Thomas James Kenny was born in Syracuse, New York, on July 13, 1962. He became interested in music at an early age and began collecting albums. He met Bobcat Goldthwait in first grade, and the two performers remain close friends to this day. They went to their first open-mic night together as youngsters and began their careers as stand-up comedians. They were highly influenced by Barry Crimmins, who performed at their debut stand-up event. Kenny attended a Catholic high school at this time. After high school, he went to college before touring the country for eight years doing stand-up comedy.
Personal Life
Kenny met his future wife, Jill Talley, in 1992. Talley, who is also a voice actor, met while working on “The Edge.” They finally tied the knot in 1995. Tom and Jill have worked on a variety of projects together since their partnership began, including “SpongeBob SquarePants.” In the series, Jill portrays Karen Plankton. In addition, they both appeared in a Smashing Pumpkins song video. They brought their first kid into the world in 1997. They have a second child together in 2003. The family resides in California’s Studio City.
Career
Tom Kenny eventually moved on from stand-up comedy to film and television productions. His first television appearance was in 1989’s “How I Got Into College.” He then starred in “Shakes the Clown” in 1991 and “Comic Book: The Movie” in 2004. Kenny was a regular on the sketch comedy show “The Edge” in the early 1990s. He was also a regular on the comedy sketch show “Mr Show” from the mid-to-late 1990s. Despite subsequently transitioning to voice acting, Tom has featured as the live-action Patchy the Pirate character in “SpongeBob SquarePants,” as well as a live-action part in “The Haunting Hour.”
“Rocko’s Modern Life” was Tom’s first genuine step into the realm of voice acting. He auditioned for various parts before landing the role of Heffer Wolfe. Although “Rocko’s Modern Life” was later discontinued, it provided Kenny with several further voice-acting possibilities.
He has appeared in a variety of children’s animated programmes, particularly those produced by Nickelodeon. “The Fairly Odd Parents,” “Camp Lazlo,” “CatDog,” “The Powerpuff Girls,” “Foster’s Home For Imaginary Friends,” “WorldGirl,” “Codename Kids Next Door,” “Rick and Morty,” “Transformers Animated,” “Dilbert,” “Super Robot Monkey Team Hyper Force GO!”,” “Adventure Time,” and many more are among them. “Clarence,” “Henry Hugglemonster,” “Ducktales,” and “Miles from Tomorrowland” provided more roles.
He is also well-known for his roles in superhero animated programmes. Kenny voiced Penguin in the 2004 animated series “The Batman.” He also appeared in “The Ultimate Spider-Man” as Dr Otto Octavius. Tom has a variety of voice-acting jobs in more mature programmes in addition to his work on children’s animated shows. “Sit Down, Shut Up,” “Brickleberry,” and other songs are among them. Tom has also been engaged in the video game industry, having initially voiced Spyro in the game “Spyro 2: Ripto’s Rage!” After this 1999 release, he went on to repeat his role as Spyro in all subsequent releases until 2004’s “Spyro: A Hero’s Tail”. ” Despite being replaced, Kenny continued to voice additional characters in Spyro games, finally reprising the title role in “Spyro: Reignited Trilogy.”
Of course, Kenny’s most recognised success was with “SpongeBob SquarePants.” He became interested in this production following the discontinuation of “Rocko’s Modern Life.” During this time, he met Stephen Hillenburg, a marine biologist and animator who had previously worked on “Rocko’s Modern Life.” Hillenburg contacted Kenny in 1997 with his own concept for “SpongeBob SquarePants,” giving him the part of the lead character. The programme debuted in 1999 and went on to achieve enormous financial and critical success.
Kenny also voices characters such as Gary the Snail, the French Narrator, Patchy the Pirate, and SpongeBob’s father, Harold SquarePants, in addition to SpongeBob. Kenny has also voiced the title character in multiple films in addition to his role in the animated series. He got an Annie Award for his efforts on the series in 2010, and he won Daytime Emmy Awards for his part in 2018 and 2020. Tom has said that he developed SpongeBob’s voice by attempting to mix the tones of a child and an adult, resulting in a “child-man” comparable to Stan Laurel or Jerry Lewis.
Net Worth
Tom Kenny is a $16 million net-worth American actor, comedian, and singer. Kenny is likely best recognised for his work as the voice of SpongeBob SquarePants. In addition, he plays numerous additional characters in the programme, including Gary the Snail, Patchy the Pirate, and the narrator. Kenny is well known for his parts in series such as “Rocko’s Modern Life,” “Adventure Time,” “The Powerpuff Girls,” “Winnie the Pooh,” “Johnny Bravo,” and “Talking Tom and Friends” in addition to “SpongeBob SquarePants.”
He is also engaged in the video game industry, having portrayed the title character in the “Spyro the Dragon” series. In addition, he has appeared in a number of live-action comic variety programmes, including “The Edge” and “Mr Show.” Tom has received various medals and distinctions over his career, including two Daytime Emmy Awards and two Annie Awards. Jilly Talley, his wife, plays Karen on “SpongeBob SquarePants.”
