"Xavier's really father-like," Kaye says. "It makes me feel old! With the Evolution show, they're younger X-Men, so he's very much a father figure, very strict and very compassionate at the start."

X-Men: Evolution has been picked up for a fourth season on the Kids' WB!, the network announced on Tuesday, pushing its total episode run to 52.

The show debuted in the wake of the X-Men movie in 2000, but put a different spin on the Marvel Comics characters. Evolution spotlights most of the X-Men characters as teenagers at Bayville High School. Xavier heads up the Xavier Institute, where the students live, and Storm, Beast and Wolverine serve as adult mentors.

Kaye said the movie version of Xavier, played by Patrick Stewart, was an influence on his take on the role in the cartoon.

"I knew Patrick Stewart was going to play the role in the live-action film," Kaye recalls of his audition for the show. "And during the auditions, a guy at Marvel said, 'Do your Patrick Stewart.' And Patrick Stewart is one of my screen heroes, so I gave it a shot."

It worked. And Kaye had one of his most-recognized parts in a long list of voice work. He is a veteran at voice acting and voiceovers with more than 120 radio and television clients. He has performed on such animated series as Beast Machines, Street Fighter, Dragonball Z and Cardcaptors. He voices Megatron on Beast Machines, and is joined on X-Men: Evolution by former Beast Machines cast mates Venus Terzo (Jean Grey/Arachnia) and Scott McNeil (Wolverine/Waspinator/Silver Bolt).

Kaye says he has enjoyed working with the cast in Vancouver, British Columbia, where X-Men: Evolution is recorded. "Everybody got together and jelled as an ensemble," Kaye says.

X-Men: Evolution is currently on hiatus, but will return this spring. Four episodes remain in X-Men: Evolution's third season and they will likely be shown in May to coincide with the release of the X-Men movie sequel.

The episodes are "Cruise Control," which has the kids on a vacation trip; "X23," which introduces a new mutant character; and "Dark Horizon," a two-parter that heightens the Apocalypse story arc.

Nine new episodes are being worked on at Film Roman for the fourth season, where X-Men: Evolution is produced. Boyd Kirkland returns as producer, and Greg Johnson is back as story editor.

"We're excited about the end of the third season and the fourth season," says Marvel Studios' Craig Kyle, who has written several episodes of the show with Chris Yost.

"We're looking to push the envelope with the scale of the stories."