Thomas Haden Church

Church at the 2009 premiere of Don McKay Background information Birthname Thomas Richard McMillen Birthdate June 17, 1960 (1960-06-17) Birthplace Woodland, California, U.S. Death date Deathplace Cause of death alternate names Nationality Citizenship Education Harlingen High School Alma mater University of North Texas Occuptation(s) Actor Years active 1989–present Known for Spouse(s) Partner(s) Children 2 Relatives Awards Module Module2 Module3 Module4 Module5 Module6| Residence Parents

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Thomas Haden Church (born Thomas Richard McMillen; June 17, 1960) is an American actor. After starring in the 1990s sitcom Wings and playing the lead for two seasons in Ned & Stacey (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-nominated performance in Sideways (2004), his role as the Marvel Comics villain Sandman 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 (2010), We Bought a Zoo (2011), and Hellboy (2019). He also made his directorial debut with Rolling Kansas (2003).

Early life

Church was born Thomas Richard McMillen in Woodland, Yolo County, California, the son of Maxine (née Sanders) and Carl Richard McMillen, who served for eight years in the Marines and who was on active duty at the end of the Korean War; after 1962, Carl 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. 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, but he returned to graduate from Harlingen High School in 1979. He attended the University of North Texas while living in Dallas.

Career

Church started in the entertainment business as a radio personality and doing voice-over 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 sitcom Wings.

He worked in television for two more seasons, with a lead role in Ned & Stacey opposite Debra Messing. He has had supporting roles in films such as Tombstone, George of the Jungle, The Specials, and Demon Knight.

Church bought a ranch in Texas 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 Rolling Kansas in 2003. He has voiceover work in commercials, such as for Merrill Lynch and Icehouse beer. ^{[Citation needed]}

In 2003, director Alexander Payne called him regarding the role of Jack, the selfish best friend of Paul Giamatti's character, in Sideways. 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.

Church at the Spider-Man 3 (2007) premiere in New York City

He has since appeared in films such as Idiocracy, done voice-over work on films such as Over the Hedge and starred in one of AMC's highest rated television productions, Broken Trail, with Robert Duvall, in 2006, for which he won an Emmy. In 2007, he appeared as the villain Sandman in Sam Raimi's Spider-Man 3 starring Tobey Maguire and Kirsten Dunst. 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 (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 for Sandman.

In 2005, he was invited to join the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. In October 2008, Church appeared as "Joe Six-Pack" in a video on funnyordie.com, challenging Joe the Plumber to a beer-drinking contest. Church starred in the FEARnet webseries, Zombie Roadkill, alongside David Dorfman. He also appeared in the HBO original series Divorce.

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.

In March 2023, he appeared as Lloyd in Acidman.

Personal life

Church lives on his 2,000-acre (Template:Convert/ha) ranch in Kerrville, Texas. During the filming of Divorce, he rented a house in New Rochelle, New York. He has two children from a former relationship with Mia Zottoli. Church has never married. Church's father, Carl, died in 2008, and his stepfather, George, died in 2012.

Filmography

Film

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1990	Gypsy Angels	Roommate	1989 Version uncredited
1993	Tombstone	Billy Clanton
1995	Demon Knight	Roach
1997	George of the Jungle	Lyle Van de Groot
	One Night Stand	Don
1998	Susan's Plan	Dr. Chris Stillman
	Free Money	Larry Lundstrom
1999	Goosed	Steven Troy
2000	The Specials	The Strobe
2001	3000 Miles to Graceland	US Marshal Quigley
	Monkeybone	Death's Assistant	Uncredited
2002	Lone Star State of Mind	Killer
	The Badge	David Hardwick
2003	Rolling Kansas	Agent Madsen / Trooper	Uncredited Also writer/director
	George of the Jungle 2	Lyle Van de Groot	Direct-to-video
2004	Serial Killing 4 Dummys	Vince Grimaldi
	Sideways	Jack Cole
	Spanglish	Mike
2006	Over the Hedge	Dwayne	Voice
	Idiocracy	Brawndo CEO
	Charlotte's Web	Brooks	Voice
2007	Spider-Man 3	Flint Marko / Sandman
2008	Smart People	Chuck Wetherhold
2009	Don McKay	Don McKay	Also executive producer
	Imagine That	Johnny Whitefeather
	Aliens in the Attic	Tazer	Voice
	All About Steve	Hartman
2010	Easy A	Mr. Griffith
2011	Another Happy Day	Paul
	Killer Joe	Ansel Smith
	We Bought a Zoo	Duncan Mee
2012	John Carter	Tal Hajus
2013	Whitewash	Bruce Landry
	Lucky Them	Charlie
2014	Heaven Is for Real	Jay Wilkins
2015	Max	Ray Wincott
	Daddy's Home	Leo Holt
2016	Cardboard Boxer	Willie
2017	Crash Pad	Grady Dott
2019	The Peanut Butter Falcon	Clint / The Salt Water Redneck
	Hellboy	Lobster Johnson
2020	The 24th	Col. Norton
2021	Spider-Man: No Way Home	Flint Marko / Sandman	Voice and Archive footage
2022	Acidman	Lloyd
TBA	Chocolate Lizards	Merle Luskey	Post-production
TBA	Horizon		Filming

