Patton Oswalt

Patton Peter Oswalt is an American stand-up comedian, actor, and writer. He is widely known for his television roles as Spence Olchin in the sitcom The King of Queens and as the narrator of The Goldbergs. He is also prominent for voicing Remy in the animated film Ratatouille and for his extensive work across film, television, voice acting, and stand-up comedy.

Oswalt was born on January 27, 1969, in Portsmouth, Virginia, to Carla and Larry J. Oswalt, a career United States Marine Corps officer. He grew up living in Ohio, Tustin, California, and Sterling, Virginia. In 1987, he graduated from Broad Run High School, where he won a regional forensics competition for humorous dramatic interpretation. He then attended the College of William & Mary, earning a Bachelor of Arts in English in 1991, and was later awarded an honorary Doctor of Arts by the institution in 2023. In the 1990s, he lived in San Francisco as a young comedian.

Oswalt began performing stand-up comedy in July 1988. After writing for MADtv and starring in an HBO comedy special in 1996, he made his feature film debut in the 1996 military comedy Down Periscope and his television acting debut on the sitcom Seinfeld. He gained major television prominence playing Spence Olchin on The King of Queens from 1998 to 2007. In 2007, he achieved further recognition starring as the voice of Remy in Pixar's Oscar-winning film Ratatouille, and played his first starring live-action film role in Big Fan in 2009.

Over his career, Oswalt has compiled extensive credits in television and film. On television, he narrated all ten seasons of The Goldbergs, portrayed multiple brothers of the Koenig family on Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., played Principal Ralph Durbin in A.P. Bio, and voiced Matthew the Raven in The Sandman. He has also appeared in series such as Parks and Recreation, Justified, Two and a Half Men, and Mystery Science Theater 3000, and hosted the game show The 1% Club. His film appearances include Magnolia, Young Adult, 22 Jump Street, The Circle, and Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire.

As a voice actor, Oswalt voiced Max in The Secret Life of Pets 2, Jesse in the video game Minecraft: Story Mode, and the title character in M.O.D.O.K. An avid reader and writer of comic books, he has written stories for DC Comics and Dark Horse Comics, co-creating the comic series Minor Threats. He is also an author, having published the books Zombie Spaceship Wasteland in 2011 and Silver Screen Fiend in 2015.

In stand-up comedy, Oswalt has appeared in six major specials. His 2016 Netflix special, Patton Oswalt: Talking for Clapping, earned him both a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Writing for a Variety Special and a Grammy Award for Best Comedy Album. His subsequent specials include Annihilation and I Love Everything, the latter of which also received an Emmy nomination.

In his personal life, Oswalt married true crime writer Michelle McNamara in 2005, with whom he has a daughter, Alice. Following McNamara's death in 2016, Oswalt helped complete her book on the Golden State Killer, I'll Be Gone in the Dark, which was published in 2018. He married actress Meredith Salenger in November 2017.