Henry Thomas
 |
Henry Thomas | |
|---|---|
 Thomas at the 2019 German Comic Con | |
| Born | Henry Jackson Thomas Jr. September 9, 1971 San Antonio, Texas, U.S. |
| Education | Blinn College |
| Occupation | Actor |
| Years active | 1981–present |
| Spouse(s) | Kelley Hill
(m. 2000; div. 2002)Annalee Fery (m. 2009) |
| Children | 3 |
Henry Jackson Thomas Jr. (born September 9, 1971) is an American actor. He began his career as a child actor and had a lead role in the film E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial (1982), for which he won a Young Artist Award and received Golden Globe Award, BAFTA Award, and Saturn Award nominations. Thomas also had roles in films like Cloak & Dagger (1984), Fire in the Sky (1993), Legends of the Fall (1994), Suicide Kings (1997), All the Pretty Horses (2000), Gangs of New York (2002), 11:14 (2003), and Dear John (2010). Thomas was nominated for the Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actor – Series, Miniseries or Television Film for his role in the television film Indictment: The McMartin Trial (1997).
Thomas is more recently collaborated with filmmaker Mike Flanagan, appearing in the films Ouija: Origin of Evil (2016), Gerald's Game (2017) and Doctor Sleep (2019) as well as the television series The Haunting of Hill House (2018) and its follow-up series The Haunting of Bly Manor (2020), the former of which earned him a Saturn Award. In 2021, he had a main role in Flanagan's horror series Midnight Mass.
Early life[edit]
Thomas was born on September 9, 1971, in San Antonio, Texas. His mother, Carolyn L. (née Davis), is a homemaker and his father, Henry Jackson Thomas Sr., is a hydraulic machinist. He attended East Central High School and Blinn College.[1]
Career[edit]
Acting[edit]
Thomas struggled with the popularity he gained in the months following the release of E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial.[2] In November 2019, Thomas reprised his role as Elliott for an Xfinity & Sky UK commercial, in which E.T. returns to visit a now-adult Elliott and his family for the holidays.[3]
Since 2016, Thomas has worked frequently with filmmaker Mike Flanagan, appearing in his films Ouija: Origin of Evil, Gerald's Game and Doctor Sleep, as well as in the Netflix horror series The Haunting of Hill House, which Flanagan created and directed. Thomas also has a role in Flanagan's follow up to The Haunting of Hill House, The Haunting of Bly Manor, and Flanagan's mini-series Midnight Mass.
Thomas worked in Stargirl portraying Doctor Mid-Nite and voicing his A.I. counterpart "Chuck" until the latter role was recast with Alex Collins in season two.
Music[edit]
Thomas wrote songs and played guitar for a San Antonio band, The Blue Heelers (named for the breed of dog), in the 1990s. Although the band was not signed to a record label, it self-produced an album, Twister. Thomas continued to write and record songs. In 1998, his song "Truckstop Coffee" (recorded with the Blue Heelers) appeared on V2's soundtrack for Niagara, Niagara.[4] In 2003, Thomas and Nikki Sudden collaborated on the music for Mika Kaurismäki's film Honey Baby, which featured four original songs written and performed by Thomas as the fictional musician Tom Brackett.[5] An album was in the works, but Sudden died unexpectedly in 2006.[6]
Personal life[edit]
Thomas married actress Marie Zielcke on May 10, 2004. They had a daughter, Hazel. The couple were divorced in 2007. Thomas also has two children with his current wife Annalee,[7][2] and in 2014 moved to Wilsonville, Oregon.
