Patrick Warburton To Host 41st Annies

BURBANK, Calif., Nov. 15, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- The International Animated Film Society, ASIFA-Hollywood, announced today that TV, film and voice actor, Patrick Warburton, will host the 41^st Annie Awards on Saturday, February 1, 2014 at UCLA's Royce Hall.  With his squinty eyes and hard-boiled detective's voice, Warburton's humorous personality can generate laughs with almost no effort, whether onscreen or in voice-overs.  "We are really excited to have Patrick hosting this year's ceremony," said ASIFA-Hollywood President, Frank Gladstone. "With his love of animation and deadpan comedic style, we know he will keep the show lively, funny and very entertaining."

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. 

Tickets for the 41st Annual Annie Awards are on sale now. Advanced VIP tickets are $150 for ASIFA-Hollywood members now through December 31, 2013, and will be $200 starting January 1, 2014.  Non-members of ASIFA-Hollywood can purchase a VIP ticket for $250. General Admission tickets are $30 and admit you to the Annie Awards Ceremony ONLY and are only sold through UCLA Central Ticket Office, www.uclalive.org, or www.ticketmaster.com. Please visit www.annieawards.org for complete details on purchasing your ticket to the Annies! 

Often a predictor of the annual Academy Award for Best Animated Feature, the Annie Awards honor overall excellence as well as individual achievement in a total of 30 categories ranging from best feature, production design, character animation and effects animation to storyboarding, writing, music, editing and voice acting.  Entries submitted for consideration were from productions that originally aired, were exhibited in an animation festival or commercially released between January 1, 2013 and December 31, 2013.

For up-to-the minute details on the 41^st Annie Awards, please visit www.annieawards.org.  For Media inquiries, please contact Gretchen Houser, Houser PR at [email protected].  The 41^st Annie Awards will stream live again this year.  Follow us the evening of the event at: http://annieawards.org/watch-it-live/.

ASIFA-Hollywood is the world's first and foremost professional organization dedicated to promoting the Art of Animation and celebrating the people who create it. Today, ASIFA-Hollywood, the largest chapter of the international organization ASIFA, supports a range of animation activities and preservation efforts through its membership. Current initiatives include the Animation Archive, Animation Aid Foundation, animated film preservation, special events, classes and screenings. Created in 1972 by veteran voice talent June Foray, the Annie Awards have grown in scope and stature for the past four decades.     

SOURCE ASIFA-Hollywood