Jack Kenny
| Jack Kenny | |
|---|---|
 Jack Kenny at the 2012 San Diego Comic-Con International. | |
| Born | Chicago, Illinois, U.S. |
| Education | Juilliard School |
| Occupation | Writer, Director, Actor, Producer |
Jack Kenny is an American writer, director, actor, and producer.
Early life and education
Kenny was born in Chicago, Illinois, the son of Sally (from Guantanamo, Cuba), a mother and housewife, and Jack, Jr. (from Chicago, IL), a business manager for IBM.[1] He grew up in Poughkeepsie, NY and in Raleigh, NC. He is a graduate of the Juilliard School Theatre Center,[2] where his classmates in Group 11 included Megan Gallagher, Penny Johnson, Jack Stehlin, and Lorraine Toussaint.[3]
Career
After graduating from Juilliard, Kenny was a member of John Houseman's The Acting Company, and toured for two seasons. His New York acting debut was in the original production of The Normal Heart at Joseph Papp's Public Theater, and his Broadway debut was as "Motel, the tailor" in the 25th anniversary production of Fiddler on the Roof. He has performed at several Off-Broadway houses, including the Manhattan Theatre Club, Playwrights Horizons, and the Manhattan Punchline. He has numerous TV and Film credits, but his first television appearance was on "Miami Vice" in 1987.
His first TV writing credit was for Square One on PBS. Kenny has written for Nickelodeon's The Secret World of Alex Mack, CBS's Dave's World, NBC's Caroline in the City, Fox's Holding the Baby, Lifetime's Maggie, and TNT's Falling Skies, among others. He's also written numerous television pilots.
Kenny co-Created the television comedy series Titus (which ran for 54 episodes on the Fox Network from 2000 to 2002) with his writing partner Brian Hargrove and comedian Christopher Titus. Kenny & Hargrove also ran the short-lived Fox Network series Wanda at Large.
He was also the Creator of the 2006 NBC television series The Book of Daniel, which was cancelled after four episodes had aired. Though NBC gave no official explanation, the program had been the victim of an advertiser boycott by the American Family Association and other groups for its content before a single episode had aired. In a 2006 article in The Advocate, Kenny, who is gay, took issue with the LGBT community for not acting when he and the show were attacked. http://www.advocate.com/politics/commentary/2006/02/14/where-was-gay-mafia-when-i-needed-hit "Daniel" has the further distinction of being the first television series to air (its last four episodes) on the Internet in February and March of 2006.
In 2008, he signed on as show runner and executive producer of the original Syfy series Warehouse 13, and subsequently produced 63 episodes of the series, writing and directing several episodes, and appearing in the series finale.
As a director, Jack has helmed several episodes of Titus, Reba, ABC Family's Roommates, Warehouse 13, and a pilot for the WB.
In 2014, Kenny joined the advisory board of Sci-Fest, the first annual Los Angeles Science Fiction One-Act Play Festival. [4] He directed a play in the first year of the festival, and is slated to direct another in 2016.
Personal life
Kenny has been with his husband, Michael Goodell, son of the late US Senator Charles Goodell of New York, and brother of NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell since August 1982. The couple were legally married in California in July 2008.
His sister, Adele Kenny Sweetwood, is a VP at SAS Institute in North Carolina.
Kenny has always been active in gay rights causes and gay politics. In 1991, he, along with Ken Daigle and Tom Viola, founded Broadway Pride, a group of Broadway and Off-Broadway LGBT actors and crew to march in that year's Gay Pride Parade in New York City. It was the first such organization to march in a Pride parade that was strictly a professional-oriented group with no health or AIDS-related affiliations.
References
- ↑ "Jack Kenny Biography". FilmReference.com. Retrieved May 10, 2009.
- ↑ allsaints-pas.org/modules/toc/uploads/files/aid319_lights_camera_acti_46b566e0_96f5_f78a_u1.pdf Saints Alive: April 17, 2005]
- ↑ Gussow, Mel (April 29, 1982). "Juilliard Theater Students Put On 'Love's Labor's Lost'". The New York Times.
- ↑ "Sci-Fest Team". Retrieved 26 January 2014.