Tom Kenny
Tom Kenny | |
---|---|
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 perhaps best known for his work in the animated series SpongeBob SquarePants, in which he is the voice of SpongeBob, 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 plays a few roles in The Powerpuff Girls TV show. He is the Mayor, the Narrator, Mitch Mitchelson, Snake and Little Arturo from the Ganggreen Gang, Rainbow the Clown, and other additional characters.
He has played a number of roles in the Transformers Animated TV show. A few examples of the characters he played in this show were Isaac Sumdac, Wasp, Starscream and his clones. He has also played several other minor characters as well.
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.
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 (FOX TV series) | 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 |
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 (character) Sergeant James Byrd |
voices only Video game |
SpongeBob SquarePants | SpongeBob SquarePants (character) 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 Various |
voices only Animated series |
The Powerpuff Girls Movie | The Mayor The Narrator Ka-Ching Ka-Ching |
voices only | |
¡Mucha Lucha! | Robert Bachi El Niño Loco |
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 | |
Final Fantasy X-2 | Rin Wantz |
voice only Video game | |
Xiaolin Showdown | Raimundo 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 Animated series | |
House of Bloo's | 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) | Mr. 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, Antione | 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, Wasp, Skywarp, Thundercracker, Starscream's Liar clone, Sunstorm and Jetfire | 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 | ||
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 | ||
Star Wars: The Clone Wars | Nute Gunray Nahdarr Vebb Various voices |
voice only | |
Immigrants (L.A. Dolce Vita) | voice only | ||
The Marvelous Misadventures of Flapjack | various voices | ||
Back at the Barnyard: Cowman: The Uddered Avenger | Professor Twinny Vines
Matin Fargleman || voice only | ||
Crash: Mind over Mutant | Ratnicians | ||
2009 | Kids Choice Awards 2009 | Announcer | |
2010 | The Game Plan 2: Winx to Africa | Spike (Joe Kingman's pet bulldog) | voice only Direct-to-DVD Live action and Animation |
See also
References
- ^ http://www.syracuse.com/blogs/listenup/index.ssf?/mtlogs/syr_listenup/archives/2006_10.html#194564
- ^ a b "A discussion with Tom Kenny of 'SpongeBob Squarepants'." St. Augustine Record
- ^ "Lisa (Kiczuk) Trainor interviews Joe Murray, creator of Rocko's Modern Life," The Rocko's Modern Life FAQ
- ^ Lawson, Tim and Alisa Persons. The Magic Behind the Voices: A Who's Who of Cartoon Voice Actors. "192."
- ^ Q & A with Joe Murray," Cartoon Network Pressroom