Every hero needs a supervillain — and The Penguin has been one of Batman’s nemeses since 1941.
The Gotham City mobster was introduced in the 58th issue of Bob Kane and Bill Finger’s Detective Comics (commonly known as DC Comics). In the first Batman series, accomplished actor Burgess Meredith — known for his work in The Twilight Zone and the Rocky films — portrayed The Penguin, whose real name is Oswald Chesterfield Cobblepot. The Penguin has become a staple of the Batman series, cycling through different actors across live-action and animated media.
Most recently, Academy Award-nominated actor Colin Farrell stepped into the role for The Penguin’s very own TV series. The HBO drama premiered on Sept. 19, 2024, and explores the character’s rise to power in Gotham’s criminal underworld. New episodes of the show drop every Sunday.
See all the actors who have assumed the mantle of The Penguin, all the way back to his on-screen debut in 1966.
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Colin Farrell
Colin Farrell underwent a physical transformation to play Oz Cobb in the HBO series The Penguin. He told PEOPLE that he stepped into a bodysuit that covered every part of his body but his hands and feet. The costume took the makeup department three hours every day before production.
“If it wasn’t for Mike’s design, I’m telling you now, if it was just me with a f—ing cigarette and a top hat and a bit of a limp and an umbrella that was a machine gun, we wouldn’t have had the HBO show,” Farrell joked.
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Danny DeVito
Danny DeVito’s Penguin costume from 1992’s Batman Returns is still haunting. Opposite Michael Keaton’s Batman and Michelle Pfeiffer’s Catwoman, DeVito claimed the character as his own with an iconic performance in the Tim Burton-directed film.
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Robin Lord Taylor
The first man to play The Penguin on-screen was Emmy winner and two-time Oscar nominee Burgess Meredith. In the campy ABC series Batman, Meredith battled Adam West’s Batman in the character’s signature top hat and bow tie.
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Minnie Driver
Yes, there was a female version of The Penguin — and Minnie Driver nailed the role.
The actress guest-starred as mob boss Oswalda Cobblepot in Batman: Caped Crusader, which reimagined Batman tales.
“This was such a beautiful retelling of that villain. It was joyful. And, I mean, she’s dreadful,” Driver said during a panel after the San Diego Comic-Con screening, per Variety.
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Paul Williams
Singer-songwriter Paul Williams — famous for composing “The Rainbow Connection” from The Muppet Movie and writing the lyrics for A Star Is Born‘s “Evergreen” with Barbra Streisand — was also an actor. In addition to appearances on shows like Community and The Bold and the Beautiful, Williams provided the voice for The Penguin in Batman: The Animated Series and The New Batman Adventures.
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Wayne Knight
Seinfeld and Jurassic Park star Wayne Knight also took on voice acting gigs throughout his 47 years in the industry — one of which was The Penguin in 2019’s Harley Quinn featuring Kaley Cuoco in the title role.
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Steven Blum
Steven Blum, a voice actor known for his work in the anime Cowboy Bebop, Nickelodeon series The Legend of Korra and Cartoon Network’s Ben 10, played Batman villains Bane and The Penguin in 2013’s Lego Batman: The Movie – DC Super Heroes Unite.
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Stephen Root
Emmy-nominated actor Stephen Root voiced the Batman antagonist in four episodes of the Cartoon Network series Batman: The Brave and the Bold.
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Dana Snyder
Actor and comedian Dana Snyder voiced The Penguin across three different works between 2014 and 2016: DC Super Friends, Justice League Action and Batman Unlimited: Animal Instincts.
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Tom Kenny
SpongeBob SquarePants’ voice actor Tom Kenny has range. The voice actor has played The Penguin in eight animated takes on the character: 2004’s The Batman, 2005’s Batman vs. Dracula, 2018’s Batman Ninja, 2019’s Batman vs. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, two Lego DC movies, a Justice League film and a Scooby-Doo! movie.
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Ted Knight
In the first animated Batman series, The Adventures of Batman, comedic actor Ted Knight voiced the staple character.
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Lennie Weinrib
The late Lennie Weinrib, who was the original voice of Scrappy-Doo in the Scooby-Doo series, lent his voice to several villains in The New Adventures of Batman, including The Penguin.
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William Salyers
Regular Show voice actor William Salyers played the supervillain in the 2016 animated movie Batman: Return of the Caped Crusaders, 2017’s Batman vs. Two-Face and 2023’s Batman: The Doom That Came to Gotham.
Source: People
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