Thomas Haden Church

Early life

Church was born Thomas Richard McMillen on June 17, 1960, in Woodland, Yolo County, California, 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, Carl worked as a surveyor. Church's parents divorced, and he 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. Church would often hunt with his stepfather and his stepfathers’ friends along the Rio Grande Valley and started working on a ranch in Webb County, Texas, when he was 13. 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.

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." Sideways earned acclaim for Church; he won an IFP Independent Spirit Award and was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor.

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, which was 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 played Lloyd in Acidman.

Personal life

Church lives on his 2000 acre ranch near Kerrville, Texas and also owns a ranch near Lost Maples State Natural Area in the Texas Hill Country. 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

Television

Video games

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).

References

References

1. [https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2016/oct/07/thomas-haden-church-interview-divorce-sarah-jessica-parker How did Thomas Haden Church land his role on Divorce? 'I was age-appropriate'], Oct. 2016 in the Guardian: ''As he points out, he has never been divorced (or married). "But I did go through a pretty significant upheaval several years ago. I have an ex with two children. So having gone through something as sort of life-changing as that myself ... " he trails off a bit, sounding uncomfortable, and pivots to something less personal.''
2. Buck, Jerry. (August 3, 1992). "'Wings' Character Stumbles, But He's Not Stupid, Star Says". Deseret News.
3. "Thomas Haden Church". TV Guide.
4. "Thomas Haden Church". [[AllMovie]].
5. (19 July 2021). "Maxine S. Quesada Obituary". [[Austin American-Statesman]].
6. (April 11, 2008). "Carl Richard McMillen, 71". Bonner County Daily Bee.
7. (July 18, 2012). "George A. Quesada". Denton Record-Chronicle.
8. "Thomas Haden Church talks growing up Texan in relation to his role in 'Accidental Texan'".
9. Pilkington, Ed. (May 16, 2008). "Naked ambition". The Guardian.
10. (January 12, 2017). "Overheard with Evan Smith".
11. Ascher-Walsh, Rebecca. (April 10, 2008). "Thomas Haden Church's choice career". [[Los Angeles Times]].
12. (April 22, 2007). "Spider-Man 3 Interviews: Thomas Haden Church - SuperHeroHype".
13. Macready, Melody. (January 10, 2021). "Spider-Man: 5 Ways Sandman Was The Best Villain Of The Trilogy (& 5 Ways It Will Always Be Doc Ock)".
14. (December 20, 2021). "The Top 6 Spider-Man Movie Villains, Ranked". [[The Washington Post]].
15. Benjamin Bullard. (2022-01-03). "Turns out one of Spider-Man: No Way Home's big bads wasn't needed on the movie set".
16. "Thomas Haden Church vs Joe the Plumber".
17. [https://www.dreadcentral.com/news/34965/fearnet-goes-church-zombie-roadkill "FEARnet Goes to Church for Zombie Roadkill"], dreadcentral.com; accessed June 10, 2014.
18. Dalton, Ben. (December 2, 2021). "Toni Collette, Anna Faris, Thomas Haden Church set to star in UK-US comedy 'The Estate'".
19. "Thomas Haden Church is bighearted roughneck in 'Accidental Texan'". MySA.
20. (8 January 2018). "Thomas Haden Church on Filming 'Divorce' in Westchester".
21. (10 April 2008). "Thomas Haden Church's choice career".
22. (26 December 2021). "Spider-Man: No Way Home Reuses Footage From Past Spider-Man Movies".
23. (26 December 2021). "Looks Like No Way Home Reused Spider-Man 3 Sandman Scenes".
24. "9th Annual Film Awards (2004) – Online Film & Television Association".
25. "11th Annual TV Awards (2006-07) – Online Film & Television Association".