Jack Kenny

For the rugby league footballer of the 1930s for England and Swinton, see John Kenny (rugby league).

Jack Kenny
File:Jack Kenny by Gage Skidmore.jpg 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. He grew up in Poughkeepsie, NY and in Raleigh, NC. He is a graduate of the Juilliard School Theatre Center, where his classmates in Group 11 included Megan Gallagher, Penny Johnson, Jack Stehlin, and Lorraine Toussaint.

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 The Secret World of Alex Mack, Dave's World, Caroline in the City, Holding the Baby, and Maggie.

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.

He was also the creator of the 2006 NBC television show 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.

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. He was also a consultant for TNT's Falling Skies, and wrote two episodes of the show.

As a director, Jack has directed 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, to be held in May 2014.

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.

External links

• Jack Kenny at the Internet Movie Database