Background:

Versatile American character actor Wayne Knight is probably best recognized for playing Newman in the television sitcom “Seinfeld” (1992-1998) and Officer Don Orville on “3rd Rock from the Sun” (1996-2001), the latter of which brought him two Screen Actors Guild nominations. He currently plays the regular role of Haskell Lutz in TV Land's “The Exes” (2011-?). Knight has appeared in supporting roles in many films, including  “JFK” (1991), “Basic Instinct” (1992), “Jurassic Park” (1993), from which he picked up a Saturn nomination, “To Die For” (1995), “Space Jam” (1996),   “Rat Race” (2001), “Punisher: War Zone” (2008), “Excuse Me for Living” (2011) and  “She Wants Me” (2012). Also a prolific voice actor, Knight's voice can be heard in  “Hercules” (1997), “Toonsylvania” (1998), “Tarzan” (1999),  “Toy Story 2” (1999), “Xiaolin Showdown” (WB, 2003-2006) and “Kung Fu Panda” (2008), among other animated programs.

Knight is divorced from his wife Paula Sutor.     


New York Born

Childhood and Family:

Wayne Eliot Knight was born on August 7, 1955, in New York City, New York, to William “Bill” Knight, a textile factory supervisor. When he was an infant, his father moved the family to Cartersville, Georgia, where he grew up and lived until enrolling at the University of Georgia in 1972. Wayne quit college as an honor student shy before his graduation to pursue his career at the Barter Theatre company in Abingdon, Virginia. He later received his B.F.A. Degree in 2008.

In 1993, Wayne's father passed away from heart disease. Three years later, he married Paula Sutor on May 26, 1996, but they divorced later in 2003.


Jurassic Park

Career:

After leaving school, Wayne Knight performed at the Barter Theater in Abingdon, Virginia and left the company with Equity card in hand to take on New York City. In 1977, he made his Broadway debut in Albert Innaurato's “Gemini.” Two years later, he made his first on screen appearance as a gang member in “The Wanderers,” a film adaptation of Richard Price's novel of the same name which was directed and co-scripted by Philip Kaufman. He went on to break into the small screen with an uncredited part as video game fanatic on the made for TV film “For Lovers Only” (ABC, 1982), starring Kathleen Garrett, Andy Griffith and Robert Hegyes. In 1985, he appeared as a regular on the British sitcom “Assaulted Nuts,” opposite the familiar British comic actors Cleo Rocos, Tim Brooke-Taylor, Daniel Peacock and Barry Cryer. The same year, he got his first significant film role in Romano Vanderbes' “The Sex O'Clock News,” in which the actor played the lead role of Bill Wright, which he  followed with roles on “Forever, Lulu” (1987), “Dirty Dancing” (1987), “Everybody's All-American” (1988, played a college partygoer) and Oliver Stone's “Born on the Fourth of July” (1989). He revisited Broadway with Larry Gelbart's
“Mastergate” (1989).

Early 1990s found supporting roles on such films as “V.I. Warshawski” (1991), “Dead Again” (1991, as “Piccolo” Pete Dugan,), Stone's “JFK” (1991) and “Basic Instinct” (1992) before Knight caught the attention of Steven Spielberg, who subsequently cast the actor in the role of the deceitful Nedry in the big 1993 blockbuster, “Jurassic Park.” The role brought him a Saturn nomination in the category of Best Supporting Actor. Meanwhile, on television, Knight was cast as an ensemble member on the Fox sketch comedy series “The Edge”(1992-1993). His popularity on the small screen grew significantly when he landed the prominent recurring role of the mailman Newman in the NBC hit sitcom “Seinfeld,” a role he played from 1992 to 1998. He was nominated for the Q Award for Best Recurring Player at the 1998 Viewers for Quality Television Awards for his work on the show.

Knight played the regular role of Robert Piccolo on the short lived comedy series “The Second Half” (NBC, 1993-1994), opposite John Mendoza, Jessica Lundy and Joe Guzaldo. He, however, did not gain further boost on the small screen until he jointed the cast of the popular NBC hit sitcom “3rd Rock from the Sun” in the role of Officer Don Orville, the love interest of Sally. Starting out as a recurring in 1996 before progressing to regular in the 1999/2000 season, Knight jointly nabbed two Screen Actors Guild nominations for Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Comedy Series for his performance on the show.  

