- Chris Parnell
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Chris Parnell 
Parnell at the Tribeca Film Festival in 2007Born Thomas Christopher Parnell
February 5, 1967
Memphis, Tennessee, U.S.Occupation Actor/Comedian Years active 1995–present Thomas Christopher "Chris" Parnell (born February 5, 1967) is an American comic actor best known as a cast member on Saturday Night Live from 1998–2006 and currently for his recurring role as Dr. Leo Spaceman on NBC's Emmy Award-winning comedy series 30 Rock. Parnell also voices Cyril Figgis on the FX animated comedy Archer. In 2010, Parnell starred alongside his former SNL castmate Horatio Sanz in the Comedy Central series Big Lake.
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Early life
Parnell was born to and raised by a Southern Baptist family in Memphis, Tennessee. He graduated from Germantown High School and later attended the University of North Carolina School of the Arts where he received his BFA in Drama. After graduating, Parnell moved back to Tennessee and taught acting and film at his former high school. With a strong passion for performing, Parnell eventually moved to Los Angeles to pursue an acting career. While in Los Angeles he began performing with The Groundlings where he was eventually discovered by Saturday Night Live.
Career
After performing as a company player with The Groundlings for a number of years, Parnell was hired to join the cast of Saturday Night Live as a featured player on September 26, 1998, and was promoted to repertory player the following season. In the summer of 2001, budget cuts and hiring four new cast members required Lorne Michaels to dismiss two cast members; he chose to lay off Parnell and Jerry Minor over Horatio Sanz, Rachel Dratch, and Maya Rudolph, but he was rehired in the middle of the next season.
While on SNL, Parnell appeared in numerous sketches, and commercial parodies, and performed memorable impressions of various celebrities. One of his most popular sketches is Lazy Sunday, a rap video he shot with Andy Samberg about buying cupcakes and going to see The Chronicles of Narnia. He has also performed raps about hosts Jennifer Garner, Britney Spears, Kirsten Dunst and Ashton Kutcher.
In the summer of 2006, Lorne Michaels announced that four cast members would be fired due to budget cuts, but he did not say who.[1] On September 22, 2006 it was announced that three cast members had been fired: Parnell, Horatio Sanz, and Finesse Mitchell. This effectively made him the only SNL performer to have been fired twice by Lorne Michaels, though Parnell did say in a 2008 interview with The Sound of Young America podcast that he was okay with being let go this time, because he was considering leaving after that season anyway, but added that he probably would have stayed one last season if he was asked back. He had been with SNL for eight seasons; at the time only four people (Darrell Hammond, Tim Meadows, Kevin Nealon, and Al Franken) have been cast members longer. He has since made uncredited cameo appearances on the show, most recently in 2008 parodying newscasters Tom Brokaw, Jim Lehrer, and Bob Schieffer.
Parnell and his former SNL castmate Horatio Sanz recently starred together in Big Lake, a 2010 sitcom on Comedy Central from executive producers Will Ferrell and Adam McKay.
He also recently appeared as Dr. Drummer/Santa in the holiday episode of the television show Eureka, which aired on December 7, 2010 (season 4, episode 10).
Parnell currently stars as Dr. Leo Spaceman in the NBC television series 30 Rock.
Recurring characters on SNL
- Alan "Sticks" McRae, one of Deandra Wells's drummers
- Daniel, a student from Jimmy Fallon's "Jarrett's Room" sketch who lived in the dorm next to Jarret and Gobi and always falls for their bogus tricks to get girls (because of Parnell's short-lived termination, Parnell's Daniel was replaced by Jeff Richards's character, Jeff, a jock whose gross habits are always caught on Jarret's webcam)
- Jeph, a member of the boy band 7 Degrees Celsius
- Kevin Aquarius, a dancer covered in silver paint who does the robot on the talk show "Veronica and Co."
- One of the Lundford Twins' Feel Good Variety Hour dancers
- Merv "The Perv" Watson, a sleazy man who hits on women with sleazy double-entendres. Has a British cousin named Steve the Skeev (played by Colin Farrell) and a twin brother named Irv (played by Johnny Knoxville).
- Sean DeMarco, a wannabe dancer who auditions to be an interpretive dancer for SNL's musical guests.
- Tato, the strange manservant to bizarre art dealers Nuni and Nooni
- An eyepatched Telemundo actor from Besos Y Lagrimas
- Terrye Funck, a wannabe talk show host who creates his own show in the basement of his mom's house
- Thad from Gays In Space
- Tyler, a frequent patient from the recurring sketch Appalachian Emergency Room who always tells Nerod (Seth Meyers) the receptionist tall tales about how he got an object (can of Axe body spray, jar of cotton balls, a plastic bowling pin, a Native American rainstick, his car keys, etc.) stuck up his rectum (and in one case, how he got a watermelon stuck to his penis).
