| Jonathan Taylor Thomas | |
|---|---|
| Born | Jonathan Taylor Weiss September 8, 1981 Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, U.S. |
| Occupation | Actor |
| Years active | 1987–2006, 2011–present |
Jonathan Taylor Thomas (born Jonathan Taylor Weiss; September 8, 1981) is an American actor, voice actor, former child star, and teen idol. He is best known for his role as the middle child Randy Taylor on the sitcom Home Improvement, as Pinocchio in New Line Cinema's The Adventures of Pinocchio, and as the voice of the young Simba in Disney's The Lion King.
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Thomas was born Jonathan Taylor Weiss in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, the son of Claudine (née Gonsalves), a personal manager and social worker, and Stephen Weiss, an industrial sales manager; the two divorced in 1989.[1] His uncle is playwright/actor Jeff Weiss.[2] Thomas is of Portuguese and Pennsylvania Dutch ancestry.[3][4] Jonathan has an older brother, Joel Thomas Weiss, who is an assistant basketball coach at Nicholls State University in Thibodaux, Louisiana. His stage name is taken from his real first name (Jonathan), his middle name (Taylor), and his brother's middle name (Thomas).
In 2000, he 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][8][9] In 2010, he graduated from Columbia University, under his legal name, Jonathan Weiss. His classmates recall, "He loved to talk. He'd say really intelligent things."[10]
Thomas currently lives in Los Angeles, California, and in September 2011, reunited with the rest of the Home Improvement cast for a photo shoot for Entertainment Weekly. At that time, Patricia Richardson tweeted an update about Jonathan, stating, "Jonathan is acting, and he wants to direct!"[10]
He has been vegetarian for much of his life.[11][12]
In 1990, Thomas garnered the role of Kevin Brady, the son of Greg Brady, on the short-lived TV show The Bradys, a spin-off of the 1970s TV show The Brady Bunch. In 1991, at the age of 10, he won the role of Randall William "Randy" Taylor on the television show Home Improvement. He remained with Home Improvement well into his teenage years, but left the show in 1998 in order to further his acting career.
He had a guest role on the ABC sitcom 8 Simple Rules for Dating My Teenage Daughter in early 2004, and appeared in the WB's Smallville in 2002 and 2004. In 2005, he had a guest role in UPN's high school detective drama Veronica Mars, and was also featured on The E! True Hollywood Story's show on Home Improvement.
During his run on Home Improvement, Thomas voiced the role of young Simba in the 1994 Disney film The Lion King.
He starred in such films as I'll Be Home for Christmas, Man of the House, Tom and Huck, The Adventures of Pinocchio, Wild America, Common Ground, Walking Across Egypt, and Speedway Junky.
| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1994 | The Lion King | Young Simba (voice) | |
| 1994 | Pom Poko | Shokichi (voice) | |
| 1995 | Man of the House | Ben Archer (Little Wing) | |
| 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 | |
| 1999 | Speedway Junky | Steve | |
| 1999 | Walking Across Egypt | Wesley Benfield | |
| 2005 | Tilt-A-Whirl | Customer #3 | Short film |
| 2005 | Thru the Moebius Strip | Prince Ragis (voice) | |
| 2006 | The Extra | Director | Short film |
| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1987 | The Adventures of Spot | Spot (voice) | TV series short |
| 1990 | The Bradys | Kevin Brady | Episode: "Start Your Engines/Here We Grow Again" Episode: "Hat in the Ring" |
| 1991 | In Living Color | Macaulay Culkin | Episode: "Home Alone Again" Episode: "The Jackson Bunch" |
| 1991-1998 | Home Improvement | Randy Taylor | 179 episodes |
| 1993 | In Living Color | Episode: "Forever Silky" | |
| 1994 | The Itsy Bitsy Spider | George (voice) | Episode: "Spider Sense" |
| 1996 | Who Stole Santa? | Scarecrow Jr (voice) | Video |
| 1996 | The Oz Kids | Scarecrow Jr (voice) | TV series |
| 1996 | Christmas in Oz | Scarecrow Jr (voice) | Video short |
| 1996 | The Nome Prince and the Magic Belt | Scarecrow Jr (voice) | Video |
| 1996 | Toto Lost in New York | Scarecrow Jr (voice) | Video |
| 2000 | Common Ground | Tobias | TV movie |
| 2000 | Ally McBeal | Chris Emerson | Episode: "Do You Wanna Dance?" |
| 2000 | The Wild Thornberrys | Tyler Tucker (voice) | 5 episodes |
| 2000 | The Tangerine Bear: Home in Time for Christmas! | Tangie (voice) | Video |
| 2000 | Timothy Tweedle the First Christmas Elf | Timothy Tweedle | TV movie |
| 2001 | An American Town | Rafe | TV movie |
| 2001 | 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" |
| Year | Title | Role |
|---|---|---|
| 1996 | The Adventures of Pinocchio | Human Pinocchio (voice) |