Wayne Knight

Wayne Eliot Knight^[1] (born August 7, 1955) is an American actor, comedian, and voice actor best known for his roles as Newman in the TV sitcom Seinfeld, and Officer Don Orville in 3rd Rock from the Sun. His other prominent roles include Dennis Nedry in Jurassic Park, Stan Podolak in Space Jam, Al McWhiggin in Toy Story 2, Tantor in Tarzan, Zack Mallozzi in Rat Race, Mr. Blik in Catscratch, and Haskell Lutz in The Exes.

Early life and education

Knight was born in New York City, New York on August 7, 1955, the son of Grace (née Monti) and William Edward "Bill" Knight, a textile factory supervisor.^[2][3] He is of British and Italian descent.^[4] His father moved the family to Cartersville, Georgia, where he worked in the textile industry. Knight went to local schools and was a lineman on his high school's football team.^[5] He was an undergraduate at the University of Georgia. After many attempts, he finally garnered the role of Uga the Georgia University mascot. ^[6]

Early career

Although an honor student, Knight left college when still one credit shy of a degree to pursue his acting career. He gained an internship at the Barter Theatre in Abingdon, Virginia, which produced repertory works year-round. After an internship, he joined the company and gained standing as an Equity actor, leaving to go to New York City. When he first arrived in New York, he was hard pressed to find a job and had to rely on his street magic to sustain a living. Two years later, he had his first role on Broadway.

Career

Knight has had prominent film roles, such as in JFK (1991), directed by Oliver Stone, and in Basic Instinct (1992), where he took part in a notable interrogation scene. He was the first person to be cast in Jurassic Park after the director Steven Spielberg saw him in the scene. Knight was cast as the bumbling overweight InGen Corporation's chief programmer for the park and spy for Biosyn, Dennis Nedry. He also appeared in Dead Again, To Die For, Space Jam and Dirty Dancing.

During the mid-to-late 1990s, Knight also played prominent supporting roles on two TV series on NBC. He played the role of the mailman Newman in Seinfeld ; he also played Officer Don Orville, Sally's love interest in 3rd Rock from the Sun. He had earlier appeared in Against the Grain, featuring the then unknown Ben Affleck. He also appeared as a regular on two sketch comedy series, The Edge for Fox and Assaulted Nuts for Cinemax and Channel 4 in the UK.

Knight has appeared on Broadway in the plays Gemini, Mastergate, 'Art' and, most recently, in Sweet Charity with Christina Applegate.

During filming of an episode of Seinfeld, Knight felt what he thought to be angina pains and sought the help of a cardiologist, who said the actor was morbidly obese, had high blood pressure, and was near diabetic. Knight took on a serious program involving diet, exercise, and outside support. He eventually lost 117 pounds (53 kg). Currently, he maintains about 75–80 lb (35 kg) of that loss.^{[citation needed]}

Knight has done considerable voiceover work: the black cat Mister Blik on the Nickelodeon cartoon Catscratch, Igor on the Fox Kids cartoon Toonsylvania, the dragon Dojo Kanojo Cho in the Kids' WB! animated series Xiaolin Showdown, Evil Emperor Zurg on Buzz Lightyear of Star Command on Toon Disney and Disney Channel; Al McWhiggin, the toy store manager of Al's Toy Barn, in Toy Story 2; Tantor the elephant in Tarzan, Demetrius the shopkeeper in Hercules, and the bug Juju on Tak and the Power of Juju.

He made guest appearances on Billy & Mandy's Jacked-Up Halloween as the Jack-O-Lantern and Brandy and Mr. Whiskers as Mr. Cantarious the snail.

Knight appeared on the Pilot episode of the U.S. version of Thank God You're Here. He made a second appearance on the last episode of the first season. He won the Thank God You're Here blue door award.

He played the Punisher's techno sidekick Microchip in Punisher: War Zone. Knight guest stars in The Penguins of Madagascar as Max the Cat in the episodes "Launchtime" and "Cat's Cradle".

In 2009, Knight reprised his role as the Seinfeld character Newman for the seventh season of Curb Your Enthusiasm. Wayne also guest starred on CSI: Crime Scene Investigation season 10, episode "Working Stiffs."

Knight guest starred on a 2010 episode of Fox TV's hit drama series Bones. He also guest-starred in the first season of the TV Land comedy series Hot in Cleveland (2010), and was a recurring character for season two. Knight also guest-starred on an episode of The Whole Truth in fall 2010.^[7] He plays an Internet-fixated couch potato in the TV Land sitcom, The Exes.

In summer 2011 he appeared in the BBC/Starz series Torchwood: Miracle Day as Brian Friedkin.^[8]

Knight appeared as Santa in Elf the Musical in November 2012. He previously appeared on Broadway in Art in 1999.

In 2012 Knight was featured in the romantic comedy, She Wants Me starring Josh Gad, Kristen Ruhlin and Hilary Duff, the film was written and directed by Rob Margolies and executive produced by Charlie Sheen.

In 2014 Knight again reprised the character Newman during a Superbowl commercial, alongside Jerry Seinfeld as his fictional tv counterpart and Jason Alexander as George Costanza, respectively.

Knight is a Democrat and attended the 2012 Democratic National Convention in support of President Obama's re-election.^[9]

Filmography

Film

Television

Video Game

Awards and Nominations

• 1994 - Saturn Award for Best Supporting Actor - Nominated
• 1998 - Screen Actors Guild Awards for Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Comedy Series - Nominated
• 1998 - Q Award for Best Recurring Player - Nominated
• 1999 - Screen Actors Guild Awards for Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Comedy Series - Nominated

References

External links

• Wayne Knight at the Internet Movie Database
• Wayne Knight at the Internet Broadway Database