Tom Kenny

Thomas Kenny
Kenny at the 2009 Comic-Con International in San Diego, California
Born	Thomas James Kenny
Occupation	Voice actor/Comedian
Years active	1980 – present
Spouse	Jill Talley (1993-present)

Thomas James "Tom" Kenny (born July 13, 1962) is an American voice actor and comedian, noted for his long-running role as Spongebob Squarepants in the television series with the same name. He also voices Gary, the French narrator and others. Aside from voice acting, Kenny starred in the short-lived Fox sketch show, The Edge and was a cast member of the HBO sketch comedy program, Mr. Show, where he worked with Jill Talley, whom he subsequently married. He also hosts the show Funday Night at the Movies on TCM which tries to encourage kids to watch "old movies."

Musical career

Kenny was the lead vocalist for a Syracuse-based band, The Tearjerkers, in the early-1980s, replacing original vocalist Buddy Love. Other members of The Tearjerkers included Charlie Robbins, Dave DeCirce, and Dave Soule, who is still active in the central New York music scene. "Syracuse Summer" was the group's best-known song, which is included on The History of Syracuse Music, Volume XII and XIII. The record also contains early recordings by Ronnie James Dio, under the names "Ronnie and the Red Caps" and "Ronnie Dio and the Prophets." While the Tearjerkers did not become a national act, one Tearjerkers roadie would go on to achieve fame: comedian Bobcat Goldthwait, whose film Shakes the Clown featured Kenny as Shakes' bitter archrival.

In 1990, Kenny appeared regularly on NBC's music video show Friday Night Videos, in a recurring comedic Music News segment. In 1991, he took over as the show's regular host until being replaced later that year by Frankie Crocker.

In 1996, Kenny appeared along with his wife, Jill Talley, in the music video for "Tonight, Tonight" by the Smashing Pumpkins, playing a young couple taking their honeymoon on the Moon. The video was hugely popular, winning six MTV Video Music Awards. Kenny also appeared in the music video for "Sing" by Travis.

Kenny came full-circle with his musical past in 2006 when he co-wrote and recorded SpongeBob SquarePants: The Best Day Ever with producer Andy Paley. While Kenny's singing on the CD is done in the voice of SpongeBob Squarepants and other characters from the show, he was very serious about the quality of the actual music on the disc and was able to enlist help from such musical royalty as Brian Wilson, Tommy Ramone, and Flaco Jimenez. The music pays homage to The Beach Boys, The Archies, The Lovin' Spoonful, and The Troggs, among others.

Voice acting career

Kenny at the 2008 Comic-Con International.

Kenny voiced many characters in many productions. Kenny said that he voices "a lot of sweet, kind of stupid yellow characters for some reason."

Kenny played his first set of voice actor roles for Rocko's Modern Life. Joe Murray auditioned Kenny for voice acting roles for the series in a large casting call in Los Angeles, California, United States. On one occasion during the production, the producers required Kenny to fill the role of Charlie Adler, who was absent on that occasion. In addition, Kenny had to perform one song and learn how to play another song within ten minutes due to time constraints. Kenny achieved this goal. He said that this helped him believe that he could stand "toe to toe" with other voice actors.

Joe Murray chose Kenny for a voice acting position in Camp Lazlo because Murray, after seeing Kenny's previous work for Rocko's Modern Life, felt that Kenny "adds writing to his roles" and "brings so much.

He played Mr. Hal Gibson in the popular animated kids show "Super Robot Monkey Team Hyper Force GO!"

He also had a few roles in The Powerpuff Girls TV show. He was the Mayor, the Narrator, Mitch Mitchelson, Snake and Little Arturo from the Gangreen Gang, Rainbow the Clown, and other characters.

He plays a number of roles in the Transformers Animated TV show. A few of the characters he voices in this series are Starscream and his clones, Isaac Sumdac, and Wasp. He has also played several other minor characters. On the "Dilbert (TV series)", Kenny was the voice of both Ratbert and Asok.

He was also the voice of Skids and Wheelie in the 2009 live-action Transformers movie, "Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen"

In 2009 Kenny became a regular cast voice in the Fox comedy series, Sit Down, Shut Up. He voices Muhammad Sabeeh "Happy" Fa-ach Nuabar, the secretive custodian who was 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 and Will Forte are the other main cast members.

