Wayne Elliot Knight was born in New York City to a Catholic family. His parents are textile factory supervisor William Edward Knight and Grace 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. After his time on Broadway, Knight also worked as a private investigator, for a period of five years.
Career
Knight appeared in various films produced in the end of the 1980s, and beginning of the 1990s, including Dirty Dancing, Born on the Fourth of July, JFK and Basic Instinct. He was the first actor cast in Jurassic Park after directorSteven 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 supporting roles on two television series on NBC. He played the mailman Newman, Jerry's neighbour and 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, 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 Jack-O-Lantern, Dilbert as the Security Guard, 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. He also guest starred on ' 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, where he became a recurring character for season two, and on an episode of The Whole Truth in the fall of 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 ' as Brian Friedkin. Knight appeared as Santa in in November 2012. He previously appeared on Broadway in Art in 1999. In April 2012, Knight was featured in the romantic comedy, She Wants Me. In February 2014, Knight reprised the character Newman, during one commercial during the Super Bowl, alongside Jerry Seinfeld and Jason Alexander. In December 2017, Knight was featured in an advertisement for KFC 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 by December 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 September 2012 Democratic National Convention in support of President Barack Obama's successful reelection.
