Tom Kenny: The Voice Behind SpongeBob and So Much More
Story by Mitchell Smith
Today I’m taking a look at the career of voice actor Tom Kenny. Kenny was born in 1962 in East Syracuse. His childhood neighborhood is very familiar to me as I drive or walk through it quite often on my way home from work. One of my coworkers grew up on the same street and remembers he was kind of goofy and made a lot of funny noises growing up, so it was no surprise he pursued a career in voice acting. He went to Bishop Grimes Catholic high school that was just recently announced that it would be closing its doors after this school year.
Kenny and his childhood friend from 1st grade Bobcat Goldthwait from the Police Academy movies, went to an open mic night in Skaneateles during their teen years and they both thought they could pursue a career in comedy. In 1989 Kenny made his way into feature films with a roll in “How I Got Into College”. Although probably not many people have heard of this movie Kenny had his foot in the door. One of Kenny’s biggest rolls before he hit it big was playing Rocko’s best friend Heffer Wolfe on “Rocko’s Modern Life”. Kenny also had a run of characters on shows like “Johnny Bravo”, Cow and Chicken, and voiced Dog on “CatDog”. These were all great shows I enjoyed back in the nineties and in 1999 Kenny would become one of the most iconic characters of all time.
Who lives in a pineapple under the sea? SpongeBob SquarePants! SpongeBob was born and the world would never be the same. The show is still going strong today and there have also been many movies produced including the movie that just dropped on Netflix “Plankton:The Movie”. Kenny also has rolls in “Futurama”, The Fairly OddParents, and has played the Penguin in many of the animated Batman series. Along with playing parts in many feature films such as “The Powerpuff Girls Movie”, Dr Doolittle II, and “Ant-Man”, Kenny voiced Wheelie in the Transformers films. Kenny has had a remarkable career and doesn’t show any signs of slowing down. He is a hometown hero and I can’t wait to see what he takes on next. Have a great week everyone.
