Joseph Owen Thomas (born 28 October 1983) is an English actor and comedian. He played Simon Cooper in the E4 sitcom ''

The Inbetweeners ''The Inbetweeners'' is a British coming-of-age television sitcom, which originally aired on E4 from 2008 to 2010 and was created and written by Damon Beesley and Iain Morris. The series follows the misadventures of suburban teenager Willi ...

'' (2008–2010) and its two film adaptations, ''

The Inbetweeners Movie ''The Inbetweeners Movie'' (known simply as ''The Inbetweeners'' in North America) is a 2011 British Coming-of-age film, coming-of-age teen film, teen adventure film, adventure comedy film based on the E4 (channel), E4 sitcom ''The Inbetweeners' ...

'' (2011) and ''

The Inbetweeners 2 ''The Inbetweeners 2'' is a 2014 teen coming of age adventure sex comedy film and sequel to ''The Inbetweeners Movie'' (2011), which is based on the E4 sitcom ''The Inbetweeners''. It was written and directed by series creators Damon Beesle ...

'' (2014). After ''The Inbetweeners'' concluded, Thomas remained connected to

Channel 4 Channel 4 is a British free-to-air public broadcast television channel owned and operated by Channel Four Television Corporation. It is state-owned enterprise, publicly owned but, unlike the BBC, it receives no public funding and is funded en ...

, joining the cast of comedy-drama series '' Fresh Meat'' in 2011, portraying the role of Kingsley Owen until 2016. He was reunited with his ''The Inbetweeners'' colleague James Buckley when they both joined the cast of

BBC Two BBC Two is a British free-to-air Public service broadcasting in the United Kingdom, public broadcast television channel owned and operated by the BBC. It is the corporation's second flagship channel, and it covers a wide range of subject matte ...

sitcom ''

White Gold White gold is an alloy of gold and at least one white metal, usually nickel or palladium. Like yellow gold, the purity of white gold is given in carats (karats). It is often used on jewellery. A common white gold formulation consists of 90% wt ...

'', with Thomas portraying the role of Martin Lavender. In 2018, he starred in the comedy film ''The Festival''.

Early life and education

Born in

Chelmsford Chelmsford () is a city in the City of Chelmsford district in the county of Essex, England. It is the county town of Essex and one of three cities in the county, along with Colchester and Southend-on-Sea. It is located north-east of London ...

Essex Essex ( ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the East of England, and one of the home counties. It is bordered by Cambridgeshire and Suffolk to the north, the North Sea to the east, Kent across the Thames Estuary to the ...

, as the first of four boys, Thomas attended

King Edward VI Grammar School, Chelmsford King Edward VI Grammar School, or KEGS, is a British grammar school with academy status located in the city of Chelmsford, Essex, England. It takes pupils between the ages of 11 and 18 (school years 7 to 13). For years 7 to 11 the school is boys ...

before reading

History History is the systematic study of the past, focusing primarily on the Human history, human past. As an academic discipline, it analyses and interprets evidence to construct narratives about what happened and explain why it happened. Some t ...

Pembroke College, Cambridge Pembroke College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge, England. The college is the third-oldest college of the university and has over 700 students and fellows. It is one of the university's larger colleges, with buildings from ...

. At

Cambridge Cambridge ( ) is a List of cities in the United Kingdom, city and non-metropolitan district in the county of Cambridgeshire, England. It is the county town of Cambridgeshire and is located on the River Cam, north of London. As of the 2021 Unit ...

, Thomas was a member of the

Footlights The Cambridge Footlights, commonly referred to simply as Footlights, is a student sketch comedy troupe located in Cambridge, England. Footlights was founded in 1883, and is one of Britain's oldest student sketch comedy troupes. The comedy so ...

, alongside his future '' Inbetweeners'' co-star

Simon Bird Simon Antony Bird (born 19 August 1984) is an English comedian, actor, director and producer. He is best known for playing Will McKenzie in the multi-award-winning E4 comedy series ''The Inbetweeners'' (2008–2010), as well as its two films ( ...

. Bird and Thomas served as the President and the Secretary of the Footlights, respectively, in 2005–2006. After graduating in 2006, Thomas briefly shared a flat with Bird and fellow Pembroke graduate and Footlights alumnus

Jonny Sweet Jonathan Huw Sweet (born 1985) is a British comedian and the recipient of the 2009 Edinburgh Comedy Award for best newcomer. Early life Sweet was born in Nottingham and educated at the local independent school Nottingham High School. He read ...

