Tom Kenny

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Tom Kenny
Kenny at the 2008 Comic-Con International in San Diego, California
Born	Thomas James Kenny July 13, 1962 (1962-07-13) (age 47) East Syracuse, New York, U.S.
Occupation	Voice actor/Comedian
Years active	1980 – present
Spouse(s)	Jill Talley (1993-present)

Thomas James "Tom" Kenny (born July 13, 1962) is an American voice actor and comedian perhaps best known for his work in the animated comedy series SpongeBob SquarePants, in which he is the voice of SpongeBob SquarePants, the narrator, and Gary among 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.^[1]

Voice acting career

Kenny voiced many characters in many productions. Kenny said that he voices "a lot of sweet, kind of stupid yellow characters for some reason."^[2]

Kenny played his first set of voice actor roles for Rocko's Modern Life.^[2] Joe Murray auditioned Kenny for voice acting roles for the series in a large casting call in Los Angeles, California, United States.^[3] 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.^[4]

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.^[5]

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

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

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

In 2009, Kenny became a regular voice cast in the Fox comedy series, Sit Down, Shut Up. He voices Muhannad Sabeeh "Happy" Fa-ach Nuabar, the secretive custodian who was plotting a terrorist attack as well as Happy's interpreter.^[6] The series premiered on April 19, 2009.^[6] Kenan Thompson, Kristin Chenoweth, Jason Bateman, Nick Kroll, Cheri Oteri, Henry Winkler, Will Arnett and Will Forte are the other main cast members.^[6]

Kids' Choice Awards

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

Filmography

See also

• Gotham Girls
• SpongeBob SquarePants

References

External links

• Tom Kenny at the Internet Movie Database
• NNDB (Notable Names DataBase) Profile
• Interview with Tom Kenny on Fresh Air