Jim Thornton (born 1964 or 1965) is an American former radio and television announcer, news anchor, and voice actor. He is known for his voiceover work in video games, movies and television shows. He served as the announcer of Wheel of Fortune, following the death of longtime announcer Charlie O'Donnell, from 2011 until he was fired in September 2026.
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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 2003. 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.
In 2021, Thornton joined Sajak and White as the announcer for Celebrity Wheel of Fortune on ABC.
On April 26, 2023, Thornton switched places with host Pat Sajak, hosting the bonus round while Sajak served as announcer, as a contestant named Sarah Ward, who was a fan of Thornton, wanted to meet him in-person.
On April 17, 2026, Thornton made a cameo appearance on Spain's version of Wheel, La Ruleta de la Suerte (The Wheel of Fortune), to celebrate its 20th anniversary.
Filmography
Personal life
Thornton is married to Sue, with whom he has a son.
In-flight pedophile chatroom scandal and firing from Wheel of Fortune
A passenger on a May 2026 flight with Thornton alleged that "...she could see Thornton's laptop during the flight and described what she saw as disturbing messages and images in a pedophile chatroom that appeared to involve discussions about children." After providing evidence to the crew, the crew alerted the authorities. Law enforcement officers questioned Thornton after the flight; he was permitted to leave the airport. Sony announced an investigation into Thornton, as well as Thornton's suspension from Wheel, on September 1, 2026. Sony also announced it would "recast" his role.
On September 3, 2026, TMZ released pictures of Thornton viewing a chat forum using the anonymous browser Tor with some exchanges referencing sexual content, including a mention of minors, and a link to an Instagram post highlighting the arrest of a man in London for viewing indecent images of children on his phone while on public transportation. Thornton's lawyer, Allison Hart, released a statement denouncing TMZ's report, stating Thornton "...did not engage in any illegal conduct, was not arrested, and has not been charged with any crime ... when questioned about the complaint made by a fellow passenger on the flight, law enforcement spoke to him for five minutes or less, immediately determined that no wrongdoing had occurred and told my client he was free to go." Hart went on to say that the website in question is "not unlawful, there is no unlawful child pornography or other pedophilic content, and [Thornton] has never viewed, downloaded or consumed any child pornography whether on that commercial flight in May or at any other time."
On September 4, 2026, Thornton was officially fired from Wheel of Fortune as well as Sony Pictures. Thornton's parts in the upcoming 44th season, which had already begun taping, were re-recorded by an interim announcer; as of his firing, no new announcer had been chosen.