- Warren Kirney, a married man who always convinces the hired help in his family to have a three-way with him and his wife (Ana Gasteyer)
- Wayne Bloder, a barfly who always hits on the women there, along with his brother, Kip (played by Jimmy Fallon)
- DJ Intro, a DJ who can sing every action. ("SNL, On "Deep House Dish")
Celebrity impersonations on SNL
- Andrew Card
- Arlen Specter
- Bert Convy
- Bing Crosby
- Bob Barr
- Bob Schieffer
- Cameron Crowe
- VH1 VJ Cane
- Chad Lowe
- Charles Gibson
- Chris Fowler
- David Gregory
- Emeril Lagasse
- Eminem
- Eric Bloom of Blue Öyster Cult
- Evan Bayh
- Fred Savage
- Gary Bauer
- George W. Bush
- Jack Osbourne
- Jim Gray
- Jim Lehrer
- Sen. Joe Lieberman
- John F. Lehman
- Sen. John McCain
- Tom Brokaw
- Justin Bartha
- Karl Rove
- Kenneth Starr
- Lance Bass
- Mark Geragos
- Michael Isikoff
- Michael Kors
- Moe Howard
- Pat Buchanan
Filmography
- Jingle All the Way (1996) as a toy store sales clerk
- Operation (1998) as a cadaver
- Megalomania (2000) as Stanley Brutus
- The Ladies Man (2000) as Phil Swanson
- Evil Alien Conquerors (2002) as Du-ug
- Farm Sluts (2003) as Larry
- Down with Love (2003) as the TV Emcee
- National Lampoon's Barely Legal (2003) as Mr. Ronald Greitzer
- Looking for Kitty (2004) as Guy Borne
- Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy (2004) as Garth Holliday
- Wake Up, Ron Burgundy: The Lost Movie (2004) as Garth Holliday
- I'm Reed Fish (2006) as Ralph
- Hot Rod (2007) as Barry Pasternak
- Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story (2007) as Theo
- Harold (2008) as Coach Vanderpool
- The Grand (2008) as Harold Melvin
- Labor Pains (2009) as Jerry
- Hollywood & Wine (2009) as Peter West
- Kung Fu Magoo (2010) as Cole Fusion (voice)
- Answer This! (2010) as Brian Collins
Television
- I Just Want My Pants Back – J.B. (Series Regular)
- Suburgatory – Fred Shay (4 episode)
- Curb Your Enthusiasm – Hank (1 episode)
- Love Bites – Chad Banks (1 episode)
- Jon Benjamin Has a Van – Area 51 Scientist (1 episode)
- Workaholics – Bruce Benson (1 episode)
- Big Lake – Chris Henkel (Series Regular)
- 30 Rock – Dr. Leo Spaceman (Recurring Role, 15 episodes)
- Archer – Cyril Figgis (Series Regular)
- Eureka – Dr. Drummer (1 episode)
- The Life & Times of Tim – Various Voices (3 episodes)
- Funny or Die Presents – Various Roles (6 episodes)
- Glenn Martin, DDS – Joe Biden, Various Voices (3 episodes)
- Kröd Mändoon and the Flaming Sword of Fire – Narrator (6 episodes)
- Miss Guided – Vice Principal Bruce Terry (Series Regular)
- WordGirl (2007-present)– The Narrator, Various Voices (Series Regular)
- Saturday Night Live – Cast Member, Various Roles (Series Regular)
- Better Off Ted – Walter Palmer (1 episode)
- Ed – DJ Curtis Morris (1 episode)
- Friends – Bob (1 episode)
- The Hughleys – Rick (1 episode)
- Murphy Brown – Handler #2 (1 episode)
- The Jamie Foxx Show – Director (1 episode)
- Nick Freno: Licensed Teacher – Announcer (1 episode)
- Robot Chicken - Scooter, Major Nelson (1 episode)
- Seinfeld – Stu Crespi (1 episode)
- Suddenly Susan – Phil (2 episodes)
- Union Square – Don (1 episode)
- Conrad Bloom – Simpson (2 episodes)
- Caroline in the City – Gene (1 episode)
- Hope & Gloria – Howard (1 episode)
Music appearances
- Supafloss
- Incredibad
- Lazy Sunday
See also
References
External links
- Chris Parnell at the Internet Movie Database
- Extensive audio interview on public radio program The Sound of Young America
Categories:- 1967 births
- Actors from Tennessee
- American actors
- American comedians
- American film actors
- American impressionists (entertainers)
- American stage actors
- American television actors
- American voice actors
- The Groundlings
- Living people
- University of North Carolina School of the Arts alumni
- People from Memphis, Tennessee
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