Tom Kenny facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Tom Kenny
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Kenny in 2023
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Thomas James Kenny
July 13, 1962 Syracuse, New York, U.S.
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| Years active | 1981–present |
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| Children | 2 |
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Thomas James Kenny (born July 13, 1962) is an American actor and comedian. He is famous for being the voice of SpongeBob SquarePants in the TV show SpongeBob SquarePants since it started in 1999.
Tom Kenny has voiced many other characters too! These include Heffer Wolfe in Rocko's Modern Life, the Ice King in Adventure Time, and the Narrator and Mayor in The Powerpuff Girls. He also voiced Dog in CatDog, Starscream in Transformers: Animated, and Spyro from the Spyro video games.
He has won awards for his voice work, including two Daytime Emmy Awards and two Annie Awards for playing SpongeBob and the Ice King. Tom Kenny is married to Jill Talley, who voices Karen on SpongeBob SquarePants. They have two children.
About Tom Kenny
Early Life and Comedy
Thomas James Kenny was born in Syracuse, New York, on July 13, 1962. He grew up there with his parents, Theresa and Paul Kenny. When he was a young child in the 1960s and 1970s, he loved to draw and collect music albums.
Kenny met his lifelong friend Bobcat Goldthwait in first grade. When they were teenagers, they started performing stand-up comedy together. Tom Kenny performed stand-up comedy around the country for about eight years before he started working in TV and movies.
TV and Movie Roles
Tom Kenny has appeared in many films and TV shows. He was in movies like How I Got into College (1989) and Shakes the Clown (1991). On TV, he was a regular cast member in comedy shows like The Edge (1992–1993) and Mr. Show (1995–1998).
You might also recognize him from SpongeBob SquarePants! He plays the live-action character Patchy the Pirate in some episodes.
Voice Acting Work
Tom Kenny has a special talent for voice acting. He once said that he voices "a lot of sweet yellow characters for some reason." He described SpongeBob's voice as sounding like a mix between a child and an adult.
He has voiced many characters in popular cartoons:
- Heffer Wolfe in Rocko's Modern Life
- Cupid in The Fairly OddParents
- Scoutmaster Lumpus and Slinkman in Camp Lazlo
- Dog and Cliff in CatDog
- Many characters in The Powerpuff Girls, including the Mayor and the Narrator
- Eduardo in Foster's Home For Imaginary Friends
- Dr. Two-Brains in WordGirl
- Knightbrace and Mr. Wink in Codename: Kids Next Door
- The Penguin in The Batman (2004 TV series)
- Squanchy on Rick and Morty
- Starscream and his clones in Transformers Animated
- Skids and Wheelie in the live-action Transformers movies
- Ratbert and Asok in Dilbert
- Mr. Hal Gibson in Super Robot Monkey Team Hyper Force GO!
- Ice King and Magic Man on Adventure Time
- Rabbit in Winnie the Pooh
- Woody Johnson on Brickleberry
- Sumo in Clarence
- Daddo in Henry Hugglemonster
- Dr. Otto Octavius on The Ultimate Spider-Man
- Leo Callisto in Miles from Tomorrowland
- Talking Hank in the Talking Tom and Friends web series
- Fethry Duck in the 2017 version of DuckTales
- Benito Mussolini in Guillermo del Toro's Pinocchio (2022)
In video games, Tom Kenny is well-known as the voice of Spyro the Dragon. He first voiced Spyro in Spyro 2: Ripto's Rage! and continued for several games. He also voiced Spyro and Sgt. James Byrd again in Spyro Reignited Trilogy, which are modern remakes of the original Spyro games.
SpongeBob SquarePants
While working on Rocko's Modern Life, Tom Kenny met a marine biologist and animator named Stephen Hillenburg. After Rocko's Modern Life ended in 1996, Hillenburg started creating his own show about the ocean. He wanted to base the show on his favorite animal, the sea sponge, because he thought it was a funny and strange creature. In 1997, Hillenburg asked Tom Kenny to voice this new character.
The show, called SpongeBob SquarePants, first aired on Nickelodeon on May 1, 1999. It quickly became very popular! Tom Kenny voices many other characters on the show too, including Gary the Snail, the French Narrator, and SpongeBob's dad (Harold SquarePants).
In 2010, Kenny won an Annie Award for his voice work as SpongeBob. He also voiced SpongeBob in the movie The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge Out of Water, which came out in 2015. He won the Daytime Emmy Award for Outstanding Performer in an Animated Program in 2018 and 2020 for his role as SpongeBob.
In 2019, SpongeBob SquarePants celebrated its 20th anniversary. A special TV episode called "SpongeBob's Big Birthday Blowout" aired. In one part of the special, all the voice actors for the main characters played live-action versions of their characters. This was a special way to honor the show's creator, Stephen Hillenburg, who had passed away the year before.
Later in 2019, Tom Kenny also appeared in the live recording of the Broadway musical SpongeBob SquarePants, playing the role of Patchy the Pirate.
In 2024, the Super Bowl LVIII football game was shown on Nickelodeon as a special family-friendly broadcast. Tom Kenny and Bill Fagerbakke (who voices Patrick Star) voiced SpongeBob and Patrick live during the game. They even made up jokes as their characters! Kenny said this special broadcast helped people who weren't big football fans still enjoy the game.
Personal Life
Tom Kenny met his wife, Jill Talley, in 1992 when they were working on The Edge together. They have worked on many projects since then, including SpongeBob SquarePants, where Jill Talley voices Karen Plankton.
Tom and Jill also appeared in the music video for the song "Tonight, Tonight" by the Smashing Pumpkins. They have two children, Mack (born in 1997) and Nora (born in 2003). The Kenny family lives in Studio City, California.
See also
In Spanish: Tom Kenny para niños
