Patton Oswalt Biography

Patton Oswalt is a stand-up comedian and character actor, known to TV viewers as Spence from The King of Queens and to moviegoers as Remy, the chef rat from the 2007 animated feature Ratatouille. He began his comedy career after graduating from the College of William and Mary in 1991. Based in California, Oswalt did stand-up and TV comedy writing, then began getting acting roles in television shows in the late 1990s. He took his on-stage nerd persona to the sitcom The King of Queens in 1998 and was a regular character on the show until 2007, while appearing in guest spots in a number of comedies and cartoons, including Crank Yankers, Tom Goes to the Mayor, Reno 911! and Kim Possible. While Oswalt’s most notable performance as a voice actor was as the lead in Ratatouille, he’s also contributed to SpongeBob Squarepants, Robotomy and the video game Grant Theft Auto. As a character actor, Oswalt has been a semi-regular in the series Caprica (2010), United States of Tara (2009-11), Bored to Death (2009-11), Burn Notice (2012), Two and a Half Men (2012-13) and Justified (2013, starring Timothy Olyphant). He also starred in the 2009 feature film Big Fan and provided a bright spot in the Jason Reitman drama Young Adult (2011, starring Charlize Theron). Oswalt has released four comedy albums, including My Weakness is Strong (2009) and Finest Hour (2011), and published a book of essays, Zombie Spaceship Wasteland (2011).