Patrick Warburton will help celebrate all things animated as the host of the 41st Annie Awards. Put on by the International Animated Film Society (ASIFA-Hollywood), the Annies will be held on February 1, 2014 at UCLA’s Royce Hall.
“We are really excited to have Patrick hosting this year’s ceremony,” said ASIFA-Hollywood President, Frank Gladstone, announcing Warburton as host. “With his love of animation and deadpan comedic style, we know he will keep the show lively, funny, and very entertaining.”
The Annie Awards were created to honor excellence and recognize achievements in 30 categories, including best feature, best character animation, and voice acting. Tickets for the 2014 awards show are on sale now at ticketmaster.com.
Patrick Warburton Bio, Courtesy of ASIFA-Hollywood:
Warburton quickly became a popular semi-regular in the hit TV series Seinfeld, involved in a running joke about his frequent breakups and reconciliations with Elaine (Julia Louis-Dreyfus). He stayed with the show until it finished in 1998, and provided the voice for Superman in a series of commercials with Jerry Seinfeld.
He has contributed his memorable voice to characters on the animated shows Family Guy, Hercules, and Buzz Lightyear of Star Command and as sorceress Yazma’s (Eartha Kitt) not-too-bright thug assistant in Disney’s feature, The Emperor’s New Groove (2000). In 2001, Warburton signed on as the star voice of the Fox sitcom The Tick, about a muscle-bound but dimwitted superhero in a blue costume.
High-profile projects in 2002 included a role in the delayed ensemble farce Big Trouble and as Agent T alongside Tommy Lee Jones and Will Smith in Men in Black 2. By now, Warburton had become an in-demand voice actor working on a variety of projects including TV series like The Venture Brothers and Family Guy, as well as movies such as Home on the Range, Chicken Little, The Wild, and Bee Movie.
In 2007 he started on a successful seven-season run with the prime-time sitcom Rules of Engagement, and in 2012 he appeared in Seth McFarland’s directorial debut, Ted. In 2014, Warburton will lend his voice talent in the new Peabody and Sherman film and also Planes 2.
