Inductee

Born in Des Moines, Iowa, and reared in South Dakota, Wally Wingert developed a love for performing at an early age. From elementary school through high school, he kept busy writing, perfecting impersonations and developing a repertoire of characters and voices. Wally became a regular in school plays while honing his talents as a puppeteer.

He started his radio career at 16 but kept singing, acting, puppeteering and writing while working as a DJ. But in South Dakota, it was hard to make a decent living from performing. So in 1897, Wally moved to Los Angeles.

During his radio days, he submitted a string of parody songs to the syndicated "Dr. Demento Show." It paid off, because, with the help of Dr. Demento, Wally was hired at Westwood One Radio Network. On weekends he also worked at a jazz station, 94.7 The Wave.

In 1989 Batmania swept the nation with the anticipation of a new Batman film from Warner Bros. When Adam West, Wally's childhood hero, was not re-cast as the title character, Wally reacted the best way he knew: comedy. The song "Adam West" was a parody of the top dance song "Wild Wild West" and wove a humorous tale of a disgruntled fan whose hero was overlooked for the big screen version of the comic book icon. The song soared to No. 1 on "The Dr. Demento Show" and was in demand by radio stations all over the world. Wally and his song were featured on "A Current Affair" and in a "Rolling Stone" article.

Also in 1989, Wally left Westwood One to take a full-time job as air personality at The Wave. After five years he left to pursue acting, singing and the field of voice-overs.

Wally's childhood puppeteering experience helped land him an episodic role on CBS-TV's "Murphy Brown" in 1993. His performance as Kelbo was one of the most-seen "Murphy Brown" clips ever. All that time spent studying the Muppets’ characteristics, movements and voices during his childhood helped him land a much-coveted Screen Actor’s Guild union card.

In 1994, Universal Studios Hollywood hired Wally to portray Beetlejuice in the live stage show “Beetlejuice's Graveyard Revue," a job he held for four years. Around that time, he got voice-work in such films as "Batman and Robin," TV shows like "The Fresh Prince," and animated shows like Nickelodeon's "Angry Beavers." Today, he's considered one of the top talents in the voice-over industry – with a resume to prove it.

With appearances on shows like “Family Guy,” “King of the Hill,” “The Simpsons,” “Invader Zim,” “The Garfield Show,” “Avengers: Earth’s Mightiest Heroes,” “Bleach,” “Tiger and Bunny,” “Scooby Doo 2: Monsters Unleashed,” “Astro Boy,” “Harvey Birdman: Attorney at Law,” “Rugrats,” “Transformers; Robots in Disguise,” and many other TV shows, movies and videogames, his vocal and acting skills are in constant demand.

Wally’s on-camera TV appearances include "Just Shoot Me," "The Martin Short Show," "The E! True Hollywood Story," "Vicki," and an appearance on NBC-TV's "Saved By The Bell; The New Class" as "Daffy" Don Lewis. In film, he has appeared in "The Bogus Witch Project," "Crime and Passion," "Brotha'Hood," and a critically acclaimed performance as a wheeling-dealing Jesus Christ in the award-winning short "Art of the Deal."

Wally and his company, 4-i’s Productions, developed several live-action TV projects with Producer Ken Dennis, former producer of "Family Guy."

At the beginning of 2000 Wally started a three-year engagement as the voice of PAX-TV, a family-friendly TV network. In the fall of 2009 he was hired as the show voice for the “Jay Leno Show,” seen five nights a week on NBC. When Leno ended up back on “The Tonight Show” in the spring of 2010, Wally became only the seventh full-time voice of “The Tonight Show” in its long history. To this day he’s the only “Tonight Show” voice to perform the job exclusively in a voice-over capacity.

Wally’s lifetime love of the Batman franchise came full circle in 2010 when he was cast as Batman’s arch nemesis, The Riddler. Wally portrayed the character in four videogames in the “Arkham” series, and his performances drew rave reviews from the fans of the genre.

Wally's hobbies include collecting animation art and autographs, drawing, costuming, collectible toys, rock and roll and beautiful women (not necessarily in that order). He has been active in several charities including the First Christian Church of North Hollywood, Christian Broadcast Network, the Los Angeles Mission, the Union Rescue Mission, the San Fernando Valley Rescue Mission, AIDS Project Los Angeles, the Ronald McDonald House, the Jaycees, Special Olympics, Feed the Children, and numerous others.
 

Awards

2015DJ's