Actor, producer, director, journalist, photographer and writer Kenneth Joel Hotz was born May 3, 1973 in Toronto, Ontario. At a young age of 7, he already made his own first movie after attending a film camp and received a directing award from producer/director Henry Winkler for his effort. He eventually pursued a career in photography and started working as a lens man since 1986. His shots have captured different countries and several historic world events; among his photo essays are the “Mount Carmel Waco, Texas Aftermath” and “New Year's in Time Square 2000.”
Eventually,
Kenny Hotz took an interest in creating documentaries. In 1991, he went to the Middle East and covered the Gulf War, where he became the only registered Canadian artist to do such coverage. His works were collected in the national and provincial archives of Canada. A photo entitled “Life Behind the Mask” earned him a best student photo in 1992. In the same year, he graduated from the Media Arts program of Ryerson Polytechnical Institute. Shortly after his graduation, he produced a short film about the life and death of the destitute dwarf Shorty Gordy. This comedy won at the Hot Docs Film Festival. In 1997, he co-wrote, co-directed and starred on
Pitch, which documented two writers as they try to sell their ideas to the big and famous names in the movie industry. Among the celebrities they approached were Matt Dillon, Al Pacino, Haley Joel Osment and Whoopi Goldberg. His documentary entitled
The Papal Chase won the Phillip Borsos Award for Best Canadian Feature Film at the 2004 Whistler Film Festival, the People's Choice Award at the 2005 Canadian Filmmakers Festival and the Audience Award at the 2005 Brooklyn International Film Festival.
He was staff writer for the cartoons
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle and
South Park. He also conceptualized the 3D videogame “Versusville,” a nominee at the Canadian New Media Award for Excellence in Gaming.
Kenny Hotz stars on Comedy Central's
Kenny vs. Spenny, a show that centers on best friends Kenny and Spenny as they compete against each other in ridiculous, immature and totally intense fights. Some examples of the insane challenges they engage in are the following: Who Can Be Obese the Longest?, Who Can be Tied to a Goat the Longest?, Who Can Sit on a cow the Longest?, Who Can Stay Blindfolded the Longest? And First Guy to Stop Singing Loses.
(Photo courtesy of Comedy Central)