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| Main Role<br>Appeared in 18 episodes

Revision as of 15:17, 23 February 2013

Wayne Knight
Born
Wayne Eliot Knight

(1955-08-07) August 7, 1955 (age 69)
Alma materUniversity of Georgia
OccupationActor/Comedian/Voice Actor
Years active1979–present
Spouse(s)Paula Sutor
(1996–2003; divorced)
Children1

Wayne Eliot Knight[1] (born August 7, 1955) is an American actor, comedian, and voice actor perhaps best known for his role as Newman in the TV sitcom Seinfeld. His other prominent roles include Dennis Nedry in Jurassic Park, Stan Podolak in Space Jam, Al McWhiggin in Toy Story 2, Tantor in Tarzan, Don Orville in 3rd Rock from the Sun, Zack Mallozzi in Rat Race, Mr. Blik in Catscratch, and Haskell Lutz in The Exes.

Early life

Knight was born in New York City, New York on August 7, 1955, the son of William "Bill" Knight, a textile factory supervisor[2] who soon moved the family to Cartersville, Georgia, where Knight grew up. Knight was a lineman on his high school's football team.[3] He was an undergraduate at the University of Georgia. Contrary to some reports, he was never the mascot for the Bulldogs.[4] 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 overweight 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 two TV series on NBC. He played the part of the mailman Newman in Seinfeld (where he participated in a scene spoofing Kevin Costner's "back and to the left" speech from JFK and a scene spoofing his role as an interrogator in Basic Instinct); he also played Officer Don Orville, Sally's love interest in 3rd Rock from the Sun. He had earlier appeared in Against the Grain, featuring the then unknown Ben Affleck. 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 (The Bottle Deposit), 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 pounds (53 kg). Currently,[when?] he maintains about 75–80 lb (35 kg) of that loss.[citation needed]

In 1994, Knight voiced Peter Feathers, the main 2nd antagonist in "Person To Hat" from a television series called Mike & Spike.

Knight also voiced the black cat Mister Blik on the Nickelodeon cartoon Catscratch and voiced Igor on the Fox Kids cartoon Toonsylvania. He also voices the dragon Dojo Kanojo Cho in the Kids' WB! animated series Xiaolin Showdown. He also voiced 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 the elephant in Tarzan and Demetrius the shopkeeper in Hercules and also made guest appearances on The Grim Adventures of Billy & Mandy as the Jack-O-Lantern and Brandy and Mr. Whiskers as Mr. Cantarious the snail. He recently voiced the bug Juju on Tak and the Power of Juju.

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.

He played the Punisher's techno sidekick Microchip in Punisher: War Zone. Knight guest stars in The Penguins of Madagascar as Max the Cat in the episodes "Launchtime" and "Cat's Cradle".

In 2009, Knight reprised his role as the Seinfeld character Newman for the seventh season of Curb Your Enthusiasm. Wayne also guest starred on CSI: Crime Scene Investigation season 10 episode Working Stiffs.

Knight guest starred on a 2010 episode of Fox TV's hit drama series Bones. He also guest-starred in the first season of the TV Land comedy series Hot in Cleveland (2010), and was a recurring character for season two. Knight also guest-starred on an episode of The Whole Truth in fall 2010.[5] He plays an Internet-fixated couch potato in the TV Land sitcom, The Exes.

In summer 2011 he appeared in the BBC/Starz series Torchwood: Miracle Day as Brian Friedkin.[6]

Knight will appear as Santa in Elf the Musical in November 2012. He previously appeared on Broadway in Art in 1999.

In 2012 Knight was featured in the romantic comedy, She Wants Me starring Josh Gad, Kristen Ruhlin and Hilary Duff, the film was written and directed by Rob Margolies and executive produced by Charlie Sheen.

Knight is a Democrat and recently attended the 2012 Democratic National Convention in support of President Obama's re-election.[7]

Filmography

Film

Year Title Role Notes
1979 The Wanderers Waiter uncredited
1987 Dirty Dancing Stan
1988 Everybody's All-American Fraternity Pisser
1989 Born on the Fourth of July Official #2 - Democratic Convention
1991 V.I. Warshawski Earl 'Bonehead' Smeissen
1991 Dead Again 'Piccolo' Pete Dugan
1991 JFK Numa Bertel
1992 Basic Instinct John Correli
1993 Jurassic Park Dennis Nedry Nominated—Saturn Award for Best Supporting Actor
1995 Heat Man in resturant
1996 Chameleon Stuart Langston
1996 Space Jam Stan Podolak
1997 Hercules Demetrius the Merchant Voice
1997 For Richer or Poorer Bob Lachmen
1998 The Brave Little Toaster Goes to Mars Microwave Voice
direct-to-video
1998 Soundman Tim Voice
1999 Hercules: Zero to Hero Orthus Voice
direct-to-video
1999 My Favorite Martian Zoot Voice
1999 Pros & Cons Wayne the Guard direct-to-video
1999 Tarzan Tantor Voice
1999 Toy Story 2 Al Voice
2000 Buzz Lightyear of Star Command: The Adventure Begins Zurg Voice
direct-to-video
2001 Rat Race Zach Mallozzi
2003 Cheaper by the Dozen Pete the chandelier fixer cameo
2004 Black Cloud Mr. Tipping
2007 Forfeit Bob
2007 Throwing Stars Officer Brooks
2008 Kung Fu Panda Gang Boss Voice
2008 Scooby-Doo and the Goblin King Amazing Krudsky Voice
direct-to-video
2008 Punisher: War Zone Microchip
2012 She Wants Me Walter Baum
2012 Excuse Me For Living Albert

