Wayne Knight

Wayne Knight

Wayne Knight (born August 7, 1955) is an American actor, known for his roles as Newman in the TV sitcom Seinfeld, Dennis Nedry in the motion picture Jurassic Park, Don Orville in the TV sitcom 3rd Rock from the Sun, Al McWhiggin in Toy Story 2 and Stan Polak in Space Jam with Michael Jordan.

Biography

Early life

Knight was born in Cartersville, Georgia, where he grew up, and was an undergraduate at the University of Georgia. He left the college as an honor student but one credit shy of a degree to pursue his career at the Barter Theatre in Virginia. After an internship there, he joined the company and left with Equity card in hand to take on New York City. Two years later he had his first role on Broadway.

Career

Knight has had prominent film roles, such as in JFK by Oliver Stone and in the infamous interrogation scene in Basic Instinct. Also, due to the latter, he was the first person to be cast in Jurassic Park after director Steven Spielberg saw him in the scene. Knight was cast as the bumbling InGen Corporation's chief programmer for the park and spy for Biosyn, Dennis Nedry. He also appeared in Dead Again, To Die For, Space Jam and Dirty Dancing.

During the mid-to-late 1990s he simultaneously played prominent supporting roles on three different TV series on NBC (Seinfeld, 3rd Rock from the Sun and Against the Grain, featuring the then unknown Ben Affleck), an unusual hat trick for television. He also appeared as a regular on two sketch comedy series, The Edge for Fox and Assaulted Nuts for Cinemax and Channel 4 in the UK.

Knight has appeared on Broadway in the plays Gemini, Mastergate, Art and most recently in Sweet Charity with Christina Applegate. During filming of an episode of Seinfeld, Knight felt what he thought to be angina pains and sought the help of a cardiologist who told him that he was morbidly obese, had high blood pressure and was near diabetic. The actor then took on a serious program involving diet, exercise and outside support. He eventually lost 117 lbs (53 kg). Currently, he maintains about 75-80 lbs (34-36 kg) of that loss.

In Cheaper by the Dozen, he made his first film appearance in his new, slim self. Knight is now currently voicing the cat Mister Blik on the Nickelodeon cartoon Catscratch. He also voices the dragon Dojo Kanojo Cho in the Kids' WB! animated series Xiaolin Showdown. He also voiced the Evil Emperor Zurg on Buzz Lightyear of Star Command on Toon Disney and Disney Channel, Al McWhiggin, the toy store manager of Al's Toy Barn, in Toy Story 2. Tantor in Tarzan and Demetrius in Hercules and also made guest appearances on The Grim Adventures of Billy and Mandy as Jack-O-Lantern and Brandy and Mr. Whiskers as Mr. Cantarious the snail.

Wayne Knight appeared on the Pilot episode of the U.S. version of Thank God You're Here. He made a second appearance on the last episode of the first season. There, he won the Thank God You're Here blue door award.

In 2008, Knight did the voice of Max, an overweight cat in Cat Tale.

He has been signed on to play the Punisher's techno sidekick Microchip in the upcoming Punisher: War Zone

Selected filmography

• Seinfeld (1992-1998)
• Jurassic Park (1993)
• Space Jam (1996)
• 3rd Rock From The Sun (1996-2001)
• For Richer or Poorer (1997)
• Tarzan (1999)
• My Favorite Martian (1999)
• Toy Story 2 (1999)
• Rat Race (2001)
• Cheaper By The Dozen (cameo) (2003)
• Catscratch (2005)
• Extras (2007)
• Thank God You're Here (2007)
• Cat Tale (2008)
• Punisher: War Zone (2008)

External links

• Wayne Knight at IMDb
• Template:Voice actor