Best Known As: The has-been hunk Jack in the movie Sideways
Thomas Haden Church won an Oscar nomination for his ripe comic turn as Jack, the aging and philandering actor in the 2004 comedy Sideways. Church was already known to TV audiences as Lowell Mather, the none-too-bright Nantucket mechanic on the situation comedy Wings (1990-95). He left Wings after its sixth season to star as the conniving newlywed Ned in the sitcom Ned and Stacy (1995-97). In the movies he played one of the Clanton brothers in the western Tombstone (1993, with Billy Bob Thornton) and the devious prig Lyle Van Der Groot in both George of the Jungle (1997) and the 2003 sequel George of the Jungle 2. He took a break from acting to write and direct the goofy 2002 independent film Rolling Kansas, called a "stoner road movie" by the All Movie Guide. Church won raves from the critics for Sideways, playing a washed-up actor determined to have one last fling with a chum (Paul Giamatti) before giving in to marriage. He was nominated for an Academy Award as best supporting actor for the role; the film won a total of five Oscar nominations, including a best supporting actress nomination for his co-star Virginia Madsen. He also played the villain Sandman in Spiderman 3 (2007) and a not-too-mature brother to Dennis Quaid in the 2008 film Smart People.
Church "graduated in 1984 from North Texas State University in Denton with a B.A. degree in radio, television and film," according to a 1991 story in The Austin American-Statesman... Many sources list his place of birth as Texas.
Career Highlights: George of the Jungle, Sideways, Imagine That
First Major Screen Credit: Wings: Season 01 (1990)
Biography
By the time actor Thomas Haden Church earned an Oscar nomination for his unforgettable supporting role as a womanizing, has-been actor heading out on one last fling before tying the knot in director Alexander Payne's critically acclaimed road drama Sideways (2004), many film and television viewers may have assumed (and not without merit) that the former Wings star had all but abandoned his career in front of the cameras. It had, after all, been nearly a decade since Church had endeared himself to television viewers as lovably dunderheaded mechanic Lowell Mather on the aforementioned hit television series, and though he did remain fairly active onscreen after Wings went off the air in 1995, his career took something of a back seat to his familial commitments and life on his Texas cattle ranch. Coupled with a conscious decision to move away from acting and try his talents behind the camera, Church's fading devotion to acting still made his nomination at the 2005 Oscars feel like something of a comeback even though he had remained fairly active in show business all along.
A Texas native whose early career included a stint as a radio disc jockey and voice-over announcer, Church first got a taste for acting with an appearance in the independent feature Gypsy Angels, and a move to Los Angeles followed shortly thereafter. It didn't take long for the handsome, young aspiring actor to land his defining role in Wings, and aside from supporting roles in the features Tombstone and Tales From the Crypt: Demon Knight, it was his role in Wings and the subsequent television series Ned and Stacey for which he was best remembered for some time. Following the cancellation of Ned and Stacey, Church turned his attention primarily to feature films with supporting roles in One Night Stand, 3000 Miles to Graceland, Monkeybone, and Lone Star State of Mind serving to at least pay the bills. Dejected by a somewhat stifled acting career and determined to spend more time with his wife and children, Church opted to step behind the scenes to write and direct the independent comedy Rolling Kansas. A lighthearted road movie concerning a trio of brothers' quest to find a seemingly-mythical marijuana field in the sprawling plains of Kansas, Rolling Kansas made a brief appearance at the 2003 Sundance Film Festival before making its debut on Comedy Central the following year.
Just when it seemed that the rest of Church's onscreen career may have been relegated to appearances in George of the Jungle sequels, acclaimed independent filmmaker Payne had recalled his auditions for his previous two films, Election and About Schmidt. Though Church hadn't quite made the cut on either of those films, Payne had taken note of his talent and thought the former Wings star the perfect candidate to play a formerly popular television star and down-on-his-luck actor having trouble adjusting to the prospect of marriage in Payne's upcoming comedy drama Sideways. Cast opposite American Splendor's Paul Giamatti, Church's alternately desperate and sad performance proved the heart of the film many considered to be the year's -- not to mention director Payne's -- best. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide
Thomas Haden Church (born Thomas R. McMillen; June 17, 1960) is an Americanactor. After co-starring in the 1990s sitcom Wings, Church became well known for his film roles, including his Academy Award-nominated performance in Sideways and his role as the Sandman in Spider-Man 3.
After having small roles in films such as Monkeybone and 3000 Miles to Graceland, he made his directorial debut Rolling Kansas in 2003. Church later took a break from films and relocated back to his native Texas. He has also done voiceover work in commercials, such as for Merrill Lynch and Icehouse beer.
In 2003, Alexander Payne called him regarding the role of "Jack" in Sideways, the selfish best friend to Paul Giamatti's character, looking to have one last fling before getting married. 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."[5] (He later found that he was the only actor to strip down for the audition).[6]Sideways earned acclaim for Church, for which he won an IFP Independent Spirit Award and was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor.
In 2005, he was invited to join the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.[7] On September 16, 2007, he won an Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Miniseries or Movie for his role of Tom Harte on AMC's Broken Trail.
In October 2008, Church appeared in a video on funnyordie.com taking on the role of the fictitious average American, Joe Six Pack, made famous in the 2008 Presidential campaign by John McCain and Sarah Palin. The video titled "Thomas Haden Church vs Joe the Plumber"[8] has Joe Six Pack (Thomas Haden Church) taking on his blue collar rival, Joe the Plumber.
Personal life
Church resides on his large ranch in Bandera County, Texas,[9] which he bought in 1998.[5] He is a full-time rancher. He has never been married and has a daughter named Cody.[10]
2007 Golden Globe Award Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role in a Series, Mini-Series or Motion Picture Made for Television (Broken Trail)
^ abcd According to the State of California. California Birth Index, 1905-1995. Center for Health Statistics, California Department of Health Services, Sacramento, California. Searchable at http://www.familytreelegends.com/records/39461
