Thomas Haden Church (born Thomas Richard McMillen; June 17, 1960) is an American actor. After starring in the 1990s sitcom ''

Wings A wing is a type of fin that produces lift while moving through air or some other fluid. Accordingly, wings have streamlined cross-sections that are subject to aerodynamic forces and act as airfoils. A wing's aerodynamic efficiency is expre ...

'' and playing the lead for two seasons in ''

Ned & Stacey ''Ned & Stacey'' (or ''Ned and Stacey'') is an American sitcom created by Michael J. Weithorn, and starring Thomas Haden Church and Debra Messing as the titular couple. The series lasted two seasons, airing on Fox from September 11, 1995, to Jan ...

'' (1995–1997)'','' Church became known for his film work, including his role of Lyle van de Groot in '' George of the Jungle'' (1997), his

Academy Award The Academy Awards, better known as the Oscars, are awards for artistic and technical merit for the American and international film industry. The awards are regarded by many as the most prestigious, significant awards in the entertainment ind ...

-nominated performance in ''

Sideways ''Sideways'' is a 2004 American comedy-drama road film directed by Alexander Payne and written by Jim Taylor and Payne. A film adaptation of Rex Pickett's 2004 novel of the same name, ''Sideways'' follows two men in their forties, Miles Raymo ...

'' (2004), his role as the

Marvel Comics Marvel Comics is an American comic book publishing, publisher and the flagship property of Marvel Entertainment, a divsion of The Walt Disney Company since September 1, 2009. Evolving from Timely Comics in 1939, ''Magazine Management/Atlas Co ...

villain

Sandman The Sandman is a mythical character in European folklore who puts people to sleep and encourages and inspires beautiful dreams by sprinkling magical sand onto their eyes. Representation in traditional folklore The Sandman is a traditional charact ...

in the superhero films '' Spider-Man 3'' (2007) and '' Spider-Man: No Way Home'' (2021), as well as his starring roles in '' Smart People'' (2008), ''

Easy A ''Easy A'' (stylized as ''easy A'') is a 2010 American teen romantic comedy film directed by Will Gluck, written by Bert V. Royal, starring Emma Stone, Stanley Tucci, Patricia Clarkson, Thomas Haden Church, Dan Byrd, Amanda Bynes, Penn Bad ...

'' (2010), ''

We Bought a Zoo ''We Bought a Zoo'' is a 2011 American family comedy-drama film loosely based on the 2008 memoir of the same name by Benjamin Mee. It was co-written and directed by Cameron Crowe and stars Matt Damon as widowed father Benjamin Mee, who purchas ...

'' (2011), and '' Hellboy'' (2019). He also made his directorial debut with ''

Rolling Kansas ''Rolling Kansas'' is a 2003 independent film directed and co-written by Oscar-nominated actor Thomas Haden Church. Plot Rolling Kansas is about five men (a T-shirt salesman, his two brothers, a large narcoleptic nursing student, and a dim-witte ...

'' (2003).

Early life

Church was born as Thomas Richard McMillen in

Woodland A woodland () is, in the broad sense, land covered with trees, or in a narrow sense, synonymous with wood (or in the U.S., the ''plurale tantum'' woods), a low-density forest forming open habitats with plenty of sunlight and limited shade (se ...

Yolo County, California Yolo County (; Wintun: ''Yo-loy''), officially the County of Yolo, is a county located in the northern portion of the U.S. state of California. As of the 2020 census, the population was 216,403. Its county seat is Woodland. Yolo County is inc ...

, the son of Maxine (née Sanders; 1936-2021) and Carlos "Carl" Richard McMillen (1936–2008), who served for eight years in the

Marines Marines, or naval infantry, are typically a military force trained to operate in littoral zones in support of naval operations. Historically, tasks undertaken by marines have included helping maintain discipline and order aboard the ship (refle ...

and who was on active duty at the end of the

Korean War , date = {{Ubl, 25 June 1950 – 27 July 1953 (''de facto'')({{Age in years, months, weeks and days, month1=6, day1=25, year1=1950, month2=7, day2=27, year2=1953), 25 June 1950 – present (''de jure'')({{Age in years, months, weeks a ...

; after 1962, Carlos worked as a surveyor. Church's parents divorced and his mother moved to Laredo, Texas. She remarried in 1969, to widower George A. Quesada, a veteran of an Army Air Forces reconnaissance unit which served in Guam in

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

. Church took his stepfather's surname for a time but changed it to 'Haden Church', extracted from the names of other relatives, when people found 'Quesada' difficult to pronounce. He left high school in 1977 to work in the oil fields of

Louisiana Louisiana , group=pronunciation (French: ''La Louisiane'') is a state in the Deep South and South Central regions of the United States. It is the 20th-smallest by area and the 25th most populous of the 50 U.S. states. Louisiana is borde ...

