Wayne Knight Biography

Wayne Elliot Knight (born August 7, 1955) is an American actor, voice artist and comedian. He is known for playing Newman in Seinfeld (1992-1998) and Officer Don Orville in 3rd Rock from the Sun (1996-2001). His other roles include Dennis Nedry in Jurassic Park (1993), Stan Podolak in Space Jam (1996), Al McWhiggin in Toy Story 2 (1999), Tantor in Tarzan (1999), the Giraffe in Bee Movie (2007), Zack Mallozzi in Rat Race (2001), Dojo in Xiaolin Showdown (2003-2006), Mr. Blik in Catscratch (2005-2007), Microchip in Punisher: War Zone (2008), and Haskell Lutz in The Exes (2011-2015).

He was nominated for the Saturn Award for Best Supporting Actor for his performance in Jurassic Park.

Early life

Wayne Elliot Knight was born in New York City, New York, on August 7, 1955, to textile factory supervisor William Edward Knight and Grace (Monti) Knight. 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. He attended the University of Georgia but did not complete his degree until 2008.

Although an honors student, Knight left college just one credit shy of completing his degree to pursue his acting career. He received an internship at the Barter Theatre in Abingdon, Virginia, which produced repertory works. After completing his internship, he joined the company and gained standing as an Equity actor. He subsequently moved to New York City and after two years landed his first role on Broadway.

Career

Knight appeared in a number of films produced in the late 1980s and early 1990s, including Dirty Dancing (1987), Born on the Fourth of July (1989), JFK (1991) and Basic Instinct (1992), where he played one of the characters in the interrogation scene. He was the first actor cast in Jurassic Park after director Steven Spielberg saw his performance in Basic Instinct. Knight was cast as InGen Corporation's chief programmer for the park and secret spy for Biosyn, Dennis Nedry. He also appeared in Dead Again, To Die For, and Space Jam.

In the 1990s, Knight played prominent supporting roles on two television series on NBC. He played the mailman Newman, Seinfeld's neighbor and Jerry's nemesis in Seinfeld, and Officer Don Orville, Sally's love interest, in 3rd Rock from the Sun. He had earlier appeared in Against the Grain. 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 United Kingdom.

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

Knight has done voice work for numerous animations, including the black cat Mr. 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, the giraffe in Bee Movie, 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 American version of Thank God You're Here. He made a second appearance on the last episode of the first season of the television series. 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 an episode of 2010 of Fox TV's drama series Bones, in the first season of the TV Land comedy series Hot in Cleveland (2010), where he became a recurring character for season two, and on an episode of The Whole Truth in fall 2010. He played an Internet fixated couch potato in the TV Land sitcom, The Exes. In the summer of 2011, he appeared in the BBC/Starz series Torchwood: Miracle Day as Brian Friedkin.

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. In 2014, Knight reprised the character Newman during a Super Bowl commercial, alongside Jerry Seinfeld and Jason Alexander. In 2017, Knight was featured in a KFC commercial depicting Colonel Sanders.

Personal life

Knight married makeup artist Paula Sutor on May 26, 1996, in a ceremony held in fellow Seinfeld cast member Michael Richards' home. The couple divorced in 2003. He married his second wife Clare de Chenu on October 15, 2006; together they have a son.

Knight is a Democrat; he attended the 2012 Democratic National Convention in support of President Barack Obama's re-election.

Filmography

Film

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1979	The Wanderers	Waiter	Uncredited
1987	Dirty Dancing	Stan
1988	Everybody's All-American	Fraternity Pisser
1989	Born on the Fourth of July	Official #2 - Democratic Convention
1991	V.I. Warshawski	Earl 'Bonehead' Smeissen
1991	Dead Again	'Piccolo' Pete Dugan
1991	JFK	Numa Bertel
1992	Basic Instinct	John Correli
1993	Jurassic Park	Dennis Nedry	Nominated"?Saturn Award for Best Supporting Actor
1995	To Die For	Ed Grant
1996	Chameleon	Stuart Langston
1996	Space Jam	Stan Podolak
1997	Hercules	Demetrius the Merchant (voice)	Cameo
1997	For Richer or Poorer	Bob Lachmen
1998	The Brave Little Toaster Goes to Mars	Microwave (voice)	Direct-to-video
1998	Soundman	Tim (voice)
1999	Hercules: Zero to Hero	Orthus (voice)	Direct-to-video
1999	My Favorite Martian	Zoot (voice)	Uncredited
1999	Pros & Cons	Wayne
1999	Tarzan	Tantor (voice)
1999	Toy Story 2	Al McWhiggin (voice)
2000	Buzz Lightyear of Star Command: The Adventure Begins	Emperor Zurg (voice)	Direct-to-video
2001	Rat Race	Zach Mallozzi
2003	Cheaper by the Dozen	Electrician	Uncredited cameo
2004	Black Cloud	Mr. Tipping
2005	Dinotopia: Quest for the Ruby Sunstone	Thudd (voice)
2007	Forfeit	Bob
2007	Throwing Stars	Officer Brooks
2007	Bee Movie	Giraffe (voice)
2008	Kung Fu Panda	Gang Boss (voice)	Cameo
2008	Scooby-Doo! and the Goblin King	The Amazing Krudsky (voice)	Direct-to-video
2008	Punisher: War Zone	Linus Lieberman / Microchip
2012	She Wants Me	Walter Baum
2012	Excuse Me For Living	Albert
2014	Tom and Jerry: The Lost Dragon	The Elf Elder (voice)	Direct-to-video
2016	Kung Fu Panda 3	Big Fun / Hom-Lee (voices)
2016	Hail, Caesar!	Lurking Extra #1
2018	Blindspotting	Patrick	Post-production