Kids' Choice Awards

Nickelodeon's annual Kids' Choice Awards is narrated by Tom Kenny. At the 2007 Kids' Choice Awards, he called himself the "Man of 1,000 Voices, all of them this one." Kenny was recently featured as the Voice in a Box at the 2008 Kids' Choice Awards. On the 2009 Kids' Choice Awards, he called himself "the only announcer who does all of his own stunts". At the 2005 Kids' Choice Awards, he called himself "The World's Best Announcer".

Filmography

Year	Title	Role	Other notes
1989	How I Got Into College	"B"
1990	MTV's Half Hour Comedy Hour	Himself
1992	Shakes the Clown	Binky the Clown
1992-93	The Edge	Various	Television series
1993	Rocko's Modern Life	Heffer Wolfe Additional characters	voices only Animated series
1995	Mr. Show with Bob and David	Various	Television series
1996	Dexter's Laboratory	Val Hallen Douglas E. Mordecai III Various	voices
1997	Cow and Chicken featuring I Am Weasel.	additional voices	animated series
1998	Catdog	Dog Cliff	voices only Animated series
	The Powerpuff Girls	Mayor of Townsville Narrator Mitchel "Mitch" Mitchelson Snake Little Arturo Rainbow the Clown Additional characters	voices only Animated series
1999	Spyro the Dragon (2-4)	Spyro the Dragon Sergeant James Byrd The Professor Additional characters	voices only Video game
	SpongeBob SquarePants	SpongeBob SquarePants Gary the Snail French Narrator Patchy the Pirate Additional characters	voices Patchy the Pirate (live action segments) Animated series
	Futurama	Yancy Fry Additional characters	voices only Animated series
	Mission Hill	Wally Langford Supplemental Voices	voices only Animated series
	Johnny Bravo	Carl Chryniszzswics (1999–2001)	voice only Animated series
	Dilbert	Asok Ratbert	voice only Animated series
	The Brothers Flub	???	voice only Animated series
2000	Escape From Monkey Island	Deadeye Dave Thrawtle the Lucre Lawyer	voices only Video game
2001	Final Fantasy X	Bobba Rin Wantz	voice only Video game
	The Mummy: The Animated Series	Jonathan Carnaghan	voice only Animated series
	The Fairly OddParents	Cupid	voice only Animated series
	Jimmy Neutron: Boy Genius (film)	Various characters	voice only Animated movie
	Dr. Dolittle 2	Male Tortoise	voice only
	The Cramp Twins	Wayne Cramp	voice only Animated series
	Time Squad	Eli Whitney Sigmund Freud Montezuma	voice only Animated series
2002	Codename: Kids Next Door	Mr. Wink The Common Cold Knightbrace Various	voices only Animated series
	The Paz Show	Dog	voice only Animated series
	The Powerpuff Girls Movie	The Mayor The Narrator Ka-Ching Ka-Ching Mitch Mitchelson Snake Arturo	voices only
	¡Mucha Lucha!	Robert Bachi	voice only Animated series
	3 South	Various	voice only Animated series
	What's New Scooby-Doo	Natlas Harry Harrison Sam the Safety Engineer	voices only Animated series
	Home Movies	Docter	Animated series
2003	Windy City Heat	Gay Costume Designer	voice
	Final Fantasy X-2	Rin Wantz	voice only Video game
	Xiaolin Showdown	Raimundo Pedrosa Grand Master Dashi Vlad Hannibal Roy Bean	voices only Animated series
	SpongeBob SquarePants: Battle for Bikini Bottom	SpongeBob Squarepants Gary the Snail	voices only Video game
	Teen Titans	Mumbo Fixit	voice only Animated series
	Scary Movie 3	Alien (uncredited)	voice only
	Adam Sandler's Eight Crazy Nights	Sharper Image Chair (voice)
2004	The SpongeBob SquarePants Movie	SpongeBob SquarePants (character) Gary the Snail French Narrator Clay Tough Fish #2 Twin #2 Houston Voice	voices only
	The Batman (TV series)	Oswald "Ozzie" Chesterfield Cobblepot (the Penguin)	voice only Animated series
