The Voice Behind Nickelodeon's SpongeBob SquarePants Has A $16 Million Net Worth
Wanna be a showbiz millionaire without having to show your face onscreen? Take notes from Tom Kenny.
Aside from brief real-life cameo appearances on SpongeBob and a few stints on shows like Just Shoot Me in the '90s, you'd be hard-pressed to spot this veteran voice actor on TV. We probably couldn't pick him out in a crowd if he walked right by, but he's got the same net worth as Dylan and Cole Sprouse combined: $16 million according to CelebrityNetWorth.com.
Read on to learn how the actor who's played SpongeBob SquarePants for more than 20 years built his immense fortune.
You Probably Heard His Voice BEFORE SpongeBob
Tom Kenny is no stranger to your TV set. His IMDB page is a wildly impressive list of beloved cartoon characters, many of whom existed long before SpongeBob hit the scene.
"I seem to voice a lot of sweet, kind of dumb yellow characters for some reason," he told Casting Frontier.
Remember CatDog? He was the voice of Dog.
What about The Powerpuff Girls? He was the mayor AND the narrator.
The Fairly OddParents? Cupid.
The Wild Thornberrys? Pal Joey.
Johnny Bravo? Carl.
Winnie The Pooh? Rabbit.
He also voiced a range of characters on Cow and Chicken and Aaahh Real Monsters!, and played the one and only Heffer on Rocko's Modern Life.
That last credit was the one that actually landed Tom his role as SpongeBob.
"That’s a really important one for me," he explained to Casting Frontier. "It’s where I first met Stephen Hillenburg who’d go on to create SpongeBob. Steve was the creative director of Rocko's Modern Life."
Tom's Paychecks Grow With SpongeBob's Success
Since 1999, Tom's been voicing SpongeBob in every single SpongeBob SquarePants episode. According to him, he hasn't just been talking like SpongeBob for 20+ years, he's been bringing him to life in the recording booth.
"When I step into that booth, I really feel like I am SpongeBob for a few hours," he explained in an interview with Den of Geek. "I think like him, I talk like him, I’m him until I leave the recording booth."
His hard work doesn't go unnoticed. CelebrityNetWorth.com projects he makes more than $50,000 per week while working on the show. And the more beloved SpongeBob SquarePants becomes, the more opportunities there are for Tom to line his pockets with cash earned in Bikini Bottom.
The first SpongeBob SquarePants movie grossed $140.2 million according to IMDB, with Tom getting a cool cut of that sum for his leading role. The sequel did even better, earning $325.1 million worldwide.
The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge on the Run is set to be released on July 30, 2020, rounding out the series' film trilogy. If Tom had SpongeBob's cartoony capabilities, we bet his eyes would turn into dollar signs just thinking about it.
Tom Makes Bank in Other Franchises, Too
This vocal pro doesn't just work as SpongeBob these days. He lends his talents to franchises like Transformers (playing Skids and Wheelie), the Spyro video game series (playing Spyro the Dragon), Adventure Time (playing the Ice King), and will be returning as Squanchy, Pencilvester and more on the upcoming 5th season of Ricky and Morty.
Adventure Time's Ice King on the Cartoon Network is Tom's second-most rewarded character work (after SpongeBob, of course), earning him both a BTVA Television Voice Acting Award and an Annie award for 'Outstanding Achievement in Voice Acting' - one of the highest honors a voice actor can receive according to IMDB.
Despite It All, Tom's a 'Live Within My Means Guy'
It's easy to amass millions when you have a huge salary AND don't throw your money around. As Tom revealed to AOL, "I've always been a live within my means guy. You drive a crappier car than you should be driving or live in a smaller house than you should."
He's also very aware that it could all disappear if he's not careful. "I get excited just being employed," he added. "I have total freelancer mental illness where you think it's all going to go away tomorrow...Maybe some crazed psycho comes up and punches me in the throat. It can happen."
His Advice? Don't Take Money Advice from SpongeBob
For someone who owes his lavish lifestyle to a little fictional sponge, Tom doesn't mince words about SpongeBob being a money-making icon. While SpongeBob works his little pants off at the Krusty Krab, his cash situation is much worse than Tom's IRL.
"He works 97 hours a week; he gets paid for 40," Kenny told AOL. "I don't know whether he's the best person to ask for financial advice." Fair enough!
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