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Birth name: Richard J. Kind
Born: 22 November 1956
Birthplace: Trenton, New Jersey, United states
Education:
Pennsbury High School, Levittown, PA (1974)
Northwestern University (1978)
That name does look familiar, where might i have seen Richard Kind?
He is probably best known for his supporting roles on the sitcoms Mad About
You and Spin City, Kind had appeared in numerous theatrical releases,
dramatic and musical stage productions, contributed his voice to many
animated projects, and logged countless hours of television episodes.
Early life:
Richard Kind was raised in Bucks County, PA, he was the oldest of two
children born to father Samuel Kind, a jeweler, and mother Alice, a
homemaker.
He has had a lifelong interest in acting. But despite his interest, he
enrolled at Northwestern University as a pre-law major. He had planned on
attending law school immediately after graduation, but instead heeded a
family friend's advice and decided to pursue drama for a while.
Kind relocated to New York to find full time work as an actor, but found
little there beyond commercials and theater.
He then moved to Chicago in the early ‘80s, where he found success as a
member of the Practical Theatre Company, an improv comedy group founded by
Julia Louis-Dreyfus, husband Brad Hall, and fellow “Saturday Night Live”
alum Gary Kroeger. Later, Kind made an impression on Chicago audiences as a
member of the venerable Second City troupe, where one of his castmates was
Dan Castellaneta, before moving once again to Los Angeles to join its West
Coast wing to perform with that city's division of the illustrious satirical
theater
Career:
By the mid 1980s, Kind was finding regular work in episodic television,
starting in 1985 with the TV movie “Two Fathers’ Justice,” “Mr. Belvedere”
and “Anything But Love”. His first series role came with the very
short-lived crime/suspense drama “UNSUB”, which was soon followed by turns
on a pair of short-lived Carol Burnett series, “Carol and Company” and “The
Carol Burnett Show”. Kind also landed what would be the first of many
voice-over jobs in 1992 as the only credited voice for the venerable cartoon
cat Tom in “Tom and Jerry: The Movie.”
That same year, Kind was cast as Mark Devanow, husband to Jamie Buchman’s
(Helen Hunt) best friend Fran (Leila Kenzle) on “Mad About You”. Kind was
written out of the show after the show’s first season, but returned
repeatedly during its network run. Post-“Mad About You,” Kind appeared in a
handful of features, including small roles in “Stargate”. He played an
amusingly oily and crooked accountant on the comedy “Blue Skies”, enjoyed a
recurring role in the Michael Chiklis series “The Commish”, and logged
episodes on “The Nanny” before returning to full time series work with the
ABC series “Spin City.”
During his tenure on “Spin City,” Kind remained impressively busy with other
projects. He appeared on Broadway as Tony Roberts’ replacement in “The
Allergist’s Wife” in 2000; was a sympathetic hotel clerk in the downbeat gay
hustler drama “Johns”, and played an attorney in John Ridley’s modern noir
“Cold Around the Heart”. He also lent his voice to numerous animated
features and series, most notably the Pixar film “A Bug’s Life”, for which
he voiced Molt, the chatty henchman/brother of villain Hopper (Kevin
Spacey), and the Nickelodeon series “Oswald”, for which he provided the
voice of Pongo, The Friendly Dragon.
In recent years, Kind’s animation credits expanded to include the popular
Disney Channel series “Kim Possible” as faux Euro villain Frugal Lucre, the
feature version of “Garfield” as Daddy Rat, “American Dad!”, and most
recently, as Larry the anaconda in “The Wild” and as Van in the Disney/Pixar
production “Cars”. He also provided a voice for the “Stitch’s Great Escape”
ride at Walt Disney World.
Kind’s returned to live action with a small role in his close friend George
Clooney’s directorial debut, “Confessions of a Dangerous Mind”, as well as
playing himself in Clooney’s short-lived HBO series, “Unscripted,” . He had
supporting turns in “The Station Agent”, and “Bewitched” as well as being a
consistent source of amusement on the NBC series “Scrubs” as the
ultra-hypochondriac and litigious patient Harvey Corman. Kind periodically
stole scenes as Larry David’s obnoxious and needy New York cousin Andy on
“Curb Your Enthusiasm”. He also appeared briefly as the jury foreman at the
conclusion of “The Producers”, as well as made his Broadway musical debut as
Max Bialystock opposite his former “Spin City” co-star, Alan Ruck. Most
recently, Kind appeared as a scientist in the kids’ comedy “Spymate”,
co-starring Emma Roberts, and on the syndicated series “Stargate: Atlantis”.
Personal life:
Richard married Dana Stanley in New York City's Central Park. Dana is the
executive director of Project ALS, an organization that raises money to
study cures for Lou Gehrig's disease.
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