Thomas Middleditch

Thomas Middleditch
Middleditch at the 2018 San Diego Comic-Con
Born
Thomas Steven Middleditch[1]

(1982-03-10) March 10, 1982 (age 43)
OccupationActor
Years active2009–present
Spouse
Mollie Gates
(m. 2015; div. 2021)

Thomas Steven Middleditch (born March 10, 1982[2]) 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.[3] He also appeared in ads for Verizon Wireless.[4][5]

Early life

Middleditch was born on March 10, 1982, in Nelson, British Columbia, Canada.[6] His parents are British.[7] 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.[6] His first job was acting in Canadian Heritage Plays for his hometown.[8]

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.[9] He instead opted to make sketches on his own and worked at a New Balance store for an income.[6] He relocated to Chicago, where he took classes at The Second City and iO Theater, while also performing regularly.[6] He was a founding member in 2005 of the Improvised Shakespeare Company.[10] Due to immigration issues, he worked various cash jobs until Charna Halpern sponsored him to get his work visa.[6] While performing on a Second City cruise, he got an audition for Saturday Night Live.[6] 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.[6]

Career

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.[6][11] He appeared in the 2009 romantic comedy Splinterheads, portraying the lead role of Justin Frost.[12] On March 25, 2010, he joined a CBS pilot, Hitched, written by Josh Schwartz and directed by Rob Greenberg.[13] On May 5, 2011, Middleditch made his first appearance in Jake and Amir, in the episode "Jake and Amir: Doobs".[14]

On May 31, 2011, Middleditch joined the cast of Fun Size, directed by Josh Schwartz.[15] On August 8, 2011, he joined Road to Nardo,[16] 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.[17]

On July 23, 2012, Middleditch joined the cast of Someone Marry Barry, directed and written by Rob Pearlstein and produced by Barry Josephson.[18] On August 23, 2012, he appeared in The Office's final season episode "The Farm".[19] He had a role in The Brass Teapot (2013)[20] and played a police officer in The Kings of Summer (2013).[21]

On January 30, 2013, Middleditch joined HBO's comedy pilot Silicon Valley, playing Richard Hendricks.[22] He has said the pilot was written with him in mind as the lead.[6]

For his work on the show, Middleditch received four Satellite Awards nominations (winning in 2019) and two Critics' Choice Television Award nominations.[23][24] In 2016, Middleditch earned his first Primetime Emmy Award nomination for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Comedy Series.[25]

On April 23, 2013, he was added to the cast of Search Party, playing Nardo.[26] Middleditch made a cameo in The Wolf of Wall Street as a broker fired for cleaning his fish bowl.[27]

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.[28] In 2015, he co-starred in The Final Girls and The Bronze.[29][30] Also in 2015, he began streaming video games on Twitch.[31]

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

Middleditch voiced Harold Hutchins in Captain Underpants: The First Epic Movie (2017).[32] As of 2017, Middleditch has appeared in Verizon commercials.[33] In 2019, he appeared in Godzilla: King of the Monsters and NBA 2K20.[34][35]

In April 2020, Middleditch and Ben Schwartz starred in Netflix's improv special Middleditch and Schwartz.[36]

In October 2020, Middleditch began playing Drew Dunbar in the CBS series B Positive.[37][38]

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.[39]

In June 2025, Middleditch was announced as Chief Creative Officer of a revived Commodore.[40]

Personal life

Middleditch became engaged to costume designer Mollie Gates in June 2015.[41] They married on August 22, 2015. In a 2019 Playboy interview, he revealed they had an open relationship and said swinging "saved our marriage".[42] In May 2020, Gates filed for divorce.[43] The divorce was finalized in April 2021.[44]

Middleditch stated during a January 2022 appearance on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert that he had become a U.S. citizen.[45]

Sexual misconduct allegations

In March 2021, the Los Angeles Times published allegations that Middleditch sexually harassed women at Cloak & Dagger, a goth club, including groping a woman.[46] The woman revealed messages from Middleditch apologizing.[47]

