Jack Kenny

Jack Kenny is an American actor, writer, director, and producer born on March 9, 1958, in Chicago, Illinois. The son of Sally, a housewife, and Jack Jr., an IBM business manager, Kenny grew up in both Poughkeepsie, New York, and Raleigh, North Carolina. He trained at the Juilliard School Theatre Center, where he was part of Group 11 alongside classmates Megan Gallagher, Penny Johnson Jerald, Jack Stehlin, and Lorraine Toussaint.

Following his graduation from Juilliard, Kenny joined John Houseman's The Acting Company, with which he toured for two seasons. His New York acting debut came in the original production of The Normal Heart at Joseph Papp's Public Theater. His Broadway career spanned 1989 to 1990 and included two productions: Cafe Crown and the 25th anniversary revival of Fiddler on the Roof, in which he played Motel the tailor. He also performed at several Off-Broadway venues, among them the Manhattan Theatre Club, Playwrights Horizons, and the Manhattan Punchline.

Kenny's first television appearance was on Miami Vice in 1987, and his first writing credit for television was on the PBS series Square One. His writing career expanded to include work on The Secret World of Alex Mack for Nickelodeon, Dave's World for CBS, Caroline in the City for NBC, Holding the Baby for Fox, Maggie for Lifetime, Falling Skies for TNT, and Jessica Jones and A Series of Unfortunate Events for Netflix, among others. He also contributed to ABC's Kevin (Probably) Saves the World and NBC's Zoey's Extraordinary Playlist, and has written numerous television pilots.

With writing partner Brian Hargrove and comedian Christopher Titus, Kenny co-created the Fox comedy series Titus, which ran for 54 episodes between 2000 and 2002. Kenny and Hargrove also ran the short-lived Fox series Wanda at Large. In 2006, Kenny created the NBC series The Book of Daniel, which was cancelled after four episodes aired following an advertiser boycott organized by the American Family Association and other groups. The series holds a notable distinction as the first television program to stream on the internet, when its final four episodes were made available online in February and March of 2006. In a 2006 interview with The Advocate, Kenny, who is gay, criticized the LGBT community for its lack of response when he and the show came under attack.

In 2008, Kenny became showrunner and executive producer of the Syfy original series Warehouse 13, ultimately producing 63 episodes and both writing and directing several of them, as well as appearing in the series finale. As a director, he has also helmed episodes of Reba, ABC Family's Roommates, and a pilot for the WB. He wrote and directed the short film The Birds Sing Too Loud, featuring Jane Lynch and Kate Mulgrew, which won several festival awards and was featured on Funny or Die. In 2014, Kenny joined the advisory board of Sci-Fest, the first annual Los Angeles Science Fiction One-Act Play Festival, directing a play in its inaugural year.

In 1991, Kenny co-founded Broadway Pride with Ken Daigle and Tom Viola, organizing Broadway and Off-Broadway LGBT performers and crew members to march in that year's Gay Pride Parade in New York City. It was the first strictly professional, non-health-affiliated organization of its kind to participate in a Pride parade. Kenny has been with his husband, Michael Goodell, since August 1982; the couple were legally married in California in July 2008. Goodell is a Level 4 Pilates teacher in Los Angeles, the son of the late U.S. Senator Charles Goodell of New York, and the brother of NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell. Kenny's sister, Adele Kenny Sweetwood, is a marketing executive and the author of The Analytical Marketer.