Mike Henry (voice actor)

Mike Henry
Henry at the San Diego Comic-Con International in July 2011
Born	Michael Henry (1964-03-25) March 25, 1964[1] Richmond, Virginia, U.S.
Nationality	American
Education	Collegiate School Washington and Lee University
Occupation	Actor, writer, producer, singer, comedian
Years active	1989–present
Spouse(s)	Sara (Voelker) Henry
Children	Jack Henry Josie Henry

Michael "Mike" Henry (born March 25, 1964) is an American actor, producer, screenwriter, singer, voice artist, and comedian, best known for his work on Family Guy, where he is a writer, producer, and voice actor. He provides the voices for many characters including Cleveland Brown, Herbert, Bruce, and Consuela. Starting with the series' 5th season, Henry had received billing as a main cast member. In 2009, Henry, Richard Appel, and Seth MacFarlane created a spin-off of Family Guy called The Cleveland Show (which aired on FOX and MuchMusic) to focus on Cleveland and his new family, until the show's final new episode (due to cancellation) on May 19th, 2013. Reruns of the show later aired on Cartoon Network's Adult Swim.

Early life

Henry and his younger brother Patrick were born to artist parents and raised in Richmond, Virginia. Henry's parents divorced when he was 8 years old and he was primarily raised by his mother. He attended Collegiate School in Richmond where he liked to imitate pitcher Walter Johnson during varsity baseball game warm-ups. He later attended Washington and Lee University. While his brother was attending the Rhode Island School of Design, Henry acted in his short films and met Seth MacFarlane.^[2]

Career

Family Guy

Henry met Seth MacFarlane at the Rhode Island School of Design and kept in touch with him after they graduated. A few years later, MacFarlane contacted him about being part of a show called Family Guy; he agreed and came on as both a writer and voice actor. During the show's first four seasons, he was credited as a guest star, but beginning with season five's "Prick Up Your Ears" he has been credited as a main cast member.^[3] Henry has stated that Cleveland's voice was based on a person who used to play basketball with him. His friend went to the University of Maryland, often pronounced in regional accents as "Merlin".^[4]

After 2 episodes of the second season, Family Guy was taken off the network's permanent schedule and shown irregularly thereafter. The show returned in March 2000 to finish airing the second season which contained 21 episodes, all the cast came back for the series return. The third season contained 21 episodes and began airing from July 11, 2001 to February 14, 2002. During its second and third-season runs, Fox publicly announced that the show had been cancelled at the end of the second season in 2002.^[5] In spite of the announced cancellation, in 2003 Fox decided to make the third season.^[6] During the third season, Fox announced that the show was canceled for good.^[7][8] Soon after Family Guy was cancelled, Henry and brother Patrick created Kicked in the Nuts, a spoof of hidden camera shows. Family Guy was renewed in 2005 for its fourth season due to strong DVD sales and its syndication on basic-cable networks.^[9][10] Once again Henry and the rest of the cast came back for their voice works.

The Cleveland Show

In 2009, a spin-off series called The Cleveland Show premiered on Fox. The project was created by Seth MacFarlane, Henry and American Dad! show runner Rich Appel.^[11] Cleveland references this at the end of the episode "Baby Not on Board".^[12] The series had its premiere on September 27, 2009.^[13][14] Due to the cancellation of Mike Judge's King of the Hill,^[15] and the American adaptation of Sit Down, Shut Up being moved to Saturday nights,^[16] and the renewal of American Dad!, for some time The Simpsons was the only cartoon on Fox's Animation Domination line-up that was not created by Seth MacFarlane until Loren Bouchard's Bob's Burgers entered the lineup in January 2011. The show, which was picked up to air a first season consisting of 22 episodes,^[17] was picked up by Fox for a second season, consisting of 13 episodes, bringing the total number to 35 episodes. The announcement was made on May 3, 2009 before the first season even premiered.^[18] Due to strong ratings FOX picked up the back 9 episodes of season 2 which would make a 22 episode season and bring the total episode count of the show to 44.^[19] The show was renewed for a third and fourth season on 9 May 2011. The series was cancelled on May 19, 2013, but reruns continue to air every weekday on Adult Swim on Cartoon Network in the United States and MuchMusic in Canada.

Personal life

Henry and his wife Sara have a daughter named Josie (born November 2007). From a previous marriage, he also has a son named Jack (born c. 2004).^[2]

Filmography

Film

Television

Video games

References

Notes

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Mike Henry.

• Mike Henry at the Internet Movie Database
• Mike Henry at Channel 101
• Mike Henry on Twitter