How ‘Seinfeld’ Star Wayne Knight Lost 100 Pounds & Made a Career Comeback
What To Know
- Wayne Knight, known for his roles in Seinfeld and Jurassic Park, lost 100 pounds over several years.
- Despite initial hesitancy from casting directors due to his changed appearance, Knight made a career comeback at age 70 with a prominent role in Five Nights at Freddy’s 2.
- The film Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, featuring Knight as Mr. Berg, achieved record-breaking box office success for a December horror release despite mixed critical reviews.
Seinfeld star Wayne Knight lost 100 pounds since starring in the 1993 film Jurassic Park — and he recently made a career comeback at 70 despite casting directors’ hesitancy to cast him.
On December 5, Five Nights at Freddy’s 2 premiered, with Knight playing Mr. Berg, Abby’s jerk robotics teacher. The sequel broke records for the biggest opening for an after-Thanksgiving theatrical release and the biggest December horror opening, despite critical reviews.
When Wayne Knight appeared in Five Nights at Freddy’s 2
My reaction…… pic.twitter.com/fowJOW5OdL— Joey Rodolico (@ActionRods972) December 10, 2025
Although Knight is known for playing Newman in Seinfeld and computer programmer Dennis Nedry in Jurassic Park — as well as starring in Basic Instinct, To Die For, and Space Jam — he told TMZ in November 2024 that casting directors were worried about his new look after losing weight.
“It takes time for people to accept you as you are, and then they find out whether or not you can still do things without being fat,” he told the outlet.
On December 2, Knight showed off his weight loss while walking the red carpet at the Five Nights at Freddy’s 2 premiere in Hollywood, California. His wife, Clare Knight, and their son, Liam Knight.
Savion Washington/Getty Images for Universal Pictures and Blumhouse
In October 2024, Knight was photographed arriving at a gym in Los Angeles called The Exercise Coach, looking much trimmer than longtime fans remembered.
Knight clarified to TMZ that weight-loss drugs weren’t the reason for dropping the weight. Rather, it happened “over a period of many years.” He didn’t divulge what, exactly, he did to slim down. However, he said that he’d done “everything that anyone could ever try,” from “therapy to drugs to surgery to radiation to being taken by aliens.”
When asked if he tried to lose weight “the old-fashioned way,” the actor replied, “What do you mean, not eating? Yes, that does work.”
Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, now in theaters