Tom Kenny Bio - Tom Kenny Biography

Tom Kenny: Biography

Tom Kenny was raised in East Syracuse, New York, where he later attended Catholic School. Tom Kenny was always fascinated with comic books and animated programs, which he read and watched on a constant basis, which permitted him to know more about the two subjects than anyone in his neighborhood. Tom Kenny idolized Bob Clampett and he did everything he could to learn as much as possible about animation; though Tom never imitated the voices of animated characters, as he preferred to create his own voices.

Tom Kenny began his entertainment career as a stand-up comedian in Boston, though he later went to San Francisco where he continued to perform stand-up comedy. However, he still credited his comedy career to the legends in animation, such as Tex Avery, rather than other comedians in the field. Tom didn�t initially plan to provide voices for a living, though one night when he was performing his comedy routine, there were some executives from Nickelodeon and Hanna-Barbera in the audience, who approached him with an offer to work with them, which changed his life forever.

Tom Kenny: Bill, Carolyn and Rodger Bumpass... aren't in the room, it's not even a recording room, it's Bikini Bottom, it's like for eight hours you are this... sponge!(edit)

Tom Kenny has acted in 192 productions so far.(edit)
Tom Kenny voiced Peter Cottontail in the 2005 direct-to-DVD movie, Here Comes Peter Cottontail: The Movie.(edit)
Tom Kenny played the dog at fun land on "That 70's Show".(edit)
Tom Kenny creates the laughter of SpongeBob SquarePants by rubbing his hand against his Adam's Apple.(edit)
Tom Kenny voices Scooter the talking baseball who explains pitches while the game is in play and was produced by FOX.(edit)
Tom Kenny appeared on the Pat Sajak show with Bob Goldthwait.(edit)
Tom Kenny and Bob Goldthwait worked together on the Showtime sit-com Out There.(edit)
Tom Kenny had a conversation with Bob Goldthwait from mid-'70s high school days, when they asked each other whose show-biz careers they wanted to emulate. Goldthwait said he wanted to be John Belushi. He said he wanted to be Mel Blanc.(edit)
He created a SpongeBob SquarePants album along with his pal Andy Paley, a producer/musician who's worked with everybody from Brian Wilson to the Ramones. Together, they came up with The Best Day Ever, a CD album that has a touch 60's pop. (edit)
Tom Kenny's first steady paycheck as a performer was Fox's sketch comedy The Edge, where he worked with Jennifer Aniston, Julie Brown, Wayne Knight, and Alan Ruck.(edit)
Tom Kenny's SpongeBob SquarePants squeaks and giggles have been described as "a potent combination of Jerry Lewis's geekmania and Pee-Wee Herman's pathological optimism".(edit)
Tom Kenny helped develope an unreleased cartoon called "Plastic Man" which was based on a DC comic character created by Jack Cole. Not only did Tom help develope but also voiced Plastic Man himself. (edit)
According to Tom Kenny when he did the voice of the Mayor, they were actually based on bad impressions of Frank Morgan and Joe Flynn.(edit)
He auditioned for Saturday Night Live, where he was a finalist when the show had two openings, which were filled by David Spade and Rob Schneider.(edit)
Tom Kenny and Bobcat Goldthwait co-founded a local comedy troupe called Genric Comics.(edit)
Tom Kenny and Bobcat Goldthwait performed stand-up together at local clubs as Tomcat & Bobcat.(edit)
He and Bobcat Goldthwait first worked together when they were hired by Barry Crimmins (who is a successful political commentor).(edit)
On November 16, 2004, which was 3 days before The SpongeBob SquarePants Movie aired, he was interviewed by Fresh Air from WHYY.(edit)
Even though Tom Kenny wasn't credited, he does a voice in the film, Scary Movie 3, as the invading aliens.(edit)
In two episodes of Camp Lazlo, Parasitic Pal and Loogie Llama, he sang a song in both the episodes.(edit)
He provided the voice of Henderson, the co-host of the children's programming block entitled Tickle U on Cartoon Network.(edit)
His first voice acting job that he had was for the Nickelodeon series Rocko�s Modern Life, providing the voice of Heffer.(edit)
He still performs stand-up comedy when he has time away from voice acting.(edit)
His favorite episodes of SpongeBob SquarePants

1) Ripped Pants
2) Dying for Pie
3) Band Geeks
4) SquidBob TentaclePants(edit)
He voiced the character Rin in the Square-Enix RPG video game, Final Fantasy X-2(edit)
In an early 2005 episode of Teen Titans, he sang a full length song in order to permit a musical scene to exist in one of the episodes.(edit)
In high school, he was classmates with comedian, Bobcat Goldthwait.(edit)
He provides the voice of Spyro in the video game series Spryo the Dragon, in which he replaced voice actor Carlos Alazraqui for the role. Tom Kenny voiced Spyro in these games: Spyro 2: Ripto's Rage, Spyro: Year of the Dragon, and Spyro: Legend of the Dragonfly.(edit)
He attended Bishop Grimes High School, in East Syracuse, New York.(edit)
In some SpongeBob SquarePants special episodes, he dresses up in a pirate costume, and he takes on the persona of Patchy the Pirate, the president of the SpongeBob SquarePants fan club.(edit)
He appeared in the Smashing Pumpkins� music video for the song Tonight, Tonight, along with his wife.(edit)
He appeared alongside his wife in a cameo during the Disney feature film, Sky High.(edit)
He provided the voice for Poppa in Joe Murray�s internet cartoon, Le Family Poppa.(edit)
The first anime that he provide voices for was Dragonball Z, though they were merely minor characters. His first major role providing the voice in an anime was for the series Rave Master.(edit)
He hosted Cartoon Network's Funniest Bloopers and Other Embarrassing Moments in June, 2003.(edit)
He provided the voice for the judge during a commercial for the cereal Cocoa Pebbles.(edit)
He was the announcer for the Kids Choice Awards in 2004 to 2006, and most recently, 2008.(edit)
He is second only to Tara Strong in the overall number of voices that have been provided to animated programs.(edit)
He is most well known for his work on the Nickelodeon series, SpongeBob SquarePants, where he provides the voice for SpongeBob, as well as his pet snail Gary. He also plays the live action role as Patchy the Pirate.(edit)
Tom Kenny is married to Jill Talley (who is also the voice actress) and has one child.(edit)