Jim Thornton

Jim Thornton is an American radio and television announcer, news anchor, and voice actor. He is known for his voiceover work in video games, movies and television shows. Since 2011, he is best known for being the announcer of Wheel of Fortune following the death of longtime announcer Charlie O'Donnell.

Early life and education

Born in Huntington, West Virginia, Jim Thornton graduated from Huntington High School in 1983 and then moved to Los Angeles in 1984 where he started his broadcasting career a year later. He also has a degree in linguistics from Marshall University.

Career Radio

Thornton is best known as the afternoon anchor on all-news radio KNX 1070 in Los Angeles, having been promoted from traffic reporting. He has also announced on Celebrity Deathmatch and narrated a portion of Monsters, Inc.

Game show announcer Thornton did substitute announcing work on The Price Is Right following the death of former announcer Rod Roddy. In December 2010, he auditioned for the same role on Wheel of Fortune following the death of the show's announcer Charlie O'Donnell, and was confirmed as the show's new announcer on June 13, 2011. Because of this job, Thornton has scaled back from his job at KNX.

On September 1, 2026, following unspecified allegations, it was announced that Thornton had been suspended from Wheel of Fortune with the announcer role recast while Sony Pictures Television looks into the incident.

Voiceover work Thornton provided the voice of Johnny Gomez in Celebrity Deathmatch and the announcer in The Cleveland Show. He also appeared in video games, where he provided additional voice-over work for Hitman: Blood Money and as a DJ in Mafia II.

Filmography TV series Year Title Role Notes 1996–present Channel 2 Action News Traffic Reporter 2004 The Price Is Right Try-Out Announcer 10 episodes The Soup Announcer 1 episode 2006-2007 Celebrity Deathmatch Johnny Gomez 16 episodes 2009 The Cleveland Show Announcer 2 episodes 2010 Tim & Eric Awesome Show, Great Job! Announcer Episode: "Comedy" 2010–present Wheel of Fortune Announcer 2,200 episodes 2021–present Celebrity Wheel of Fortune Announcer 22 episodes

Shorts Year Title Role Notes 2009 Let's Pollute Narrator

Movies Year Title Role Notes 2001 Monsters, Inc. Commercial Narrator

Video games Year Title Role Notes 2006 Hitman: Blood Money Additional voices 2008 WALL-E Old-Time Announcer 2010 Mafia II DJ 2012–present Wheel of Fortune Announcer

Personal life Thornton is married to Sue, and they have a son, Sam.