Career

After entering the performing arts via the Footlights, Thomas performed with fellow University of Cambridge students at the

Edinburgh Festival Fringe The Edinburgh Festival Fringe (also referred to as the Edinburgh Fringe, the Fringe or the Edinburgh Fringe Festival) is the world's largest performance arts festival, which in 2024 spanned 25 days, sold more than 2.6 million tickets and featur ...

in a production of ''

All's Well That Ends Well ''All's Well That Ends Well'' is a play by William Shakespeare, published in the First Folio in 1623, where it is listed among the comedies. There is a debate about the date of its composition, with possible dates ranging from 1598 to 1608. ...

'' directed by author

Duncan Barrett Duncan Barrett is a writer and editor who specialises in biography and memoir. After publishing several books in collaboration with other authors, he published his first solo book, ''Men of Letters'', in 2014. Barrett also works as a journalist ...

. Thomas was in a

double act A double act (also known as a comedy duo) is a form of comedy originating in the British music hall tradition, and American vaudeville, in which two comedians perform together as a single act, often highlighting differences in their characters' ...

along with Sweet, and they have performed their show, ''The Jonny and Joe Show'', at the

Edinburgh Fringe Festival The Edinburgh Festival Fringe (also referred to as the Edinburgh Fringe, the Fringe or the Edinburgh Fringe Festival) is the world's largest performance arts festival, which in 2024 spanned 25 days, sold more than 2.6 million tickets and featur ...

. Thomas' big break in television was his role as Simon Cooper in ''

'' which was so popular that it spawned two feature films, ''

'' and ''

''. Together with Bird and writing partner Sweet, he wrote ''Chickens'', a satirical sketch about three

conscientious objector A conscientious objector is an "individual who has claimed the right to refuse to perform military service" on the grounds of freedom of conscience or religion. The term has also been extended to objecting to working for the military–indu ...

s during

World War I World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

. It was broadcast as part of Channel 4's

Comedy Showcase ''Comedy Showcase'' is a series of one-off comedy specials featuring some of Britain's fledgling comedy talent. Its format is reminiscent of the much earlier television series '' Playhouse''. The format was replaced in 2012 by ''4Funnies''.Khals ...

in 2011. In 2012, it was picked up by

Sky One Sky One was a British pay television channel operated and owned by Sky Group (a division of Comcast). Originally launched on 26 April 1982 as Satellite Television, it was Europe's first satellite and non- terrestrial channel. From 31 July 1989, ...

who commissioned a full, six episode series;Sky orders full series of wartime sitcom Chickens
retrieved 23 February 2012. filming began in late 2012 and debuted in August 2013. Following this, Thomas starred in the student sitcom '' Fresh Meat'' as Kingsley Owen and played a Maths teacher in the first episode of the second series of ''

Threesome In human sexuality, a threesome is "a sexual interaction between three people whereby at least one engages in physical sexual behaviour with both the other individuals". While the term ''threesome'' typically refers to sexual activity involvin ...

''. In 2017, Thomas began starring in the sitcom ''

'', along with his other ''The Inbetweeners'' co-star James Buckley. In 2018, Thomas began work on ''Proposal'', a comedy radio series announced as part of

BBC Radio 2 BBC Radio 2 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC. It is the List of most-listened-to radio programs, most popular station in the United Kingdom with over 14 million weekly listeners. Since launching in 1967, the sta ...

's spring "funny fortnight", in which he plays Jamie, a man preparing to propose to his girlfriend Lucy (

Pearl Mackie Pearl Mackie (born 29 May 1987) is a British actress. She is best known for playing Bill Potts in the long-running television series ''Doctor Who''. Mackie is a graduate of the Bristol Old Vic Theatre School. Her first major television role ca ...

). In 2021, Thomas performed in his own show at the

Personal life

As of 2017, Thomas resided on the

Barbican Estate The Barbican Estate, or Barbican, is a residential complex of around 2,000 flats, Apartment#Maisonette, maisonettes and houses in central London, England, within the City of London. It is in an area once devastated by World War II bombings an ...

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

, with his fiancée

Hannah Tointon Hannah Tointon (born 28 December 1987) is an English actress. She is best known for playing Katy Fox in the Channel 4 soap opera ''Hollyoaks'' and Tara Brown in sitcom ''The Inbetweeners''. Early life Tointon was born to parents Ken and Carol ...

. In October 2022, they announced the birth of their first child, a girl.

Filmography

Film

Television

Theatre

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Thomas, Joe Living people 1983 births People educated at King Edward VI Grammar School, Chelmsford Alumni of Pembroke College, Cambridge English male film actors English male television actors English male voice actors 21st-century English male actors Male actors from Chelmsford English male comedians Comedians from Essex