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Danny Cooksey

Danny Cooksey has built the kind of varied career that can make him familiar for completely different reasons. Born November 2, 1975, in Moore, Oklahoma, Cooksey moved to Los Angeles with his mother when he was eight, initially with the intention of pursuing country music. Acting soon became a major part of the picture when he successfully auditioned for Diff'rent Strokes. As Sam McKinney, he appeared throughout the sitcom’s final three seasons. Cooksey continued working across television and film, playing Kevin Cavanaugh in The Cavanaughs and the troublemaking Bobby Budnick in Salute Your Shorts. On the big screen, he appeared as Tim, a friend of John Connor, in Terminator 2: Judgment Day. These live-action roles established his knack for playing energetic young characters, but voice acting would become an equally substantial side of his career. His animation work stretches across several generations of television. Cooksey voiced Montana Max in Tiny Toon Adventures, the title character in The Further Adventures of SuperTed, Mooch in 101 Dalmatians: The Series and Milo Kamalani in Pepper Ann. He also played Francis Stone, better known as Hotstreak, in Static Shock; Jack Spicer in Xiaolin Showdown; and the title role in Dave the Barbarian. For Hey Arnold! viewers, his voice belongs to Stoop Kid, the memorable subject of the show’s 1996 episode. Music has remained a continuing thread rather than an abandoned starting point. Cooksey was the lead singer of Bad4Good, which released the album Refugee through Interscope Records in 1992. He was also a member of Lucy’s Milk and later Arbuckle. In 2015, he contributed guitar and vocals to the Western band Shelter Dogs’ album Take Me Home, writing or co-writing every track. Taken together, his work reflects a career lived comfortably between live action, animation and music.