Richard John Kind, an American voice actor known for his roles in popular sitcoms such as Spin City and Mad About You, has led a long and distinguished acting career. While this native Trentonian may not be well known by the younger generation, he received praise for his voice acting as Bing Bong in the Pixar movie Inside Out.
Kind was born on November 22, 1956 in Trenton, New Jersey. His mother Alice was a homemaker and his father Samuel was a jeweler who owned La Vake’s Jewelry in Princeton, New Jersey. Years after attending Northwestern University, Kind’s big break in television acting came about in 1990 when he was featured as a part of the cast of Carol Burnett’s comedy, Carol and the Company. He is most easily recognized for his role as Paul Lassiter on Spin City, which he acted alongside Michael J. Fox and then Charlie Sheen and Dr. Mark Devanow on Mad About You.
Since that time, Kind has acted in a number of feature movies and had guest appearances in several television series. Such movies include A Serious Man by the Coen brothers and the voice character of Bookworm in Toy Story 3. According to jewishvirtuallibrary.org “In 2003, Kind was awarded the Joseph Jefferson Award for Actor in a Principal Role in a Musical for “Bounce” at the Goodman Theatre in Chicago, Illinois.”
A little-known fact about Kind: he is also a cousin of famous actress, singer and filmmaker Barbara Streisand. Kind married Dana Staley in 1999 to which George Clooney (one of his close friends) was the best man. On the stage, Kind has found himself in Broadway musicals such as The Tale of the Allergist’s Wife, The Producers, Candide and Bounce.
For more information regarding the acting career of Richard Kind, please visit his profile on IMDB at https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0454236/bio. There you can find his entire filmography along with information on his life.
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