, but he returned to graduate from

Harlingen High School Harlingen High School is a public high school located in Harlingen, Texas, United States. It is part of the Harlingen Consolidated Independent School District and was the first of five HCISD high schools established. HHS was the sole high school ...

in 1979. He attended the

University of North Texas The University of North Texas (UNT) is a public research university in Denton, Texas. It was founded as a nonsectarian, coeducational, private teachers college in 1890 and was formally adopted by the state 11 years later."Denton Normal School, ...

while living in

Dallas Dallas () is the List of municipalities in Texas, third largest city in Texas and the largest city in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex, the List of metropolitan statistical areas, fourth-largest metropolitan area in the United States at 7.5 ...

Career

Church started in the entertainment business as a radio personality and doing

voice-over Voice-over (also known as off-camera or off-stage commentary) is a production technique where a voice—that is not part of the narrative (non- diegetic)—is used in a radio, television production, filmmaking, theatre, or other presentation ...

work. After appearing in an independent film, he moved to California to pursue an acting career. His character delivers a love letter to Carla Tortelli ( Rhea Perlman) from her deceased former lover, Eddie LaBec, in the '' Cheers'' episode, "Death Takes a Vacation on Ice". He played the part of slow-witted aircraft mechanic Lowell Mather for six seasons (1990–95) on the

NBC The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an American English-language commercial broadcast television and radio network. The flagship property of the NBC Entertainment division of NBCUniversal, a division of Comcast, its headquarters are l ...

sitcom ''

''. He worked in television for two more seasons, with a lead role in ''

'' opposite

Debra Messing Debra Lynn Messing (born August 15, 1968) is an American actress. After graduating from New York University's Tisch School of the Arts, Messing received short-lived roles on television series such as '' Ned and Stacey'' on Fox (1995–1997) and ...

. He has had supporting roles in films such as '' Tombstone'', '' George of the Jungle'', ''

The Specials The Specials, also known as The Special AKA, are an English 2 tone and ska revival band formed in 1977 in Coventry. After some early changes, the first stable lineup of the group consisted of Terry Hall and Neville Staple on vocals, Lynval ...

'', and '' Demon Knight''. Church bought a ranch in

Texas Texas (, ; Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2020, it is the second-largest U.S. state by ...

in 1998. In late 2000, he took a break from films. After having small roles in films such as '' Monkeybone'' and '' 3000 Miles to Graceland'', he made his directorial debut with ''

'' in 2003. He has voiceover work in commercials, such as for Merrill Lynch and Icehouse beer. In 2003, director Alexander Payne called him regarding the role of Jack, the selfish best friend of Paul Giamatti's character, in ''

''. During the audition, Church stripped naked to read the audition scene, later saying "To me, it was painfully obvious... I was reading the scene where Jack comes in naked and there has to be in-born vulnerability in the scene." (He later found that he was the only actor to strip down for the audition). ''Sideways'' earned acclaim for Church; he won an IFP Independent Spirit Award and was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor. Thomas Haden Church by David Shankbone

He has since appeared in films such as '' Idiocracy'', done voice-over work on films such as ''

Over the Hedge ''Over the Hedge'' is an American syndicated comic strip, written by Michael Fry, and drawn by T. Lewis. It tells the story of a raccoon, a turtle, a squirrel, and their friends, who come to terms with their woodlands being taken over, by su ...

'' and starred in one of

AMC AMC may refer to: Film and television * AMC Theatres, an American movie theater chain * AMC Networks, an American entertainment company ** AMC (TV channel) ** AMC+, streaming service ** AMC Networks International, an entertainment company *** ...

's highest rated television productions, ''

Broken Trail ''Broken Trail'' is a 2006 Western television miniseries directed by Walter Hill and starring Robert Duvall and Thomas Haden Church. Written by Alan Geoffrion, who also wrote the novel, the story is about an aging cowboy and his nephew who t ...

'', with

Robert Duvall Robert Selden Duvall (; born January 5, 1931) is an American actor and filmmaker. His career spans more than seven decades and he is considered one of the greatest American actors of all time. He is the recipient of an Academy Award, four Gold ...

