Jonathan Taylor Thomas

Jonathan Taylor Thomas (born Jonathan Taylor Weiss; September 8, 1981) is an American actor and director. He is known for portraying Randy Taylor on Home Improvement and voicing young Simba in Disney's 1994 film The Lion King and Pinocchio in New Line Cinema's 1996 film The Adventures of Pinocchio.

Jonathan Taylor Thomas
Thomas in 1998
Born
Jonathan Taylor Weiss

(1981-09-08) September 8, 1981
Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, U.S.
OccupationActor, director
Years active1987–2016
RelativesJeff Weiss (uncle)

Early life and education

Thomas was born in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, the son of Claudine (born Gonsalves), a personal manager and social worker, and Stephen Weiss, an industrial sales manager. The two divorced in 1991.[1] His uncle is playwright and actor Jeff Weiss.[2] Thomas has Pennsylvania Dutch (German) and Portuguese ancestry.[3][4]

In 2000, Thomas graduated with honors from Chaminade College Preparatory School in West Hills, California.[5][6]

Upon graduation, he enrolled at Harvard University, where he studied philosophy and history and spent his third year abroad at St Andrews University in Scotland.[7]

In 2010, he graduated from the Columbia University School of General Studies.[8]

Career

Television

Thomas began his television career in 1990, playing the role of Kevin Brady, the son of Greg Brady, on The Bradys, a spin-off of the 1970s TV show The Brady Bunch. In 1991, Thomas appeared in three episodes of Fox's sketch comedy series In Living Color. That same year, he was cast as Randy Taylor on ABC's sitcom Home Improvement. Thomas remained with Home Improvement well into his teenage years but left the show in 1998 to focus on academics.

In early 2004, Thomas had a small guest role on 8 Simple Rules for Dating My Teenage Daughter, another ABC sitcom, and appeared in the WB's Smallville in 2002 and 2004. In 2005, he appeared in UPN's high school detective drama Veronica Mars and was also featured on The E! True Hollywood Story's episode on Home Improvement.[9]

On March 22, 2013, Thomas guest starred on the second season finale of his third ABC sitcom Last Man Standing, and again in the fourth episode of the third season on October 11, 2013, reuniting with Tim Allen, his TV father from Home Improvement.[10] On January 10, 2015, Thomas again guest starred on the twelfth episode of the fourth season of Last Man Standing, this time as Randy, reuniting with his TV parents from Home Improvement, Tim Allen and Patricia Richardson.[11]

Film

Thomas appeared in many films during and after his run on Home Improvement. He had a few roles as a voice actor in his child years, including Disney's animated feature The Lion King, in which he voiced the protagonist Simba as a cub.

He also appeared in live-action films. Among the ones he starred in are those from Disney: Man of the House, Tom and Huck, and I'll Be Home for Christmas. Other live-action films starring Thomas are an adaptation of The Adventures of Pinocchio (in which he played and voiced the titular character), Wild America, Speedway Junky, and Walking Across Egypt.

Personal life

Thomas has been a vegetarian for much of his life.[12][13]

Filmography

Film
Year Title Role Notes
1994 The Lion King Young Simba (voice)
1994 Pom Poko Shoukichi (voice) 2005 Disney dub
1995 Man of the House Ben Archer
1995 Tom and Huck Tom Sawyer
1996 The Adventures of Pinocchio Pinocchio (voice)
1997 Wild America Marshall Stouffer
1998 I Woke Up Early the Day I Died Boy at Beach
1998 I'll Be Home for Christmas Jake Wilkinson
1998 The Emperor's New Clothes: An All-Star Illustrated Retelling of the Classic Fairy Tale The Imperial Prince (voice)
1999 Speedway Junky Steve
1999 Walking Across Egypt Wesley Benfield
2000 Common Ground Tobias Anderson
2000 The Tangerine Bear: Home in Time for Christmas! Tangie (voice) Television film
2000 Timothy Tweedle the First Christmas Elf Timothy Tweedle Television film
2001 An American Town Rafe Television film
2005 Tilt-A-Whirl Customer #3 Short film
2005 Thru the Moebius Strip Prince Ragis (voice)

Television
Year Title Role Notes
1987–1993 The Adventures of Spot Spot (voice) 26 episodes
1990 The Bradys Kevin Brady 2 episodes
1991 In Living Color Macaulay Culkin 2 episodes
1991–1998 Home Improvement Randy Taylor 179 episodes
1994 The Itsy Bitsy Spider George (voice) Episode: "Spider Sense"
1996 The Oz Kids Scarecrow Jr (voice)
2000 Ally McBeal Chris Emerson Episode: "Do You Wanna Dance?"
2000 The Wild Thornberrys Tyler Tucker (voice) 5 episodes
2002 Smallville Ian Randall Episode: "Dichotic"
2003 The Simpsons Luke Stetson (voice) Episode: "Dude, Where's My Ranch?"
2004 Smallville Ian Randall Episode: "Asylum"
2004 8 Simple Rules Jeremy 3 episodes
2005 Veronica Mars Ben Episode: "Weapons of Class Destruction"
2013–2015 Last Man Standing John Baker / Randy 4 episodes

Video games
Year Title Role Notes
1996 The Adventures of Pinocchio Human Pinocchio
2006 Kingdom Hearts II Young Simba Archive audio

Production credits
Year Title Position Notes
2006 The Extra Director Short film
2013–2016 Last Man Standing Director 3 episodes

Awards and nominations

Wins

Nominations

References
  1. "Jonathan Taylor Thomas Biography (1981-)". Filmreference.com. Retrieved December 5, 2011.
  2. "Walnutport Girl, 6, Already A New York Commuter ... Backstage - Morning Call". Articles.mcall.com. February 26, 1993. Retrieved December 5, 2011.
  3. "Questions and answers w/ Jonathan Taylor Thomas". September 29, 2007. Archived from the original on September 29, 2007. Retrieved December 5, 2011.
  4. Pacheco, Patrick (April 6, 1986). "Off-Off-Broadway's king goes Public". Newsday. Retrieved August 29, 2010.
  5. "Jonathan Taylor Thomas' Birthday: Star Turns 30 Years Old (PHOTOS)". HuffPost. September 8, 2011. Retrieved December 5, 2011.
  6. Nahas, Aili (September 8, 2011). "Jonathan Taylor Thomas Reunites with His Home Improvement Cast". People. Retrieved December 5, 2011.
  7. Alana Daley (September 22, 2005). "Whatever happened to: child star Jonathan Taylor Thomas?". The Gazette. Archived from the original on March 19, 2012. Retrieved December 5, 2011.
  8. "Notable Alumni". gs.columbia.edu. Archived from the original on July 15, 2014. Retrieved July 14, 2014.
  9. "Home Improvement E! True Hollywood Story". December 26, 2005.
  10. "Jonathan Taylor Thomas Returns To 'Last Man Standing' (VIDEO)". Huffpost. October 10, 2013. Retrieved March 5, 2019.
  11. "Jonathan Taylor Thomas Returns to Last Man Standing". People.com. January 9, 2015. Retrieved March 5, 2019.
  12. "The Spokesman-Review". google.com. Retrieved March 19, 2018.
  13. "Vegetarian Starter Kit". PETAKids.com. Archived from the original on September 27, 2011. Retrieved December 5, 2011.
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