Filmography

Film

Year Title Role Notes
2009 The Rebound Maverick
2010 Splinterheads Justin Frost
The Other Guys Art Exhibition Curator Uncredited Cameo
Night Home James Short film
2011 Certainty Game Guy
Michel Jean-Michel: Overexposed Michel Jean-Michel Short film
2012 Being Flynn Richard
The Campaign Travis
The Brass Teapot Gilad
Fun Size Manuel Fuzzy
2013 The Kings of Summer Rookie Cop Cameo
The Wolf of Wall Street Stratton Broker in a Bowtie
2014 Someone Marry Barry Kurt
Search Party Daniel "Nardo Narducci
2015 SMILF Dan Short film that inspired the TV series SMILF
The Bronze Ben Lawfort
The Final Girls Duncan
2016 Joshy Josh
Sunspring H Short film
2017 Kong: Skull Island Jerry (voice) [48]
Entanglement Ben Layten
Captain Underpants: The First Epic Movie Harold Hutchins (voice) Also songwriter for "Saturday"[48]
Once Upon a Time in Venice John
2018 Tag Dave
Replicas Ed Whittle
Henchmen Lester (voice) [48]
2019 Jake and Kyle Get Wedding Dates Kyle Westen (voice) Direct-to-video
Godzilla: King of the Monsters Sam Coleman
Zombieland: Double Tap Flagstaff
2020 Phineas and Ferb the Movie: Candace Against the Universe Garnoz (voice) [48]
2022 DC League of Super-Pets Keith (voice)
2024 Messy Max [49][50]

Television

Year Title Role Notes
2010 Robotomy Additional voices Episode: "Bling Thing"
2011 Ugly Americans Episode: "Wet Hot Demonic Summer"
Beavis and Butt-Head Stewart Stevenson, Teacher 7 episodes
The League Julian Episode: "The Light of Genesis"
Fact Checkers Unit Kerry Episode: "Fly Like a Buttress"
2013 Newsreaders Micah Berkley Episode: "Auto Erotic"
The Office Jeb Schrute Episode: "The Farm"
Key and Peele Monsieur Thénardier Episode: "Les Mis"
Trophy Wife Nurse Terry Episode: "Lice and Beary White"
The Pete Holmes Show Gambit, Nightcrawler 2 episodes
2014–2019 Silicon Valley Richard Hendricks Main cast
You're the Worst Hipster Ringleader 2 episodes
2014–2017 Penn Zero: Part-Time Hero Penn Zero (voice) Main role (61 episodes); also writer: "Ultrahyperball"[48]
2015 Scheer-RL Jeff Timons Episode: "98 Degrees"
Comedy Bang! Bang! Himself, Tim Landers 2 episodes
2015–2019 Drunk History Various 3 episodes
2016 Great Minds with Dan Harmon William Shakespeare Episode: "William Shakespeare"
TripTank Warlock, Caller (voice) Episode: "TripTank 2025"[48]
2017 Animals. Simon (voice) Episode: "Rats."[48]
Rick and Morty King Tommy (voice) Episode: "The ABC's of Beth"
2018–2019 Bob's Burgers Alex (voice) 3 episodes[48]
Last Week Tonight with John Oliver Narrator 2 episodes
2019–2025 Big City Greens Donny Tinselton, Bash, various (voice) 4 episodes
2020 Middleditch and Schwartz Himself Main role; also creator and executive producer
Death Hacks Adam (voice) Main role
Dream Corp LLC Virgil Bottoms Episode: "Virgil Bottoms"
2020–2025 Solar Opposites Terry Opposites (voice) Main role
2020–2022 B Positive Drew Dunbar
2021 Amphibia Bernardo (voice) Episode: "Bessie & MicroAngelo"
2022 The Good Fight Kyle Vespertine-Kalepark Episode: "The End of Playing Games"

