- Born
- Birth nameWayne Eliot Knight
- Height5′ 8″ (1.73 m)
- Actor Wayne Knight achieved television immortality assaying the role of the frenetic mailman, "Newman", nemesis of the eponymous lead character in the classic TV series Seinfeld (1989). He also appeared in Jurassic Park (1993) as "Dennis Nedry" and in one of the most notorious scenes in American cinema as one of the detectives interrogating Sharon Stone during her leg crossing in Basic Instinct (1992).
Wayne Eliot Knight was born to Grace (Monti) and William Edward Knight. He is of Italian and English descent. Knight was raised and lived in Cartersville, Georgia, until attending the University of Georgia in 1972. Despite being an honor student, Knight left school to join the Barter Theatre company in Abingdon, Virginia, before graduating. (He finally secured a BFA degree in 2008.) Following an internship of two years, Wayne was hired for the professional company and earned his Equity card. Now a professional actor, Knight moved back to New York, where he made his Broadway debut, at the age of 23, in the long-running comedy "Gemini" in 1979. Through the years, he has established himself as a leading character actor in television as a regular or recurring character in seven series, in film (ranging from Dirty Dancing (1987) to JFK (1991)), on the stage, and as a voice artist in animation.
In TV Land's original sitcom The Exes (2011), Knight plays homebody "Haskell Lutz", who lives in an apartment with "Phil" (Donald Faison) and "Stuart" (David Alan Basche), right across the hall from his divorce attorney, "Holly" (Kristen Johnston).
- IMDb mini biography by: Wayne Knight
- SpousesClare Knight(October 15, 2006 - present) (1 child)Paula Sutor(May 26, 1996 - 2003) (divorced)
- Children
- ParentsWilliam Edward KnightGrace Monti
- Large spectacles
- Often plays characters with a cynical demeanor
- High-pitched voice
- Before landing the role of Newman in Seinfeld (1989), he had auditioned for the role of George Costanza.
- Credits an episode of Seinfeld with prompting him to lose weight. After shooting several takes of a scene requiring him to run through a field, he began to experience heart palpitations. He visited his doctor and was told that he was approaching morbid obesity and diabetes. Knight then embarked upon a diet-and-exercise program that allowed him to lose 117 lbs, dropping his weight from 327 to 210 lbs.
- Worked as a private detective in between acting jobs in his early days.
- Has worn the same pair of his trademark glasses since his role in Seinfeld (1989).
- Reports claim he was the first person to be cast for Jurassic Park (1993) after Steven Spielberg saw him in the "interview scene" of Basic Instinct (1992).
- I love Tom Kenny. And Jill Talley. And Jennifer Aniston, too!
- I have this assemblage of small facts, which looks like intelligence but no real depth of knowledge about anything. That's why I'm an actor.
- I want to go skydiving. I'd love to go to the Galapagos. Nature still excites me.
- I know there are some people in British Columbia who are still holding a vigil for '3rd Rock'.
- I had the most fun on '3rd Rock'. It was a great show to work on.
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