Thomas Haden Church

At 64 years old, Thomas Haden Church has this physical status:

Thomas Haden Church (born Thomas Richard McMillen; June 17, 1960) is an American actor, director, and writer.

After co-starring in the 1990s sitcom Wings, Church became known for his film roles, including his Academy Award-nominated performance in Sideways, his role as the Sandman in Spider-Man 3 and his role of Lyle van de Groot in George of the Jungle.

He also made his directorial debut with Rolling Kansas.

Early life

Church was born as Thomas Richard McMillen in Woodland, Yolo County, California, the son of Maxine (née Sanders; 1936-2021) and Carlos "Carl" Richard McMillen (1936–2008), who served for eight years in the Marines and who was on active duty at the end of the Korean War; after 1962, Carlos 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.

Personal life

Church lives on his 2,000-acre (810 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, but was never married to her or anyone else despite a 2008 article in the Los Angeles Times incorrectly claiming he was married to his partner. Church's father, Carl, died in 2008, and his stepfather, George, died in 2012.

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Career

Church started as a radio host and did voice-over work. After appearing in an independent film, he moved to California to pursue an acting career. In the Cheers episode, "Death Takes a Vacation on Ice," her character gives Carla Tortelli (Rhea Perlman) a love letter from her late former lover, Eddie LaBec. On the NBC sitcom Wings, he appeared on the role of slow-witted aircraft mechanic Lowell Mather for six seasons (1990–95).

He appeared on television for two seasons, most notably in Ned & Stacey opposite Debra Messing. He has appeared in films including Tombstone, George of the Jungle, The Specials, and Demon Knight.

In 1998, the church purchased a ranch in Texas. In late 2000, he took a break from filmmaking. He made his directorial debut with Rolling Kansas in 2003 after appearing in films from Monkeybone and 3000 Miles to Graceland. He has done voiceover jobs in commercials, including for Merrill Lynch and Icehouse beer.

In 2003, director Alexander Payne called him to discuss the role of Jack, Paul Giamatti's selfish best friend, in Sideways. During the audition, Church stripped naked to read the audition scene, then commenting later, "It was painfully obvious" to me. I was watching the scene where Jack comes naked, and there has to be in-born vulnerability in the scene." (He later learned that he was the first actor to strip down for the role). Sideways earned an award for his services at Church; he received an IFP Independent Spirit Award and was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor.

He has since appeared in films including Idiocracy, done voice-over work on films such as Over the Hedge, and appeared in one of AMC's top-rated television shows, Broken Trail, which earned him an Emmy Award in 2006. In Tobey Maguire and Kirsten Dunst's Spider-Man 3 film, he appeared as the villain Sandman in Sam Raimi's Spider-Man 3. He has been praised for his portrayal of the role. Despite being absent on set, Sandman (digitally created) for the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) film Spider-Man: No Way Home, which was released in 2021 and linked both the Raimi and Marc Webb franchises to the MCU. At the end of the film in which Jon Watts provided the motion-capture for Sandman, an archive video from Spider-Man 3 was used to display his human form.

In 2005, he was accepted to the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. In a video on funnyordie.com in October 2008, Church appeared as "Joe Six Pack," referring to Joe the Plumber's rematch to a beer-drinking competition. Together with David Dorfman, Church appeared in the FEARnet webseries Zombie Roadkill. He has appeared in the HBO original series Divorce.

In December 2021, it was confirmed that Church would appear alongside Toni Collette and Anna Faris in the comedy film The Estate, directed by Dean Craig.

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