Star Wars and Marvel voice-actor Tom Kane has suffered a stroke

Last Updated on July 30, 2021

If you've watched any animated show or played any video-game in the last few decades, particularly of the Star Wars variety, you've undoubtedly heard the voice of Tom Kane. The voice-actor is best known for voicing Yoda and Admiral Yularen in Star Wars: The Clone Wars, Magneto in Wolverine and the X-Men, Professor Utonium and HIM in The Powerpuff Girls, Darwin in The Wild Thornberrys, Ultron in The Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes, Oxnard Montalvo in The Angry Beavers, and much more.

Unfortunately, it seems that Tom Kane suffered a stroke several months ago that might keep him from working as a voice-over artist. Kane's daughter Sam confirmed the news and offered an update on Facebook.

Hi everyone! This is Tom’s daughter, Sam. Our family wanted to share why my dad has been MIA. About two months ago he had a left side stroke that gave him right sided weakness and damage to the speech center of his brain. This means right now he cannot efficiently communicate verbally, nor read or spell. He is still competent and very much himself, but can only get out a few words right now. As many of you might know about strokes, it is possible for him to gain these functions back and we have found him excellent care in Kansas City for speech, occupational, and physical therapy, but for now, we have been warned by his Neurologist that he may not do Voiceovers again. My dad still remains in good spirits and his extreme stubbornness has helped him already show improvements in speech. He is fully on board with me sharing this and he will see anything you guys post.

Lots of love from our family to yours.

Fellow voice-over artist Mark Hamill responded to the news on Twitter, saying, "Tom Kane is an enormously gifted actor & a genuinely nice person. I look forward to him making a complete & full recovery. I know the Voice-Over Community & his countless fans feel exactly the same way. Sending love to him & the entire Kane family." In addition to the roles I mentioned above, Tom Kane also lent his voice to films such as Halloween H20, Brother Bear, Shrek the Third, District 9, The Smurfs, 9, Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, and Star Wars: The Last Jedi, as well as TV shows such as The Incredible Hulk, Duckman, Spider-Man, Johnny Bravo, Kim Possible, Duck Dodgers, CatDog, Teen Titans, Robot Chicken, The Boondocks, Archer, Legend of Korra, Star Wars: Rebels, and so much more. Kane's voice can also be heard in video-games like Star Wars: Shadows of the Empire, Star Wars: X-Wing vs. TIE Fighter, The Curse of Monkey Island, Grim Fandango, Star Wars Episode I: Racer, Star Wars Jedi Knight II: Jedi Outcast, Star Wars: Bounty Hunter, The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring, Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic, Star Wars: Battlefront, LEGO Indiana Jones: The Original Adventures, Star Wars: The Force Unleashed, Thor: God of Thunder, Batman: Arkham City, Star Wars: Squadrons, and more. Even with all the titles I've mentioned, I've only scratched the surface of Tom Kane's contributions to the world of voice-acting. We here at JoBlo extend our love and best-wishes to the Kane family during Tom Kane's path to recovery.