Web

Year Title Role Notes
2009 Memoirs of a Manchild Danny Nanners 3 episodes; also writer and producer
2010 The Back Room Die Antwoord Episode: "Steve Agee"
2009–2013 CollegeHumor Originals Various characters 20 episodes
2011 Funny or Die Woodshed Guy Episode: "2.8"
Matumbo Goldberg Lenny 5 episodes
2011–2015 Jake and Amir Penis Anthony "Doobs" Doubligné 6 episodes
2012 Bravest Warriors Professor Fartsparkles (voice) Episode: "Time Slime"
2013 The Funtime Gang Randy the Racoon Episode: "Pilot"
The Morning After Dave 5 episodes
2016 HarmonQuest Dildo Bogpelt Episode: "The Doors of Fores"
2019 This Giant Beast That is the Global Economy Guest Star Episode: "Money Laundering: A How-To Guide"
2020 Stream of Blood: Vampires of Pittsburgh Miles Vanderbuck 30 episodes

Video games

Year Title Role Notes
2013 Star Wars: The Old Republic - Rise of the Hutt Cartel Additional voices
2019 NBA 2K20 Zach Bailey Voice and motion capture
2022 Warped Kart Racers Terry Archival audio
2022 High on Life Ranchy

Theater

Year Title Role Venue Notes Ref.
2024–2025 Eureka Day Eli Samuel J. Friedman Theatre [3]

Awards and nominations

Year Association Category Nominated work Result
2014 Critics' Choice Television Awards Best Actor in a Comedy Series Silicon Valley Nominated
Satellite Awards Best Actor – Television Series Musical or Comedy Nominated
2015 Critics' Choice Television Awards Best Actor in a Comedy Series Nominated
Satellite Awards Best Actor – Television Series Musical or Comedy Nominated
2016 Primetime Emmy Awards Outstanding Lead Actor in a Comedy Series Nominated
Satellite Awards Best Actor – Television Series Musical or Comedy Nominated
Gold Derby Awards Best Comedy Actor Nominated
2017 Critics' Choice Television Awards Best Actor in a Comedy Series Nominated
Satellite Awards Best Actor – Television Series Musical or Comedy Nominated
2020 Satellite Awards Best Actor – Television Series Musical or Comedy Won

References

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  2. ^ Mike Rose, cleveland com (10 March 2024). "Famous birthdays list for today, March 10, 2024 includes celebrities Carrie Underwood, Sharon Stone". cleveland. Retrieved 13 April 2024.
  3. ^ a b Cullwell-Block, Logan (16 December 2024). "Jonathan Spector's Eureka Day Opens on Broadway December 16". Playbill. Archived from the original on 17 December 2024. Retrieved 17 December 2024.
  4. ^ Dano, Mike (14 November 2017). "The top 5 wireless ads: T-Mobile spends almost $30M on Netflix ads". FierceWireless.com.
  5. ^ Itzkoff, Dave (21 April 2017). "Thomas Middleditch of 'Silicon Valley' on Doing Verizon Ads and Flying His Own Plane". The New York Times.
  6. ^ a b c d e f g h i "BA #085: Thomas Middleditch". Box Angeles podcast. 29 June 2015.
  7. ^ McQuern, Elizabeth (15 September 2006). "Inside With: Thomas Middleditch, Non-Comedian and Actor". TheApiary.org. Archived from the original on 12 April 2016. Retrieved 3 June 2017.
  8. ^ "Thomas Middleditch". Anna Faris is Unqualified Podcast. Retrieved 26 March 2021.
  9. ^ Ogden, Alistair (8 June 2017). "UVic's most famous dropout". Retrieved 16 September 2020.
  10. ^ "Players". Improvised Shakespeare Company. Retrieved 17 February 2020.
  11. ^ "McNuggets McNuggets...What?". Ad Age. 27 July 2007.
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  49. ^ Grobar, Matt (7 June 2023). "Alexi Wasser Directs & Stars In Relationship Comedy 'Messy'; Adam Goldberg, Thomas Middleditch, Ione Skye, Jack Kilmer & Others Round Out Cast". Deadline. Retrieved 2 January 2025.
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