Harvey Atkin

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Harvey Atkin (born December 18, 1942 in Toronto, Ontario, Canada) is a Canadian actor who has worked in feature films and television. He has also done voice-overs, and has voiced animations.

From an early age he was exposed to many things that would shape his view of life. His grandfather, an immigrant from Russia, steeped his young grandson in the old country's ways, which included the Yiddish language. Atkin claims that to this day, his late grandfather is still a major influence on him. He and his parents lived with him for several years before finally getting their own house – around the corner from his grandfather's.

Atkin's father, for his part, played an equally important role in his son's upbringing. It was he who taught Atkin about the business world. However, at this time, it seemed that Atkin's "job description" was "class clown".

Owing to Atkin's continual clowning in school, he was encouraged to join the school's drama club. This, and his winning a best actor award at a local drama festival, drove him into a career in acting. A stint at a summer camp for the performing arts also helped in his choice of career.

Harvey was also best known for playing Sam in Sam & Max, and also played Mario's and Luigi's arch enemy King Koopa on the DiC Entertainment version of Nintendo's flagship franchise (notably, he is the first English voice actor for the character). Harvey also did the voice of Mr. Mushnik on Little Shop, loosely based on the movie Little Shop Of Horrors.

Harvey Atkin has appeared in more than 75 films, and has appeared hundreds of times in episodic television shows. He has done voice-over work in literally thousands of television and radio commercials, for which he has won three Clio awards.

He is perhaps best known as the desk sergeant in the television series Cagney & Lacey, and as the hapless, heavily sleeping camp director and practical joke victim Morty in the 1979 film Meatballs, for which performance he earned a Genie nomination.

Harvey Atkin is currently a regular on the television drama Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, and is the voice-over in Leon's commercials in Canada.