Filmography[edit]
Film[edit]
Television[edit]
| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1990 | Psycho IV: The Beginning | Young Norman Bates | Television film |
| 1992 | A Taste for Killing | Cary Sloan | Television film |
| 1995 | Indictment: The McMartin Trial | Ray Buckey | Television film |
| 1996 | Riders of the Purple Sage | Bern Venters | Television film |
| 1998 | Moby Dick | Ishmael | Miniseries |
| 1999 | Happy Face Murders | Dylan McCarthy | Television film |
| 2005 | Masters of Horror | Jamie | Episode: "Chocolate" |
| 2006 | Stephen King's Desperation | Peter Jackson | Television film |
| 2006 | Nightmares & Dreamscapes: From the Stories of Stephen King | Robert Fornoy | Episode: "The End of the Whole Mess" |
| 2007–08 | Without a Trace | Franklin Romar | 2 episodes |
| 2009 | CSI: Crime Scene Investigation | Jeremy Kent | Episode: "If I Had a Hammer" |
| 2011 | The Mentalist | Thomas Lisbon | Episode: "Where in the World is Carmine O'Brien?" |
| 2013–14 | Betrayal | T.J. Karsten | 13 episodes |
| 2015 | Sons of Liberty | John Adams | Miniseries |
| 2016 | Law & Order: Special Victims Unit | Sean Roberts | Episode: "Making a Rapist" |
| 2017 | Better Things | Robin | 4 episodes |
| 2018 | The Haunting of Hill House | Young Hugh Crain | Series regular |
| 2018 | Girl in the Bunker | Vinson Filyaw | Television film |
| 2020 | FBI: Most Wanted | Dr. Justin Brock | Episode: "Dopesick" |
| 2020 | Stargirl | Charles McNider / Doctor Mid-Nite, Voice of Chuck | Recurring role |
| 2020 | The Haunting of Bly Manor | Henry Wingrave | Series regular |
| 2021 | Midnight Mass | Ed Flynn | Series regular |
| 2021 | Just Beyond | Crazy Chris | Episode: "Parents are from Mars, Kids are from Venus" |
| TBA | The Fall of the House of Usher | Filming[8] |
Accolades[edit]
| Year | Award | Category | Nominated work | Result |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1981 | 3rd Youth in Film Awards | Best Young Motion Picture Actor | Raggedy Man | Nominated |
| 1982 | 4th Youth in Film Awards | E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial | Won | |
| 1983 | 40th Golden Globe Awards | New Star of the Year in a Motion Picture – Male | Nominated | |
| 36th British Academy Film Awards | Most Outstanding Newcomer to Leading Film Roles | Nominated | ||
| 10th Saturn Awards | Best Actor | Nominated | ||
| 1984 | 6th Youth in Film Awards | Best Young Actor in a Motion Picture: Musical, Comedy, Adventure or Drama | Cloak & Dagger | Nominated |
| 1996 | 53rd Golden Globe Awards | Best Supporting Actor in a Series, Miniseries or Television Film | Indictment: The McMartin Trial | Nominated |
| 2006 | 6th DVD Exclusive Awards | Best Actor in a DVD Premiere Movie | 11:14 | Nominated |
| 2019 | 45th Saturn Awards | Best Actor in Streaming Presentation | The Haunting of Hill House | Won |
Other honors[edit]
- VH1's "100 Greatest Kid Stars"
- 2005, ranked #4, E!'s "50 Cutest Child Stars All Grown-up"
- 2013, inducted into the Texas Film Hall of Fame.
References[edit]
- ^ "Henry Thomas Biography (1971-)". Filmreference.com. September 8, 1971. Retrieved September 10, 2016.
- ^ a b ""E.T. sent my world crazy": Boy actor Henry Thomas from E.T. on how hit film changed his life". Mirror.co.uk. June 2, 2012. Retrieved April 19, 2019.
- ^ Steinberg, Brian (November 28, 2019). "Comcast Brings 'E.T.' Back to Earth. He's Doing an Ad, Not a Sequel". Variety.
- ^ Stephen Thomas Erlewine (April 7, 1998). "Niagara, Niagara – Original Soundtrack | Songs, Reviews, Credits". AllMusic. Retrieved September 10, 2016.
- ^ Leslie Felperin (July 9, 2004). "Review: 'Honey Baby'". Variety. Retrieved December 25, 2016.
- ^ Cartwright, Garth (April 2, 2006). "Obituary: Nikki Sudden". The Guardian. Retrieved January 17, 2018.
- ^ "Forgotten Child Stars". express.co.uk. June 9, 2012. Retrieved January 17, 2019.
- ^ Romanchick, Shane (January 31, 2022). "Mike Flanagan's 'The Fall of the House of Usher' Officially Begins Production". Collider. Retrieved February 4, 2022.
Bibliography[edit]
- Holmstrom, John. The Moving Picture Boy: An International Encyclopaedia from 1895 to 1995, Norwich, Michael Russell, 1996, pp. 387–388.
External links[edit]
- Yahoo! Role Recall:Henry Thomas remembers teary E.T. audition
- Henry Thomas at IMDb
- Henry Thomas discography at Discogs
| General | |
|---|---|
| National libraries | |
| Biographical dictionaries | |
| Other | |
- 1971 births
- American male child actors
- American male film actors
- American male television actors
- Living people
- Male actors from San Antonio
- Musicians from San Antonio
- 20th-century American male actors
- 21st-century American musicians
- 21st-century American male actors
- 21st-century American male musicians
- People from Wilsonville, Oregon