Television

Year Title Role Notes
1982 For Lovers Only Video Game Fanatic TV Movie
uncredited
1983 The Day After Man in hospital TV Movie
1984 The Burning Bed Juror TV Movie
uncredited
1985 Assaulted Nuts Various Main Role
Appeared in 7 episodes
1988 Tattingers Kenny Axelrod Appeared in 2 episodes
1990 Mathnet Peter Pickwick Appeared in 1 episode
1990 Square One TV Peter Pickwick Appeared in 3 episodes
1992-1998 Seinfeld Newman Recurring Role
Appeared in 48 episodes
Nominated—Q Award for Best Recurring Player (1998)
1992 Double Edge Tommy White TV Movie
1992-1993 The Edge Various Characters Main Role
Appeared in 18 episodes
1992 T Bone N Weasel Roy Kramp TV Movie
1993 Fallen Angels Leo Cunningham Appeared in 1 episode
1993 Against the Grain Froggy Wilson Appeared in 1 episode
1993-1994 The Second Half Robert Piccolo Main Role
Appeared in 15 episodes
1994 Golden Gate Arthur Genopopoulos TV Movie
1996-2001 3rd Rock from the Sun Don Orville Main Role
Appeared in 100 Episodes
Nominated—Screen Actors Guild Awards for Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Comedy Series (1998, 1999)
1997 Contempt of Court Merill Bushman TV Movie
1998 Hercules Cyclops Head #2 Voice
Appeared in 1 episode
1998 Toonsylvania Igor Voice
Appeared in 19 episodes
2000 Dilbert The Security Guard Voice
Appeared in 1 episode
2000 Buzz Lightyear of Star Command Emperor Zurg Voice
Appeared in 12 episodes
2001 That '70s Show Eric's Guardian Angel Appeared in 1 episode
2001 Bleacher Bums Zig TV Movie
2002 Becker Wally Appeard in 1 episode
2002 Master Spy: The Robert Hanssen Story Walter Ballou TV Movie
2003 The Twilight Zone Nick Dark Appeared in 1 episode
2003-2006 Xialon Showdown Dojo Voice
Appeared in 52 episodes
2003 Gary the Rat Gary's Rival Voice
Appeared in 1 episode
2003 Grim & Evil Jack O'Lantern Voice
Appeared in 1 episode
2004 I'm with Her Kevin Appeared in 1 episode
2004 The Drew Carey Show Owen Appeared in 1 episode
2004 Listen Up! Buddy Appeared in 1 episode
2005-2007 Catscratch Mr. Blik Voice
Appeared in 20 episodes
2005 Justice League Unlimited Abnegazar Voice
Appeared in 1 episode
2006 CSI: NY Truman Bosch Appeared in 1 episode
2007 Tak and the Power of Juju Bug Juju Voice
Appeared in 1 episode
2009-2012 The Penguins of Madagascar Max Voice
Appeared in 3 episodes
2009 Woke Up Dead Andrew Batten Web series
Appeared in 10 episodes
2009 CSI: Crime Scene Investigation Mr. Terrence Lombard Appeared in 1 episode
2009 Nip/Tuck Don Hoberman Appeared in 1 episode
2009-2011 The Super Hero Squad Show Egghead Voice
Appeared in 3 episodes
2009 Curb Your Enthusiasm Himself uncredited
Appeared in 1 episode
2010-2011 Hot in Cleveland Rick Recurring Role
Appeared in 5 episodes
2010 The Good Guys Perry Black Appeared in 1 episode
2010 Bones Jimmy Walpert III Appeared in 1 episode
2011 Torchwood Brian Friedkin Appeared in 3 episodes
2011 Kung Fu Panda: Legends of Awesomeness Jong
Jong's Son
Voice
Appeared in 1 episode
2011–Present The Exes Haskell Lutz Main Role
Appeared in 22 episodes
2012 Green Lantern: The Animated Series Captain Goray Voice
Appeared in 1 episode
2012 Pound Puppies Ralphie
Construction Worker #1
Voice
Appeared in 1 episode

Video Game

Year Title Role Notes
2011 Jurassic Park: The Game Dennis Nedry uncredited
Voice

Awards and Nominations

References

  1. ^ "Veromi People Search". veromi.net. Retrieved 2012-12-11.
  2. ^ "Wayne Knight Biography (1955-)". Filmreference.com.
  3. ^ Fretts, Bruce (October 8, 1993). "Wayne Knight: Gaining Roles, Losing Weight - The "Seinfeld" star takes on three NBC shows this fall". Entertainment Weekly. EW.com. Retrieved 2012-12-11.
  4. ^ Marsh, Steve (November 30, 2011). "Wayne Knight on His New Sitcom The Exes, Being a ‘Tertiary’ Celebrity, and His Defense of the Laugh Track". NYMag.com Vulture. Retrieved 2012-12-11.
  5. ^ "Exclusive: The Whole Truth Swears In Wayne Knight". TVGuide.com. Retrieved October 13, 2010. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |name= ignored (help)
  6. ^ "Wayne Knight joins Torchwood: Miracle Day". Den of Geek. Retrieved February 8, 2011. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |name= ignored (help)
  7. ^ Tran, Vivyan (September 7, 2012). "Celebrities spotted at the Democratic National Convention". Politico.

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