Nick Kroll

Nicholas Kroll (born June 5, 1978) is an American comedian, actor, writer, and producer recognized for his character-driven sketch comedy and animated series. Kroll gained prominence through recurring roles such as Rodney Ruxin in the FX series The League (2009–2015) and by creating and starring in the Comedy Central sketch series Kroll Show (2013–2015), which featured exaggerated impersonations of various archetypes. His most notable achievement is co-creating the Netflix animated series Big Mouth (2017–2025), where he voices multiple characters including the Hormone Monster and his semi-autobiographical counterpart Nick Birch, drawing from personal experiences of adolescence to explore puberty's biological and psychological aspects; the series earned multiple Emmy nominations for Outstanding Animated Program between 2019 and 2021. Born into affluence as the son of billionaire Jules Kroll, founder of the corporate investigations firm Kroll Inc., which sold for nearly $2 billion in 2004, Kroll attended Georgetown University before pursuing comedy in New York City. His work has faced criticism, including backlash over Big Mouth's initial voice casting decisions amid cultural debates on representation, leading to recasts such as Jenny Slate's departure from a biracial role in 2020. Despite such controversies, Kroll's contributions to comedy emphasize unfiltered portrayals of human awkwardness, earning nominations for awards like the Annie and Writers Guild of America.

Nick Kroll was born on June 5, 1978, in Rye, New York, into an affluent Ashkenazi Jewish family of Conservative observance that maintained a kosher household. His father, Jules B. Kroll, founded Kroll Inc. in 1972 as a corporate investigations and risk consulting firm, building a business that generated billionaire-level wealth and established the family's upper-class status in Westchester County. His mother, Lynn Kroll, held a degree in Spanish literature from Cornell University, earned in 1965, and contributed to the family's cultural emphasis on education and stability.

The youngest of four siblings—with older brother Jeremy, who pursued business interests aligned with the family's professional legacy, and sisters Vanessa and Dana—Kroll experienced a close-knit home life in a luxurious five-bedroom residence at 12 Parsonage Point Place in Rye. Despite the financial security from his father's enterprise, which involved high-profile Wall Street clients and rarely intruded on domestic routines, Kroll later described his upbringing as relatively normal amid the suburban Jewish community. This environment, marked by material comfort and familial emotional support, laid foundational opportunities without early professionalization of interests like humor, which emerged organically from personal and local influences.