SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (KELO) — He began his professional career on KELO Radio in Sioux Falls around 40 years ago.
Today, Wally Wingert may be the most successful South Dakota actor in Hollywood that you might not be familiar with. Wingert has been entertaining people around the world with his voice. Wingert may be best known as the voice of the Tonight Show with Jay Leno.
“It’s the tonight show with Jay Leno!” And it was live every day, said Wingert.
He auditioned for the job on a whim and says the the gig was one of his favorites. He calls Jay Leno a great person to work with and a nice guy.
“I’m the announcer of the tonight show? Yeah if you want to do it. I’m like I would love to do it. So I ended up being only the 7th full time announcer in tonight show history to do it, and so far the only guy to do the announcing as a strictly as a voice over guy where you never see them, said Wingert.
“I loved the tonight show but I also loved the Garfield show. For six or seven seasons on Cartoon Network we did a Garfield show. And I got cast as John Arbuckle. ‘Hey Garfield where’s Odie, It’s time for lasagna. Garfield you ate all the lasagna!’ So I did that for seven years and I loved that character because he’s such a dork like me.”
Wingert will do occasional work in front of the camera. For instance playing a glam rocker in a commercial for Dell Computers. But this former radio guy tells us he prefers being a voice actor.
From Nickelodeon to the Cartoon Network, Wally has brought life to dozens of characters.
“If you are anime fan you’ll know me as Renji Abarai from the 13th Court Guard Squad, that’s the anime,” said Wingert. “If you play video games you’ll know me as The Riddler, Riddle me this Batman you Cowled, Clod Ha ha ha! Which is great. If you watch cartoons for the early 90’s, late 90s early 2000’s you know me as the Almighty Tallest Red from Invader Zim or any other number of characters.”
He’s also an accomplished puppeteer. Kermit the Frog came with him to South Dakota. He wanted to bring a puppet wit him and Kermit fit in his luggage
“I’ve been really blessed in that I’ve been able to work in virtually every aspect of voice over, kind of successfully. That’s pretty great,” said Wingert.
A South Dakota kid with a dream, who made it come true and continues to make his voice heard in Hollywood.
Wingert comes home to South Dakota about once a year to see family and help support a local non profit he helped create. “Voices Against Cancer” raises funds for research and awareness of pediatric cancer.
Wally on the Web https://www.wallyontheweb.com/
Voices Against Cancer https://voicesagainstcancer.org/