Television

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1989	Protect and Surf	Dwight Jesmer	Television film
	21 Jump Street	Tony	Episode: "Eternal Flame"
	Cheers	Gordie Brown	Episode: "Death Takes a Holiday on Ice"
	China Beach	Jack Daniels	Episode: "China Man"
	Booker	Leon Ross	2 episodes
1990–1995	Wings	Lowell Mather	123 episodes
1992	Flying Blind	Jonathan	2 episodes
1993	Fugitive Nights: Danger in the Desert	Nelson Hareem	Television film
1995–1997	Ned and Stacey	Ned Dorsey	46 episodes
1995	Partners		Episode: "City Hall"
1998	Mr. Murder	Drew Oslett, Jr.	Television film
2001	Gary & Mike	Additional voices	Episode: "Washington D.C."
	The Cartoon Cartoon Show	Doo Dah (voice)	Episode: "Yee Hah & Doo Dah: Bronco Breakin' Boots"
	Going to California	Schwee	Episode: "Apocalypse Cow"
2003	Miss Match	Andrew Horn	Episode: "Matchmaker, Matchmaker; Uncredited
	Lucky	Bobby Blaine	Episode: "The Method"
2004	Teen Titans	Killer Moth (voice)	Episode: "Date with Destiny"
2006	Broken Trail	Tom Harte	Television miniseries; 2 episodes
2010	Zombie Roadkill	Ranger Chet Masterson	Television miniseries; 6 episodes
2012	Regular Show	Quillgin (voice)	Episode: "The Christmas Special"
2016–2019	Divorce	Robert Dufresne	24 episodes; Also executive producer
2021	Nature	Narrator	Episode: "Big Bend: The Wild Frontier of Texas"
TBA	Twisted Metal	Agent Stone	Main role, upcoming series

Video games

Year	Title	Voice role	Notes
1990	Ys	Goban Toba	English dub; Credited as Thomas H. Church
2007	Spider-Man 3	Flint Marko / Sandman

Awards and nominations

Church has received multiple awards and nominations for his roles in both television and film. He earned an Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actor in 2005 for his role as Jack in Sideways (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 Broken Trail (2006), won a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Limited or Anthology Series or Movie 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 for Sideways (2004).

Year	Title	Accolade	Results	Ref
2004	Sideways	Award Circuit Community Award, Best Supporting Actor	Nominated
		Award Circuit Community Award, Best Cast Ensemble	Template:WON
		Boston Society Film Critics Award, Best Supporting Actor	Template:WON
		Boston Society Film Critics Award, Best Cast Ensemble	Template:WON
		Chicago Film Critics Association Award, Best Supporting Actor	Template:WON
		Florida Film Critics Circle Award, Best Supporting Actor	Template:WON
		Golden Schmoes Award, Best Supporting Actor of the Year	Nominated
		Kansas City Film Critics Circle Award, Best Supporting Actor	Template:WON
		Los Angeles Film Critics Association Award, Best Supporting Actor	Template:WON
		National Board of Review Award, Best Supporting Actor	Template:WON
		New York Film Critics Circle Award, Best Supporting Actor	Nominated
		New York Film Critics Online Award, Best Supporting Actor	Template:WON
		Phoenix Film Critics Society Award, Best Supporting Actor	Template:WON
		Phoenix Film Critics Society Award, Best Ensemble Acting	Template:WON
		San Francisco Film Critics Circle Award, Best Supporting Actor	Template:WON
		Seattle Film Critics Award, Best Supporting Actor	Template:WON
		Southeastern Film Critics Association Award, Best Supporting Actor	Template:WON
		St. Louis Film Critics Association Award, Best Supporting Actor	Template:WON
		Utah Film Critics Association Award, Best Supporting Actor	Nominated
		Village Voice Film Poll Award, Best Supporting Performance	Nominated
		Washing D.C. Area Film Critics Association Award, Best Supporting Actor	Nominated
2005		Academy Award, Best Supporting Actor	Nominated
		Critics Choice Award, Best Supporting Actor	Template:WON
		Critics Choice Award, Best Ensemble	Nominated
		Dallas-Fort Worth Film Critics Association Award, Best Supporting Actor	Template:WON
		Gold Derby Award, Best Supporting Actor	Nominated
		Gold Derby Award, Best Ensemble	Nominated
		Golden Globe Award, Best Supporting Actor in a Motion Picture	Nominated
		Independent Spirit Award, Best Supporting Male	Template:WON
		International Online Cinema Award, Best Supporting Actor	Nominated
		Iowa Film Critics Award, Best Supporting Actor	Template:WON
		National Society of Film Critics Award, Best Supporting Actor	Template:WON
		Online Film & Television Association Award, Best Breakthrough Performance – Male	Template:WON
		Online Film & Television Association Award, Best Supporting Actor	Nominated
		Online Film Critics Society Award, Best Supporting Actor	Template:WON
		Satellite Award, Best Supporting Actor in a Motion Picture, Comedy or Musical	Template:WON
		Screen Actors Guild Award, Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Supporting Role	Nominated
		Screen Actors Guild Award, Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Motion Picture	Template:WON
		Vancouver Film Critics Circle Award, Best Supporting Actor	Nominated
2007	Broken Trail	Gold Derby Award, Best Lead Actor in a Television Movie/Miniseries	Nominated
		Golden Globe Award, Best Supporting Actor in a Series, Miniseries or Motion Picture Made for Television	Nominated
		Monte-Carlo Television Festival Award, Mini-Series – Best Performance by an Actor	Nominated
		Online Film & Television Association Award, Best Supporting Actor in a Motion Picture or Miniseries	Template:WON
		Primetime Emmy Award, Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Miniseries or Movie	Template:WON
		Screen Actors Guild Award, Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Television Movie or Miniseries	Nominated
	Spider-Man 3	Teen Choice Award, Choice Movie – Rumble (shared with Tobey Maguire, James Franco, Topher Grace)	Nominated
	Broken Trail	Western Heritage Award, Outstanding Television Feature Film	Template:WON
2014	Whitewash	Vancouver Film Critics Circle Award, Best Actor in a Canadian Film	Nominated

External links

• Media related to at Wikimedia Commons
• Thomas Haden Church at IMDb

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