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Danny Woodburn

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Danny Woodburn
Woodburn in 2017
Born (1964-07-26) July 26, 1964 (age 60)
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, U.S.
Alma materTemple University
Occupations
  • Actor
  • comedian
  • activist
Years active1985–present
Spouse
Amy Buchwald
​
(m. 1998)​

Danny Woodburn (born July 26, 1964)[1] is an American actor, comedian, and activist for the disability rights movement linked to his dwarfism.

He played Mickey Abbott on the sitcom Seinfeld. He has more than 150 television and 30 film appearances to date.

Early life and education

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Woodburn was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.[2] He is a graduate of Abington Senior High School in Abington Township, Montgomery County, Pennsylvania and Temple University School of Communications and Theater.[3] He received the school's Outstanding Alumni Achievement Award in 2001.[3]

Career

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Stage

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Woodburn appeared in numerous stage productions before moving to Los Angeles, such as The Indian Wants the Bronx (by Israel Horovitz); Scapino; David Mamet's Revenge of the Space Pandas; and a touring company production of Viet Rock. His debut in the New York theater world began with The Soda Jerk.

Stand-up comedy

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A stand-up comedian for over 20 years, Woodburn has performed nationwide. He has headlined at comedy clubs which include The Improv, The "Comedy Store, Gotham Comedy Club, Carolines on Broadway, The Ice House, and the Laugh Factory.

Television actor

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Woodburn starred as "Professor Pixel" in Fox's 1992 Halloween special, Count DeClues' Mystery Castle, which was shot at The Magic Castle nightclub in Los Angeles.

Of his more than 150 TV appearances, Woodburn has had numerous starring and reoccurring roles on widely recognized network shows, beginning with his memorable turns as Mickey Abbott on the multi-Emmy winning series Seinfeld. He starred on the 1997 series Conan the Adventurer (as Otli, Conan's sidekick); Special Unit 2 as Carl; and multiple return appearances on Passions; The Bold and the Beautiful; Tracey Takes On...; Baywatch; Early Edition, Murder She Wrote; Charmed; Becker; Bones;. Additionally there were numerous guest-starring roles on such shows Hunter; Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman; The Pretender; Angel; CSI; Veronica's Closet; 8 Simple Rules; Monk; and Jane the Virgin.

He has guest starred on such children's television shows as The Suite Life of Zack & Cody; iCarly; Cory in the House; Nicky, Ricky, Dicky & Dawn;, and Bizaardvark. He appeared regularly as Mr. Poulos on Crash & Bernstein.

In "Pixtopia", an episode of Disney Channel's Star vs. the Forces of Evil starring Eden Sher, he guest-voiced the pixie task master.

Film roles

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Woodburn has appeared in the films Jingle All the Way; Things You Can Tell Just by Looking at Her; The Flintstones in Viva Rock Vegas; Death to Smoochy; Employee of the Month; Watchmen; Mirror Mirror; and The Identical. He also appeared in the children's feature series Santa Buddies, The Search for Santa Paws, and Santa Paws 2: The Santa Pups. He performed the motion capture for Splinter in Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, with the voice of Splinter being supplied by Tony Shalhoub.[4]

Filmography

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Film

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Year Title Role Notes
1995 Lord of Illusions Forensic Photographer Uncredited
1996 Jingle All the Way Tony
2000 Things You Can Tell Just by Looking at Her Albert
2000 The Flintstones in Viva Rock Vegas Little Rocko
2002 Death to Smoochy Angelo Pike
2004 Blue Demon Lawrence Van Allen
2006 Employee of the Month Glen Ross
2009 Watchmen Big Figure Uncredited
2009 Santa Buddies Eli
2010 The Search for Santa Paws Eli
2012 Mirror Mirror Grimm
2012 Bad Ass Master Sluggy Kornnuts
2012 Santa Paws 2: The Santa Pups Eli
2014 Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Splinter Motion-capture performance
2014 The Identical Damon
2020 Faith Based Jimmy