, in 2006, for which he won an Emmy. In 2007, he appeared as the villain

in Sam Raimi's '' Spider-Man 3'' starring

Tobey Maguire Tobias Vincent Maguire (born June 27, 1975) is an American actor and film producer. He is best known for playing the title character from Sam Raimi's ''Spider-Man'' trilogy (2002–2007), a role he later reprised in '' Spider-Man: No Way Hom ...

and

Kirsten Dunst Kirsten Caroline Dunst (; born April 30, 1982) is an American actress. She made her acting debut in the short ''Oedipus Wrecks'' directed by Woody Allen in the anthology film '' New York Stories'' (1989). She then gained recognition for her ro ...

. He received praise for his portrayal of the character. Although he was not present on set he lent his voice to Sandman (digitally created) for the

Marvel Cinematic Universe The Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) is an American media franchise and shared universe centered on a series of superhero films produced by Marvel Studios. The films are based on characters that appear in American comic books published by ...

(MCU) film '' Spider-Man: No Way Home'', released in 2021 and linked both the Raimi and Marc Webb franchises to the MCU. Archival footage from ''Spider-Man 3'' was used to show his human form at the end of the film where Jon Watts provided the

motion-capture Motion capture (sometimes referred as mo-cap or mocap, for short) is the process of recording the movement of objects or people. It is used in military, entertainment, sports, medical applications, and for validation of computer vision and robo ...

for Sandman. In 2005, he was invited to join the

Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS, often pronounced ; also known as simply the Academy or the Motion Picture Academy) is a professional honorary organization with the stated goal of advancing the arts and sciences of motio ...

. In October 2008, Church appeared as "Joe Six-Pack" in a video on

funnyordie.com Funny or Die is a comedy video website and film/television production company owned by Henry R. Muñoz III that was founded by Will Ferrell, Adam McKay, Mark Kvamme, and Chris Henchy in 2007. The website contained exclusive material from a reg ...

, challenging

Joe the Plumber Samuel Joseph Wurzelbacher (; born December 3, 1973), commonly known as "Joe the Plumber", is an American conservative activist and commentator. He gained national attention during the 2008 U.S. presidential campaign season when, during a vide ...

to a beer-drinking contest. Church starred in the

FEARnet Fearnet was an American digital cable television network, website and video on demand service owned by Comcast. The network specialized in horror entertainment programming through a mix of acquired and original series, and feature films. Backgr ...

webseries, ''Zombie Roadkill'', alongside

David Dorfman David Dorfman (born February 7, 1993) is an American attorney and former actor. He portrayed Aidan Keller in the 2002 horror film remake '' The Ring'', and its 2005 sequel ''The Ring Two''. His other film roles include Sammy in ''Panic'', Joey ...

. He also appeared in the HBO original series ''

Divorce Divorce (also known as dissolution of marriage) is the process of terminating a marriage or marital union. Divorce usually entails the canceling or reorganizing of the legal duties and responsibilities of marriage, thus dissolving the ...

''. In December 2021, it was announced that Church will star alongside Toni Collette and Anna Faris in the comedy film ''The Estate'', directed by Dean Craig.

Personal life

Church lives on his ranch in Kerrville, Texas. During the filming of ''

'', he rented a house in New Rochelle, New York. He has two children from a former relationship with Mia Zottoli, but was never married to her or anyone else despite a 2008 article in the ''Los Angeles Times'' incorrectly claiming he was married to his partner. Church's father, Carl, died in 2008, and his stepfather, George, died in 2012.

Filmography

Film

Television

Video games

Awards and nominations

Church has received multiple awards and nominations for his roles in both television and film. He earned an

nomination for Best Supporting Actor in 2005 for his role as Jack in ''

'' (2004), two Golden Globe Award nominations for Best Supporting Actor in 2004 for the film ''Sideways'' (2004) and Best Supporting Actor in 2007 for the miniseries ''

'' (2006), won a

Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Limited or Anthology Series or Movie This is a list of winners and nominees of the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Limited or Anthology Series or Movie. Before 1975, supporting actors featured in a miniseries or movie were included in categories such as c ...

in 2007 for ''Broken Trail'' (2006), and won one of three Screen Actors Guild Award nominations in 2005 for

Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture The Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Cast (or Ensemble) in a Motion Picture is an award given by the Screen Actors Guild to honor the finest acting achievements in film. Winners and nominees : 1990s 2000s 2010s 2 ...

for ''Sideways'' (2004).

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Church, Thomas Haden 1960 births 20th-century American male actors 21st-century American male actors American male film actors American male television actors American male voice actors American male video game actors Independent Spirit Award for Best Supporting Male winners Living people Male actors from Texas Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture Screen Actors Guild Award winners Outstanding Performance by a Supporting Actor in a Miniseries or Movie Primetime Emmy Award winners People from Harlingen, Texas People from Laredo, Texas University of North Texas alumni