Patton Oswalt

Patton Oswalt (born January 27, 1969) is an American stand-up comedian and actor.

Oswalt was born on January 27, 1969, in Portsmouth, Virginia, the son of Carla and Larry J. Oswalt, a career United States Marine Corps officer.

He was named after General George S. Patton.

He has one younger brother, Matt Oswalt, a comedy writer best known for writing and starring in the YouTube web series Puddin'.

While he was a military brat, his family lived in Ohio and in Tustin, California, before settling in Sterling, Virginia.

He is a 1987 graduate of Broad Run High School in Ashburn, Virginia.

Oswalt began performing stand-up comedy on July 18, 1988.

He lived in San Francisco in the 1990s where he said "It was cheap, so, so cheap, and I was a young, hopeful comedian."

He later attended the College of William & Mary where he majored in English and graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in 1991.

and was initiated into the Alpha Theta chapter of the Phi Kappa Tau fraternity.

In May 2023, Oswalt was made an honorary Doctor of Arts by William & Mary.

After writing for MADtv and starring in his own 1996 comedy special for HBO, he went on to garner notable roles in films and television shows with his film debut coming in the 1996 military comedy film Down Periscope alongside Kelsey Grammer.

His television debut was on the Seinfeld episode "The Couch".

His most prominent and longest running role was as Spence Olchin on The King of Queens.

His acting roles include Spence Olchin in the sitcom The King of Queens (1998–2007) and narrating the sitcom The Goldbergs (2013–2023) as adult Adam F. Goldberg.

After making his acting debut in the Seinfeld episode "The Couch", he has appeared in a variety of television series, such as Parks and Recreation, Community, Two and a Half Men, Drunk History, Reno 911!, Mystery Science Theater 3000, Archer, Veep, Justified, Kim Possible, Modern Family, and Brooklyn Nine-Nine.

Other film credits include Man on the Moon (1999), Zoolander (2001), Blade: Trinity (2004), All Roads Lead Home (2008), Big Fan (2009), A Very Harold & Kumar 3D Christmas (2011), 22 Jump Street (2014), and The Circle (2017).

Oswalt has voiced Remy in the animated film Ratatouille (2007), Max in the animated film The Secret Life of Pets 2 (2019) where he replaced Louis C.K., Jesse (male) in the game Minecraft: Story Mode, and

M.O.D.O.K in the 2021 animated series of the same name.

His first starring film role was as the voice of Remy, the lead character in the 2007 Academy Award-winning Pixar film Ratatouille.

He has also appeared in smaller roles in such films as Magnolia and 22 Jump Street.

Oswalt wrote the comic book story "JLA: Welcome to the Working Week", a backup story in Batman #600; a story for Dwight T. Albatross's The Goon Noir #01 and a story for Masks: Too Hot for TV.

Expanding his voice artist repertoire, he began voicing the villainous character Tobey on PBS Kids GO! series WordGirl in 2007.

He also appeared on the Comedy Central Roast of William Shatner.

He appeared on the Comedy Central Roast of Flavor Flav in August 2007.

That same year, he appeared on an episode of SpongeBob SquarePants, "The Original Fry Cook", as Jim.

Oswalt moderated a reunion panel of the Mystery Science Theater 3000 cast at the San Diego Comic-Con International in 2008.

Oswalt played Paul Aufiero, the leading role in Robert D. Siegel's 2009 directorial debut, Big Fan.

He was set to star in a 2010 Broadway revival of Lips Together, Teeth Apart.

The show was postponed, then eventually canceled, when Megan Mullally left the production after the director denied her request to replace Oswalt due to his lack of stage experience.

He starred in the Showtime drama The United States of Tara as Neil, an employee of Four Winds Landscaping.

He also provided the voice of Thrasher, a robot protagonist from the Cartoon Network show Robotomy.

Oswalt emceed the 2010 BookExpo America, promoting his then-upcoming book Zombie Spaceship Wasteland and introducing the evening's panelists: Christopher Hitchens, William Gibson, and Sara Gruen.

Oswalt released Zombie Spaceship Wasteland in 2011.

Oswalt played the role of Hurlan Heartshe in the 2011 surrealist comedy miniseries The Heart, She Holler on Cartoon Network's late-night programming block, Adult Swim.

Oswalt appeared in the 2011 film A Very Harold & Kumar 3D Christmas.

In the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) multimedia franchise, Oswalt guest starred as the Koenigs on Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (2014–2020) and voiced Pip the Troll in Eternals (2021).

As a stand-up comedian, Oswalt has appeared in six stand-up specials and won a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Writing for a Variety Special and a Grammy Award for Best Comedy Album for the album of his Netflix special Patton Oswalt: Talking for Clapping (2016).

He portrayed Principal Ralph Durbin in A.P. Bio (2018–2021) and Matthew the Raven in the TV series The Sandman (2022–present).

He was also in the web series Best of the Worst in 2019.