Television

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Year Title Role Notes
1992–93 Murder, She Wrote Various 3 episodes
1994–98 Seinfeld Mickey Abbott Recurring Role; 7 episodes
1994, 1998 Baywatch Benny, Herbert Crane, Episodes: Silent Night Baywatch Night, Parts 1 and 2, Friends Forever
1995 Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Big Buster Williams Episode: Resurrection
1996–97 Tracey Takes On... Mitch Gibson Recurring Role; 6 episodes
1997–98 Conan the Adventurer Otli Main role
2002–03 Charmed Head Dwarf 3 episodes
2001–02 Special Unit 2 Carl Main Role; All episodes
2005 One Tree Hill Marty Episode: How a Resurrection Really Feels
2006 The Suite Life of Zack & Cody Blop Episode: Boston Holiday
2006–14 Bones Alex Radziwill Recurring Role
2007 Monk Little Willie Episode: Mr. Monk Is on the Air
2008 Cory in the House Mr. McNamara Episode: Who Let the Dolls Out
2008 iCarly Mitch Episode: iChristmas
2010 Party Down Tim Episode: Jackal Onassis Backstage Party
2012–14 Crash & Bernstein Martin Poulos Recurring Role
2015 Nicky, Ricky, Dicky & Dawn Gayle Episode: Go Hollywood
2015 Star vs. the Forces of Evil Pixie Taskmaster (voice) Episode: "Pixtopia"
2016 Bizaardvark Pyro Steve Episode: Bernie's in Charge
2017 The Bold and the Beautiful Kenny Recurring Role
2020 Legacies Pig Episode: Facing Darkness Is Kinda My Thing
2021 The Neighborhood Mayor Clyborne Episode: Welcome to the Sister from Another Mister
2021 Station 19 Tobias Episode: Searching for the Ghost
2022 Willow Additional voices Episode: "The High Aldwin"
2022 Wiggleheim (voice) Episode: "Prisoners of Skellin"
2023 Billions Judge William Rucker Episode: "Game Theory Optimal"

Commercial work

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Woodburn was featured in a series of ads for Burger King's BK Stacker sandwiches.

Advocacy

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Woodburn is an advocate for disabled and little people issues. He serves on the Screen Actors Guild "Performers with Disabilities Committee." Throughout his career as both a comic and an actor he chose to avoid the stereotyping of little people as sight gags or props. Gaining the respect of his peers has allowed him to actively pursue change within his profession for all disabled performers. He has been recognized for the change of attitudes and societal perceptions of not only people with dwarfism but of all disabled persons. He was awarded the DREAM Award by the Disability Rights Legal Center in 2009[5] for those efforts in TV and film as well as the 2010 Screen Actors Guild Harold Russell Award.[6] He was keynote speaker at 2010 RespectAbility Conference and the Inclusion Network of Cincinnati, and has been active as both teacher and speaker for The Little People's Research Fund, Actors For Autism, Media Access, American Association of People with Disabilities[7] and the National ReelAbilities film festivals.[8] He discussed some of his experiences as a little person, both on- and offscreen, in an interview with ABILITY Magazine in 2015.[9]

Personal life

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Woodburn is married to Amy Buchwald, an actress, writer, and comedian. She appeared in an episode of Conan the Adventurer as Woodburn's character's love interest.

References

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  1. ^ "Birthdays". The Modesto Bee. The Associated Press. July 26, 2021. p. 2A. Actor Danny Woodburn is 57.
  2. ^ "Danny Woodburn". Turner Classic Movies. Retrieved November 8, 2023. Actor, comedian and activist Danny Woodburn was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
  3. ^ a b "RTF alumnus earns award for advocacy of disabled performers". temple.edu. Archived from the original on February 23, 2015. Retrieved July 13, 2016.
  4. ^ Mike Fleming Jr (April 15, 2013). "Michael Bay's 'Ninja Turtles' Casts Splinter - Deadline". Deadline. Archived from the original on May 3, 2018. Retrieved April 17, 2020.
  5. ^ "DRLC DREAM Award 2009".
  6. ^ "2010 SAG Harold Russell Award". Archived from the original on November 2, 2014. Retrieved July 13, 2016.
  7. ^ "2014 AAPD Annual Leadership Awards Gala was a huge success". aapd.edu. Archived from the original on March 4, 2016.
  8. ^ "ReelAbilities Cincinnati". Archived from the original on May 18, 2015. Retrieved July 13, 2016.
  9. ^ "Danny Woodburn — A Happyish Guy". ABILITYMagazine.com. ABILITY Magazine. June 1, 2015. Retrieved August 4, 2015.
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