Thomas Haden Church

This is the 149th post in our Celebrity of the Day series.



Thomas Haden Church was born Thomas R. McMillen in 1960 in California. H was raised under his father's surname Quesada in Texas but he eventually changed his last name to Haden Church.

He got his break in entertainment as a radio personality and doing voice over work. When he got a role in an independent film he decided to move to California in order to pursue a career in acting.

His first major role is also the one for which he was most well known. From 1990 until 1995 he played Lowell on the sitcom Wings. During this time he also had a supporting role in the movie Tombstone.

He continued working in a number of different movies throughout the 90s including George of the Jungle in 1997. He took small roles in films before he decided in 2003 to make his directorial debut with Rolling Kansas.

2003 turned out to be a good year for Church as he also auditioned for the role of Jack in Sideways. During the audition he striped naked since the part being read involved the character to be naked. He stated that it seemed like the obvious thing to do, but he was the only actor to do so, he was also the only one to get the part. The role earned him an IFP Independent Spirit Award and an Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actor.

He has since appeared in Over the Hedge, Spiderman 3, Imagine That, Smart People and All About Steve.

In 2007 he won an Emmy Award for his role in Broken Trail.

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