Henry Thomas

American actor

Kelley Hill
(m. 2000; div. 2002)
Marie Zielcke
(m. 2004; div. 2007)
Annalee Fery
(m. 2009)
Children3

Henry Jackson Thomas[1] (born September 9, 1971)[2] 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 a Golden Globe Award, a BAFTA Award, and Saturn Award nominations. Thomas also had roles in other films, including 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).

More recently, Thomas 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, and, in 2023, he starred as one of the Usher siblings in The Fall of the House of Usher (2023), also by Flanagan.

Early life

Thomas was born in San Antonio, Texas.[1] He attended East Central High School and Blinn College.[1][3]

Career

Acting

Thomas struggled with the popularity he gained in the months following the release of E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial.[4] 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.[5]

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

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.[6] 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.[7] An album was in the works, but Sudden died unexpectedly in 2006.[8]

Personal life

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,[9][4] and in 2014 moved to Wilsonville, Oregon.

Filmography

Film

Year Title Role Notes
1981 Raggedy Man Harry
1982 E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial Elliott
1984 Misunderstood Andrew
1984 Cloak & Dagger Davey Osborne
1985 Frog Dreaming Cody
1989 Valmont Raphael Danceny
1993 Fire in the Sky Greg Hayes
1994 Curse of the Starving Class Wesley Tate
1994 Legends of the Fall Samuel Ludlow
1997 Niagara, Niagara Seth
1997 Suicide Kings Avery Chasten
1997 Bombshell Buck Hogan
1999 Fever Nick Parker
2000 The House That Screamed Jack Gillton Direct-to-video
2000 A Good Baby Raymond Toker
2000 All the Pretty Horses Lacey Rawlins
2001 The Quickie Alex
2002 Dead in the Water Jeff
2002 I'm with Lucy Barry
2002 Gangs of New York Johnny Sirocco
2003 I Capture the Castle Simon Cotton
2003 11:14 Jack
2003 Honey Baby Tom Brackett
2003 Briar Patch Edgar MacBeth
2004 Dead Birds William
2006 The Hard Easy Paul Weston
2007 The Last Sin Eater Man of God
2007 Suffering Man's Charity Eric Rykell
2008 Red Velvet Aaron
2010 Dear John Tim
2011 The Last Ride Hank Williams Sr.
2013 Big Sur Philip Whalen
2016 Ouija: Origin of Evil Father Tom Hogan
2017 Gerald's Game Tom
2019 The Great Alaskan Race Thompson
2019 Doctor Sleep The Bartender / Jack Torrance
2019 A Holiday Reunion Elliott Short film
2021 To All the Boys: Always and Forever Peter's Father
2022 Sam & Kate Tom (Sam's friend)
2022 Crawlspace Robert Mitchell
2023 Pet Sematary: Bloodlines Dan Crandall

Television

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"
2022 The Midnight Club Freedom Jack Episode: "Road to Nowhere"
2023 The Fall of the House of Usher Frederick Usher Series regular

Awards and nominations

Awards and nominations for acting
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

References

  1. ^ a b c Martinez, Sarah (October 10, 2022). "Did this San Antonio lawyer and actor have their careers swapped?". mySA. Retrieved January 26, 2023.
  2. ^ "Birthdays". The Modesto Bee. The Associated Press. September 9, 2022. p. 2A. Actor Henry Thomas is 51.
  3. ^ Guzman, René A. (October 24, 2018). "'E.T.' star Henry Thomas comes home for his first Alamo City Comic Con". mySA. Retrieved January 26, 2023.
  4. ^ 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.
  5. ^ Steinberg, Brian (November 28, 2019). "Comcast Brings 'E.T.' Back to Earth. He's Doing an Ad, Not a Sequel". Variety.
  6. ^ Stephen Thomas Erlewine (April 7, 1998). "Niagara, Niagara – Original Soundtrack | Songs, Reviews, Credits". AllMusic. Retrieved September 10, 2016.
  7. ^ Leslie Felperin (July 9, 2004). "Review: 'Honey Baby'". Variety. Retrieved December 25, 2016.
  8. ^ Cartwright, Garth (April 2, 2006). "Obituary: Nikki Sudden". The Guardian. Retrieved January 17, 2018.
  9. ^ "Forgotten Child Stars". express.co.uk. June 9, 2012. Retrieved January 17, 2019.

Bibliography

  • Holmstrom, John. The Moving Picture Boy: An International Encyclopaedia from 1895 to 1995, Norwich, Michael Russell, 1996, pp. 387–388.

External links

  • Yahoo! Role Recall:Henry Thomas remembers teary E.T. audition
  • Henry Thomas audition for E.T.: "Ok kid, you got the job" on YouTube
  • Henry Thomas at IMDb
  • Henry Thomas discography at Discogs
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