	Comic Book: The Movie	Derek Sprang	Direct-to-video
	Super Robot Monkey Team Hyperforce Go!	Gibson	voice only Animated series
	Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends	Eduardo Additional Voices	voice only Animated series
	Brandy & Mr. Whiskers	Ed	voice only Animated series
	Rave Master	Griff	voice only br>Animated series
	Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends	Eduardo	voice only TV Movie
	April 16 baseball game between the Red Sox and New York Yankees	Scooter the talking baseball	voice only Sports game
2005	Hoodwinked	Tommy	voice only
	My Gym Partner's a Monkey	Jake Spidermonkey Henry the Armadillo	voice only Animated series
	The Boondocks	Father waiting in line for Santa	voice only Animated series
	The Legend of Frosty the Snowman	Mr. Tinkerton	voice only Direct-to-video
	The Endless Summer (SpongeBob SquarePants short)	SpongeBob SquarePants (character)	voice only TV short
	Tom and Jerry: The Fast and the Furry	Gorthan	voice only Direct-to-video
	IGPX: Immortal Grand Prix	Benjamin Bright	voice only Animated series
	Camp Lazlo (2005)	Scoutmaster Algonquin C. Lumpus Slinkman	voices only Animated series
	Sky High (2005 film)	Chester Timmerman
	Aloha, Scooby-Doo!	Ruben Laluna California Surfer Tiny Tiki	voices only Direct-to-video
2006	Tom Goes to the Mayor	Saxman
	Here Comes Peter Cottontail: The Movie	Peter Cottontail, Junior, Antoine	voice only Direct-to-video
	Re-Animated	Appleday Board Member/"Tux The Penguin"	voice and cast Animated movie
	Class of 3000	Edward "Eddie" Phillip James Lawrence III, Ms. Squatenchowder.	voice only Animated series Filming
	Handy Manny	Mr. Lopart Pat	voice only Animated series
	Shorty McShorts' Shorts'	Additional voices
	Squirrel Boy	Leon	voice only Animated series Filming
2007	Transformers: Animated	Starscream, Scrapper, Isaac Sumdac, Waspinator, Skywarp, Thundercracker, Ramjet, Sunstorm, Jetfire and Rattletrap	voice only Animated Series
	Futurama: Bender's Big Score	Yancy Fry	voice only Animated Series
	Word Girl	T.J. Botsford/Dr. Two-Brains
	Out Of Jimmy's Head	Tux The Penguin
	Crash of the Titans	Ratnicians
	Kids' Choice Awards	Announcer
	Meet the Robinsons	Mr. Willerstein	voice only
	Happily N'Ever After	Amigos #1/Dwarves #2/Wolf #1	voice only
	Tim and Eric Awesome Show, Great Job!	Pat Dudley, Grum
	Atlantis SquarePantis	SpongeBob SquarePants (character), Gary the Snail
2008	Unstable Fables: 3 Pigs and a Baby	Dr. Wolfowitz, Musical Comedy Wolf	voice only Computer-animated film
	Kids' Choice Awards	Announcer
	George and William	Super D. M. and Penfold
	Line Rider 2: Unbound	Bosh	voice only videogames for Nintendo DS, Wii and PC
	Star Wars: The Clone Wars	Nute Gunray Nahdarr Vebb Various voices	voice only
	Immigrants (L.A. Dolce Vita)		voice only
	Making Fiends: Television Version	Memo additional voices	voice only Animated series
	The Marvelous Misadventures of Flapjack	Various voices	voices only Animated series
	Back at the Barnyard: Cowman: The Uddered Avenger	Professor Twinny Vines Matin Fargleman	voice only Animated series
Crash: Mind over Mutant	Ratnicians
2009	Kids Choice Awards 2009	Announcer
	Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen	Wheelie/Skids	voice only
	The Haunted World of El Superbeasto	Otto	voice only
2010	Coulden in W Series : The Lost Empire	Mr. Lopart Wheelie	voice only Direct-to-video

See also

• Gotham Girls
• SpongeBob SquarePants

External links

• Tom Kenny at IMDb
• NNDB (Notable Names DataBase) Profile
• Interview with Tom Kenny on Fresh Air