- Tom Chick
Tom W. Chick (born 1966) is an American television and movie
actor , and games journalist. His most prolific TV roles were as Oscar's lover Gil in the US version of "The Office" and the hard-hitting reporter Gordon in "The West Wing". As a writer, his most notable columns are the "Shoot Club" series hosted on his ownwebsite , and game reviews in magazines such asComputer Gaming World .Biography
Chick attended
Harvard Divinity School and received a Masters of Theological Studies [ [http://www.quartertothree.com/game-talk/showpost.php?p=873524&postcount=30 Quarter To Three] Post by Tom Chick. January 25, 2007. ] with a focus on theOld Testament . Deciding not to pursue the ministry, he later moved toHollywood ,California where he currently resides and pursues a career in writing aboutvideo games and occasionallyacting fortelevision roles. He is also the co-founder and administrator of a web-based site for games discussion, [http://www.quartertothree.com/ Quarter To Three] . [As of 31 May 2008, the site has 7,010 registered members, with 1,709 of them having posted more than 5 times. Over half the registered membership has never posted a single message. ( [http://www.quartertothree.com/game-talk/memberlist.php membership listing] )]Writing career
Chick is an independent journalist whose columns on video games have appeared online and in print. As a
freelance columnist, he has written for a number of sites, including Firing Squad [ [http://www.firingsquad.com/authors/article_list.asp/18 Firing Squad] Tom Chick's profile page.] Yahoo Games [ [http://videogames.yahoo.com/masthead Yahoo Games] List of contributors. ] ,Gamespy [ [http://pc.gamespy.com/pc/painkiller/507189p1.html "Painkiller " review] . Gamespy.com. April 2004.] , Gamespot, Xtreme Gamer [ [http://www.xtreme-gamer.com/index.php?option=com_articles&id=8&aid=118 "Bully" review] . Xtreme-Gamer.com. October 2006.] , 1Up [ [http://www.1up.com/do/reviewPage?cId=3153546&did=1 "Sword of the Stars " review] . 1Up.com. September 2006.] ,Rotten Tomatoes [ [http://www.rottentomatoes.com/gauthor-6403/ Rotten Tomatoes] Tom Chick's review listing] and others. His articles have also appeared in magazines such as the "Tom vs. Bruce" [http://findarticles.com/p/search?tb=art&qt=%22Tom+Chick+and+Bruce+Geryk%22 series] inComputer Gaming World , and he was listed as "one of the field's rare American practitioners" in an article on "New Games Journalism" in theNew York Times [Wallace, Mark. "Notes on Halo". New York Times. April 3, 2005.] .In May 2008, He partnered with the Sci-Fi Channel as
Editor in chief of a new co-branded gamingblog , entitled Fidgit.Chick's reviews are no stranger to controversy as he has been an outspoken critic of what he calls the "7-9 rating scale" at some game review sites [ [http://www.1up.com/do/my1Up?publicUserId=4549029&pager.offset=3 1Up.com] . Andrew Pfister, editor. November 2006.] , and due to occasional game reviews which were widely considered to be different from the main, such as his harshly critical review of
Deus Ex of which he said "I'd say it's only 90% bad." in a June 2000 review [ [http://web.archive.org/web/20001119120000/http://www.gamesdomain.com/gdr.cgi?zones/reviews/pc/jun00/deusex.html archive.org] . Retrieved January 18, 2007.] .He has also collaborated on other games journalism projects, such as a
podcast with independent games developerBrad Wardell hosted at [http://www.poweruser.tv/?page=show&show=1&c=1 PowerUser.TV] .Acting career
Chick's most successful television acting engagement was a recurring role as reporter Gordon in nine episodes of "The West Wing". He also played Oscar's
homosexual lover Gil in "The Office", and Mario in "The Nine".elected filmography
* "
Frank & Jesse " (1994) ... Detective Whitcher
* "Beverly Hills 90210 " (1994) ... Joe (single episode)
* "ER" (1997) ... Weissbroot (single episode)
* "Frasier " (1997) ... Waiter (two episodes)
* "The King of Queens " (2001) ... Guy (one episode)
* "The West Wing" (2003-2005) ... Gordon (nine episodes)
* "The Office (US)" (2006-2007) ... Gil (four episodes)
* "The Nine" (2006) ... Mario (two episodes)References
External links
*imdb name|id=0157227|name=Tom Chick
* [http://www.quartertothree.com/ Quarter To Three] - Home Page
* [http://www.quartertothree.com/inhouse/columns/ Shoot Club and other columns]
* [http://www.quartertothree.com/inhouse/reviews/ 60 second reviews]
* [http://www.fidgit.com/ Fidgit] Gaming Blog
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