switching out performances with Carlos Alazraqui.[23]
Kenny was a guest star onHarmonQuest as both himself and his "in-game character" Legnahcra themaître d' of Virtuous Harmony.[24]
He also voicedFethry Duck in the 2017 version ofDuckTales. In 2022, he voicedBenito Mussolini and other characters inGuillermo del Toro's Pinocchio.
Kenny reprised his role as Ice King in the 2023 spinoff seriesAdventure Time: Fionna and Cake.
While working on the animated seriesRocko's Modern Life, Kenny met marine biologist and animatorStephen Hillenburg. After the cancellation ofRocko's Modern Life in 1996, Hillenburg began developing his own concept for an ocean-themed series, building off of his background in marine science. Hillenburg said that he wanted to base the show on his favorite animal, thesea sponge, "because it's a funny animal, a strange one."[25] To voice this character, Hillenburg approached Kenny in 1997.
The series, titledSpongeBob SquarePants, premiered onNickelodeon on May 1, 1999. It soon became a commercial success. Kenny plays various other characters on the show, including the live-action character Patchy the Pirate and the voices ofGary the Snail, the French Narrator (a parody ofJacques Cousteau), and SpongeBob's father (Harold SquarePants). In 2010, Kenny received theAnnie Award for "Voice Acting in a Television Production" for his role as SpongeBob inSpongeBob's Truth or Square (season 6, episode 23–24). He also voiced SpongeBob in thesequel film released on February 6, 2015. In 2018 and 2020, he received theDaytime Emmy Award for Outstanding Performer in an Animated Program.[26]
The television show celebrated its 20th anniversary in 2019. In celebration, a television special was aired, titled "SpongeBob's Big Birthday Blowout". One scene includes each of the show's main characters' voice actors portraying live-action versions of their characters.[27] While not the firstSpongeBob SquarePants episode that blended animated sequences with live-action characters, this the first time that the characters' voice actors have all played a live-action scene all together.[28] The airing was recognized as honoring the show's creator Stephen Hillenburg, who had died one year earlier.[29]
Later in 2019, he was featured in the live recording of the Broadway musicalSpongeBob SquarePants playing the role of Patchy the Pirate.[30]
Super Bowl LVIII, which took place in 2024, was broadcast onCBS; the network's parent companyParamount also owns Nickelodeon, the network that airsSpongeBob SquarePants. As part of a plan to maximize the use of its broadcasting rights partnership with theNational Football League (NFL), Paramount decided to air an "alternative" Super Bowl telecast on Nickelodeon that was aimed to be more family-friendly.[31] The channel's website claimed that the broadcast was intended for "kids of all ages, from 2 to 102".[32] The broadcast on Nickelodeon was hosted byNate Burleson andNoah Eagle in live-action and accompanying them were SpongeBob andPatrick. Tom Kenny and Patrick's voice actorBill Fagerbakke voiced the characters in real-time, improvising their own jokes in-character, and also utilizedmotion capture. Kenny commented that the Nickelodeon airing allowed viewers who weren't football fans to still engage with the game.[33]
Kenny first met his wifeJill Talley in 1992 while working onThe Edge. The two have collaborated on many productions together, includingSpongeBob SquarePants (in which Talley voicesKaren Plankton).[34] They also both appeared in the music video for "Tonight, Tonight" bythe Smashing Pumpkins. They have two children, Mack (b. 1997) and Nora (b. 2003).[2][35] The Kennys live inStudio City, California.[36]
Kenny has been nominated for aDaytime Emmy 4 times winning in2018 and2020 for Outstanding Performer in an Animated Program as SpongeBob SquarePants.[37]
He has been nominated for multiple Annie Awards winning in 2010 for his work on SpongeBob and 2014 for his work on Adventure Time. Kenny hosted the show in2005 and2011.
In 2022, Kenny was honored at the Syracuse Area Music Awards (Sammy Awards), headlining the event and being given the lifetime achievement award along with getting inducted into the Sammy's Hall of Fame.[38]
| Preceded by | Voice ofSpyro the Dragon 1999–2002, 2018-present | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Voice ofStarscream 2007–2009 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Voice ofWheelie 2009–present | Succeeded by current |
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