Thomas Middleditch

Thomas Steven Middleditch (born March 10, 1982) is a Canadian actor. He is best known for his role as Richard Hendricks in the HBO series Silicon Valley (2014–2019), earning a nomination for the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Comedy Series. He voiced the titular character in the Disney XD animated series Penn Zero: Part-Time Hero (2014–2017), Harold Hutchins in Captain Underpants: The First Epic Movie (2017), Sam Coleman in Godzilla: King of the Monsters (2019), and Terry Opposites in the Hulu adult animated sci-fi series Solar Opposites. Middleditch made his Broadway debut in 2024 as Eli in Eureka Day. He also appeared in ads for Verizon Wireless.

Middleditch was born on March 10, 1982, in Nelson, British Columbia, Canada. His parents are British. He was cast in a play in eighth grade which he said "changed everything" for him. He discovered improv in grade school from performing with Theatresports. His first job was acting in Canadian Heritage Plays for his hometown.

He studied theatre at the University of Victoria before moving to Toronto, where he auditioned for and enrolled in George Brown Theatre School, but never began his course. He instead opted to make sketches on his own and worked at a New Balance store for an income. He relocated to Chicago, where he took classes at The Second City and iO Theater, while also performing regularly. He was a founding member in 2005 of the Improvised Shakespeare Company. Due to immigration issues, he worked various cash jobs until Charna Halpern sponsored him to get his work visa. While performing on a Second City cruise, he got an audition for Saturday Night Live. Though he did not get cast, the routine he used in his audition landed him a network holding deal and he moved to New York City.

Middleditch at SXSW 2016

While living in New York City, Middleditch began acting in commercials. In 2007 a sketch video for Chicken McNuggets he made with Fernando Sosa in Chicago was purchased by McDonald's and used as a commercial. He appeared in the 2009 romantic comedy Splinterheads, portraying the lead role of Justin Frost. On March 25, 2010, he joined a CBS pilot, Hitched, written by Josh Schwartz and directed by Rob Greenberg. On May 5, 2011, Middleditch made his first appearance in Jake and Amir, in the episode "Jake and Amir: Doobs".

On May 31, 2011, Middleditch joined the cast of Fun Size, directed by Josh Schwartz. On August 8, 2011, he joined Road to Nardo, a film that would have been Scot Armstrong's directorial debut. On December 12, 2011, he joined Jay Roach's The Campaign, starring Will Ferrell and Zach Galifianakis.

On July 23, 2012, Middleditch joined the cast of Someone Marry Barry, directed and written by Rob Pearlstein and produced by Barry Josephson. On August 23, 2012, he appeared in The Office's final season episode "The Farm". He had a role in The Brass Teapot (2013) and played a police officer in The Kings of Summer (2013).

On January 30, 2013, Middleditch joined HBO's comedy pilot Silicon Valley, playing Richard Hendricks. He has said the pilot was written with him in mind as the lead.

For his work on the show, Middleditch received four Satellite Awards nominations (winning in 2019) and two Critics' Choice Television Award nominations. In 2016, Middleditch earned his first Primetime Emmy Award nomination for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Comedy Series.

On April 23, 2013, he was added to the cast of Search Party, playing Nardo. Middleditch made a cameo in The Wolf of Wall Street as a broker fired for cleaning his fish bowl.

He played a hipster thief in You're The Worst. On The Pete Holmes Show, he portrayed several characters from X-Men and Street Fighter. On October 16, 2013, it was announced that Middleditch would star in Penn Zero: Part-Time Hero. In 2015, he co-starred in The Final Girls and The Bronze. Also in 2015, he began streaming video games on Twitch.

In 2014 he joined a CollegeHumor series on YouTube called CAMP.

Middleditch voiced Harold Hutchins in Captain Underpants: The First Epic Movie (2017). As of 2017, Middleditch has appeared in Verizon commercials. In 2019, he appeared in Godzilla: King of the Monsters and NBA 2K20.

In April 2020, Middleditch and Ben Schwartz starred in Netflix's improv special Middleditch and Schwartz.

In October 2020, Middleditch began playing Drew Dunbar in the CBS series B Positive.

In 2022, Middleditch was announced as a collaborator on Pillage Party, a co‑developed original video game project for PC and consoles developed by Australian studio PlaySide. It was planned for release in 2023 on PC and consoles but was never published.

In June 2025, Middleditch was announced as Chief Creative Officer of a revived Commodore.

Middleditch became engaged to costume designer Mollie Gates in June 2015. They married on August 22, 2015. In a 2019 Playboy interview, he revealed they had an open relationship and said swinging "saved our marriage". In May 2020, Gates filed for divorce. The divorce was finalized in April 2021.

Middleditch stated during a January 2022 appearance on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert that he had become a U.S. citizen.

In March 2021, the Los Angeles Times published allegations that Middleditch sexually harassed women at Cloak & Dagger, a goth club, including groping a woman. The woman revealed messages from Middleditch apologizing.

• Thomas Middleditch at IMDb