Jonathan Taylor Thomas (born September 8, 1981) is an American actor, former child star, and teen idol. He was well known for his role of middle child Randy Taylor on the sitcom Home Improvement and as the voice of the young Simba in Disney's The Lion King.
Early life[]
Thomas was born Jonathan Taylor Weiss in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, the son of Claudine Weiss (née Gonsalves), a personal manager and social worker, and Stephen Weiss, an industrial sales manager; the two divorced in 1989.[1][2] His uncle is playwright and actor Jeff Weiss.[3] Thomas is of Portuguese and Pennsylvania Dutch ancestry.[4][5]
Career[]
In 1990, Thomas garnered the role of Kevin Brady, the son of Greg Brady, on the short-lived TV show The Bradys, a spin-off of the 1970s TV show The Brady Bunch. In 1991, at the age of 10, he won the role of Randall William "Randy" Taylor on the television show Home Improvement. He remained with Home Improvement well into his teenage years, but left the show in 1998 in order to concentrate more on his academics. During his run on Home Improvement, Thomas voiced the role of young Simba in the 1994 Disney film The Lion King.
He starred in movies I'll Be Home for Christmas, Man of the House, Tom and Huck, The Adventures of Pinocchio, Wild America, Common Ground, Walking Across Egypt, and Speedway Junky. He had a guest role on the ABC sitcom 8 Simple Rules for Dating My Teenage Daughter in early 2004, and appeared in the WB's Smallville in 2002 and 2004. In 2005, he had a guest role in UPN's high school detective drama Veronica Mars, and was also featured on The E! True Hollywood Story's show on Home Improvement.
After taking on a number of roles in such films as Common Ground and Speedway Junky, where Thomas portrayed gay characters, rumors began to surface that he himself was gay. These stemmed from comments made by LGBT activist Norman Jones IV and information published on website CyberSleaze. He denied these reports in 2000 in interviews with gay-lesbian magazine The Advocate and with talk-show host Jay Leno.[6]
Filmography[]
| Film | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Year | Film | Role | Notes |
| 1994 | The Lion King | Young Simba | Voice Role |
| 1995 | Man of the House | Ben Archer (Little Wing) | |
| Tom and Huck | Tom Sawyer | ||
| 1996 | The Adventures of Pinocchio | Pinocchio | Active Role |
| 1997 | Wild America | Marshall Stouffer | |
| 1998 | I Woke Up Early the Day I Died | Boy at Beach | |
| I'll Be Home for Christmas | Jake Wilkinson | Active Role | |
| 1999 | Speedway Junky | Steve | Active Role |
| Walking Across Egypt | Wesley Benfield | ||
| 2000 | The Tangerine Bear | Tangie | Voice Role |
| 2004 | Pom Poko | Shokichi/Additional Voices | Voice Role (English Dub) |
| 2005 | Tilt-A-Whirl | Customer #3 | Short film |
| Thru the Moebius Strip | Prince Ragis | Voice Role | |
| 2006 | The Extra | Director | Short film |
| Television | |||
| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
| 1990 | The Bradys | Kevin Brady | |
| 1991 | In Living Color | Macaulay Culkin | Segment: Home Alone Again with Michael Jackson |
| 1991–1999 | Home Improvement | Randy Taylor | |
| 1993 | The Adventures of Spot | Spot | Voice Role (US English version) Short TV-Movie |
| 1994 | The Itsy Bitsy Spider | Voice Role | |
| The Big Help | Host | Nickelodeon TV-Special | |
| 1996 | The Oz Kids | Scarecrow Jr. | Voice Role |
| The Secret World of Alex Mack | Kip Ulrich | ||
| 1998 | Common Ground | Tobias | Showtime TV-Movie |
| Ally McBeal | Chris 'ThunderThighs' Emerson | Episode: Do You Wanna Dance? | |
| 1999 | The Judy Show | Dumbo the Little Elephant, Bambi the Little Deer, Tod the Little Fox | |
| The Wild Thornberrys | Tyler Tucker | Voice Role Episode: Tyler Tucker, I Presume Episode: Critical Masai Episode: Queen of Denial Episode: Island Trade Episode: Birthday Quake | |
| 2000 | Timothy Tweedle the First Christmas Elf | Timothy Tweedle | Disney Channel TV-Movie |
| 2001 | An American Town | Rafe | Unsold TV-Pilot |
| 2002, 2004 | Smallville | Ian Randall | Episode: Dichotic Episode: Asylum |
| 2003 | The Simpsons | Luke Stetson | Voice Role Episode: Dude, Where's My Ranch? |
| 2004 | 8 Simple Rules For Dating My Teenage Daughter | Jeremy | Episode: Opposites Attract, Part I Episode: Opposites Attract, Part II Episode: Opposites Attract: Night of the Locust, Part III |
| 2005 | Veronica Mars | Ben | Episode: Weapons of Class Destruction |
| Video games | |||
| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
| 1996 | The Adventures of Pinocchio | Human Pinocchio | |
| 2006 | Kingdom Hearts II | Young Simba | |
Awards and nominations[]
| Year | Result | Award | Category | Film or series |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1996 | Nominated | Nickelodeon Kids' Choice Awards | Favorite Movie Actor | Tom and Huck |
| 1997 | Nominated | Favorite Television Actor | Home Improvement | |
| 1998 | Won | Favorite Television Actor | Home Improvement | |
| 1995 | Nominated | Saturn Awards | Best Performance by a Younger Actor | The Lion King |
| 1997 | Best Performance by a Younger Actor | The Adventures of Pinocchio | ||
| 1993 | Nominated | Young Artist Awards | Best Young Actor Starring in a Television Series | Home Improvement |
| 1994 | Won | Outstanding Youth Ensemble in a Television Series | Home Improvement (shared w/Zachary Ty Bryan & Taran Noah Smith) | |
| 1995 | Nominated | Best Performance by a Young Actor in a TV or Movie Voiceover | The Lion King | |
| 1996 | Nominated | Best Young Leading Actor in a Feature Film | Tom and Huck | |
| 1997 | Won | Best Performance by a Young Actor in a TV or Movie Voiceover | The Adventures of Pinocchio | |
| 1997 | Nominated | YoungStar Awards | Best Performance by a Young Actor in a Comedy TV Series | Home Improvement |
| Best Performance by a Young Actor in a Comedy Film | Tom and Huck | |||
| 1998 | Best Performance by a Young Actor in a Comedy TV Series | Home Improvement |
References[]
- ↑ Jonathan Taylor Thomas Biography (1981-)
- ↑ USA WEEKEND Magazine[dead link]
- ↑ Walnutport Girl, 6, Already A New York Commuter ... Backstage - Morning Call
- ↑ Questions and answers w/ Jonathan Taylor Thomas
- ↑ Pacheco, Patrick (1986-04-06). "Off-Off-Broadway's king goes Public". Newsday. Retrieved 2010-08-29.
- ↑ Dennis Hensley (February 1, 2000). "Uncommonly grounded - Jonathan Taylor Thomas - Interview". The Advocate. Archived from the original on 2007-12-23.
External links[]
- Template:Title without disambig at the Internet Movie Database
- Jonathan Taylor Thomas at TV.com
cy:Jonathan Taylor Thomas id:Jonathan Taylor Thomas it:Jonathan Taylor Thomas nl:Jonathan Taylor Thomas pt:Jonathan Taylor Thomas fi:Jonathan Taylor Thomas sv:Jonathan Taylor Thomas