Television

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1982	For Lovers Only	Video Game Fanatic	TV Movie Uncredited
1983	The Day After	Man in hospital	TV Movie
1984	The Burning Bed	Juror	TV Movie Uncredited
1985	Assaulted Nuts	Various	7 episodes
1988	Tattingers	Kenny Axelrod	2 episodes
1990	Mathnet	Peter Pickwick	Episode: "The Case of the Parking Meter Massacre"
1990	Square One TV	Peter Pickwick	3 episodes
1992-1998	Seinfeld	Newman	48 episodes Nominated"?Q Award for Best Recurring Player (1998)
1992	Double Edge	Tommy White	TV Movie
1992-1993	The Edge	Various Characters	18 episodes
1992	T Bone N Weasel	Roy Kramp	TV Movie
1993	Fallen Angels	Leo Cunningham	Episode: "Dead End Delia"
1993	Against the Grain	Froggy Wilson	Episode: "Pilot"
1993-1994	The Second Half	Robert Piccolo	15 episodes
1994	Golden Gate	Arthur Genopopoulos	TV Movie
1996-2001	3rd Rock from the Sun	Don Orville	79 episodes Nominated"?Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Comedy Series (1998-1999)
1997	Contempt of Court	Merill Bushman	TV Movie
1998	Hercules	Cyclops Head #2 (voice)	2 episodes
1998	Toonsylvania	Igor (voice)	19 episodes
2000	Dilbert	The Security Guard (voice)	Episode: "The Security Guard"
2000-2001	Buzz Lightyear of Star Command	Emperor Zurg (voice)	Recurring role 12 episodes
2001	That '70s Show	The Angel	Episode: "It's a Wonderful Life"
2001	Bleacher Bums	Zig	TV Movie
2002	Becker	Wally	Episode: "Picture Imperfect"
2002	Master Spy: The Robert Hanssen Story	Walter Ballou	TV Movie
2003	The Twilight Zone	Nick Dark	Episode: "How Much Do You Love Your Kid?"
2003-2006	Xiaolin Showdown	Dojo (voice)	Main cast 52 episodes
2003	Gary the Rat	Gary's Rival (voice)	Episode: "The Reunion"
2003	The Grim Adventures of Billy & Mandy	Jack O'Lantern (voice)	Episode: "Billy & Mandy's Jacked-Up Halloween"
2004	I'm with Her	Kevin	Episode: "Friends in Low Places"
2004	The Drew Carey Show	Owen	Episode: "Liar Liar House on Fire"
2004	Listen Up!	Buddy	Episode: "Sweet Charity"
2005-2007	Catscratch	Mr. Blik (voice)	Lead role
2005	Justice League Unlimited	Abnegazar (voice)	Episode: "The Balance"
2006	CSI: NY	Truman Bosch	Episode: "Fare Game"
2007	Tak and the Power of Juju	Bug Juju (voice)	Episode: "Our Favorite Juju"
2009-2012	The Penguins of Madagascar	Max (voice)	3 episodes
2009	Woke Up Dead	Andrew Batten	10 episodes
2009	CSI: Crime Scene Investigation	Mr. Terrence Lombard	Episode: "Working Stiffs"
2009	Nip/Tuck	Don Hoberman	Episode: "Don Hoberman"
2009-2011	The Super Hero Squad Show	Elihas Starr/Egghead (voice)	3 episodes
2009	Curb Your Enthusiasm	Himself	Uncredited Episode: "The Table Read"
2010-2011	Hot in Cleveland	Rick	5 episodes
2010	The Good Guys	Perry Black	Episode: "Little Things"
2010	The Whole Truth	Judge Mark Hulverson	Episode: "Uncanny"
2010	Bones	Jimmy Walpert III	Episode: "The Babe in the Bar"
2011	Torchwood	Brian Friedkin	3 episodes
2011-2012	Kung Fu Panda: Legends of Awesomeness	Jong / Jong's Son (voice)	2 episodes
2011-2015	The Exes	Haskell Lutz	64 episodes
2012	Green Lantern: The Animated Series	Captain Goray (voice)	Episode: "Into the Abyss"
2012	Pound Puppies	Ralphie / Construction Worker #1 (voice)	Episode: "Good Dog, McLeish!"
2013	Regular Show	Guardian of the Friend Zone / God of Street Performing (voice)	2 episodes
2014	Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee	Newman	Episode: "The Over-Cheer"
2014	Unforgettable	Dr. Theodore Blumer	Episode: "East of Islip"
2015	Sirens	Richard	Episode: "Sub-Primal Fears"
2015	TripTank	Greg / Customer (voice)	2 episodes
2015	Doc McStuffins	Viewy Stewie (voice)	Episode: "Fully Focused"
2016	Home: Adventures with Tip & Oh	Boovius (voice)	Episode: "The Gray Matter/Feverbreak"
2016	StartUp	Benny Blush	3 episodes
2017	Narcos	Alan Starkman	2 episodes
2017	The Young and the Restless	Irv	2 episodes
2017	Stretch Armstrong and the Flex Fighters	Brick (voice)	1 episode
2018	Law & Order: Special Victims Unit	Grigor	1 episode
2018	Legend of the Three Caballeros	Baron Von Sheldgoose (voice)	13 episodes

Video games

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1999	Toy Story 2	Al McWhiggin
2011	Jurassic Park: The Game	Dennis Nedry	Uncredited
2015	Lego Jurassic World	Dennis Nedry	Uncredited