Knight continued on to appear in supporting roles in films like Gus Van Sant's “To Die For” (1995, as Ed Grant), Michael Pavone's thriller “Chameleon” (1996, with Anthony LaPaglia, Kevin Pollak and Melora Hardin), “Space Jam” (1996), where he portrayed the role of Stan Podolak, a publicist who makes sure nobody bothers Michael Jordan, the Tim Allen and Kirstie Alley comedy vehicle “For Richer or Poorer” (1997), “Contempt of Court” (1998, TV) and “Pros & Cons” (1999). He also did voice overs for several animated movies such as Disney's “Hercules” (1997, as Demetrius the Pot Maker), “The Brave Little Toaster Goes to Mars” (1998), “Tarzan” (1999, as Tantor) and “My Favorite Martian” (1999, as Zoot, Martin's talking space suit) as well as Pixar's “Toy Story 2” (1999, played the villainous Al the Toy Collector). He also provided the voice of Igor in the Steven Spielberg created animated series “Toonsylvania,” which ran for two seasons from February 7, 1998 to December 21, 1998. Knight appeared on Broadway in the Tony winning play “Art” (1998-1999).

In the new millennium, Knight's voice could be heard in episodes of Disney's “Buzz Lightyear of Star Command” (2000, as Emperor Zurg), UPN's “Dilbert” (2000), “Gary the Rat” (2003), “The Grim Adventures of Billy & Mandy” (2003) and “Justice League” (2005). Additionally, he provided the voice for regular character Dojo on the popular animated program, “Xiaolin Showdown” (WB, 2003-2006) and the voice for the main character  Mr. Blik on Nickelodeon's “Catscratch” (2005). He also lent his voice to the character Thudd in the 2005 animated film “Dinotopia: Quest for the Ruby Sunstone.” On the live action programs, Knight made guest appearances in television series like Fox's “That '70s Show” (2001, as Eric's Guardian Angel), CBS' “Becker” (2002), “The Twilight Zone” (2003), “I'm with Her” 2004), “The Drew Carey Show” (2004), “Listen Up” (2004) and “CSI: NY” (2006). He also appeared in such films as the 2001 comedy film “Rat Race,” helmed by Jerry Zucker, “Cheaper by the Dozen” (2003), where he had an uncredited part as an electrician, and the award winning boxing movie “Black Cloud” (2004), directed and written by Ricky Schroder.         

Next up for Knight, he worked in several features like “Forfeit” (2007), a drama/thriller directed by Andrew Shea and starring Billy Burke, Sherry Stringfield and John Aylward, Todd Breau's “Who's Your Monkey?” (2007), where he was cast as Officer Brooks, DreamWorks' computer-animated action/comedy “Kung Fu Panda” (2008), for which he provided the voice of gang boss, the direct to video animated film “Scooby-Doo and the Goblin King” (2008) and “Punisher: War Zone” (2008), where he portrayed the Punisher's techno sidekick Microchip. He played the regular role of Andrew Batten in the short lived horror/comedy web series “Woke Up Dead” (2009). 2009 also saw him make guest appearances in the popular shows “CSI: Crime Scene Investigation” (as Mr. Terrence Lombard), “Nip/Tuck” (as Jason Blum) and “Curb Your Enthusiasm” (as Wayne Knight) as well as have two episode voice stint as Max on “The Penguins of Madagascar.”

Knight played the recurring role of Rick, the girls' neighbor and a reporter for the Cleveland Plain Dealer, on the TV Land sitcom “Hot in Cleveland” during 2010/2011. He appeared as Jimmy Walpert III in an episode of “Bones” called “The Babe in the Bar” (2010), as Perry Black in the episode  “Little Things” (2010) of “The Good Guy,” and as Brian Friedkin in three episodes of  the BBC/Starz series “Torchwood” (2011). He co-starred with Tom Pelphrey and Christopher Lloyd in Ric Klass' comedy/romance movie, “Excuse Me for Living” (2011).    

In 2011, Knight began his regular role as Haskell Lutz, a lazy, divorced roommate of Phil's who makes a living selling various items on the internet, on the sitcom “The Exes,” which premiered on TV Land on November 30, 2011.

Recently, in 2012, Knight provided the voice of Captain Goray in an episode of “Green Lantern: The Animated Series” called “Into the Abyss.” Besides, he portrayed the supporting role of Walter Baum in the comedy film “She Wants Me” (2012), starring Josh Gad and Hilary Duff.


Awards:

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