Biography johnathan taylor thomas
Jonathan Taylor Thomas
Nationality
Occupation
Actor, voice actor
Years active
1987-present
Biography[]
From 1991 to 1999, Thomas starred alongside comedian Tim Allen in the ABC sitcom Home Improvement. He played Tim Taylor's second son, Randy, but later left the show to focus on academics.
He voiced young Simba in the The Lion King. Archival recordings of his work were used in later Lion King media when young Simba's voice was needed.
He also was the first of three (at their respective times) boys to voice Spot the Dog in the American dub of the British children's series of the same name, the second being Ryan O'Donohue and the third being Haley Joel Osment.
His other Disney related roles include the role of Ben Archer in the 1995 film Man of the House, Tom Sawyer in the 1995 film Tom and Huck, and Jake Wilkinson in the 1998 film I'll Be Home for Christmas.
In 2004, he played Jeremy in a three-part episode of 8 Simple Rules.
In 2005, he voiced Shizokuti in the English version of Pom Poko.
In 2013, he played John Baker in 3 episodes of Last Man Standing, reuniting with Tim Allen, his on-screen father from Home Improvement. In 2015, he starred in one episode of Last Man Standing as Randy, reuniting with his TV parents Tim Allen and Patricia Richardson.
Roles[]
Gallery[]
Thomas behind the scenes of The Lion King.
Thomas attending the Wrap Party for Home Improvement's 100th episode at Walt Disney Studios in Burbank, California on April 6, 1995.
Thomas on the cover of Nickelodeon Magazine, February 1996.
Interview about leaving Home Improvement in Nickelodeon Magazine, December 1998.
Thomas with Home Improvement co-star Zachery Ty Bryan in May 2013.
External links[]
Jonathan Taylor Thomas Is 43! Inside His Quiet Life Since Stepping Away from the Spotlight
When a host of original Lion King stars came together in July to celebrate the iconic Disney film's 30th anniversary, castmate Jonathan Taylor Thomas was nowhere to be found.
The actor — who rose to fame in the 1990s with his voice work in the film and the TV series Home Improvement, among other big projects — was last photographed publicly in 2021 while walking his dogs.
After getting his start in 1990 at 9 years old on the series The Bradys, Thomas was suddenly everywhere, voicing young Simba in The Lion King, starring in family-friendly films Man of the House and Tom and Huck and landing the role of middle Taylor child Randy on Home Improvement in 1991, a part he'd play for nearly 200 episodes. He was also on the cover of just about every tween magazine, from Bop to Tiger Beat.
But by the early 2000s, he pulled way back, leaving Home Improvement early and winding down his acting roles.
“I’d been going nonstop since I was 8 years old,” he told PEOPLE in 2013. “I wanted to go to school, to travel and have a bit of a break.”
He attended Harvard, Columbia and St. Andrew’s University in Scotland, and relished his time as a student.
“To sit in a big library amongst books and students, that was pretty cool,” said Thomas. “It was a novel experience for me.”
Returning to Los Angeles, he focused on directing, writing scripts and taking advantage of his free time. “I watch a lot of movies, I hike, I stay up on shows and theater," he shared at the time, adding that he had "no regrets" about stepping away.
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He did return to the small screen a handful of times between 2013 and 2015 on former Home Improvement costar Tim Allen's series, Last Man Standing, reuniting with his '90s TV dad and mom, Patricia Richardson.
Jonathan Taylor
Jonathan Taylor Thomas was born Jonathan Taylor Weiss on September 8, 1981 in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, to Claudine (Gonsalves) and Stephen Weiss. He has an older brother, Joel, and has Pennsylvania Dutch (German) and Portuguese ancestry. Growing up, he liked the music group Boyz II Men, and his favorite TV shows were Roseanne (1988) and Grace Under Fire (1993), but he also liked watching CNN news, to keep up to date with current events. One thing that Jonathan does not like is meat. He has been a vegetarian since he was four years old, and he doesn't use products that are tested on animals because he believes that it is wrong to hurt them.
When Jonathan was four years old, his family moved from Bethlehem to Sacramento, California. At the age of seven, Jonathan was working as a model for print advertisements in Sacramento, and over the next few years, he appeared in TV commercials for Kelloggs cereal, Mattel toys and for many other products. By this time, Jonathan was ready for bigger roles, and in 1989, he landed the part of Greg Brady's son Kevin in the TV special The Bradys (1990). In 1990, he landed his biggest role yet, as Randy Taylor on Home Improvement (1991). Jonathan's audition went well, but what really gave him an edge over the other boys was that the casting directors thought that he looked a lot like his TV dad-to-be, Tim Allen.
In 1991, Jonathan's parents divorced. He lived with his mother and his brother. He began work in feature length movies, as the voice of young Simba in Disney's The Lion King (1994), and as Ben Archer in Man of the House (1995) opposite Chevy Chase. Among his other movies are Tom and Huck (1995), The Adventures of Pinocchio (1996), Wild America (1997), and I'll Be Home for Christmas (1998).
BornSeptember 8, 1981
Jonathan Taylor Thomas
American actor and director (born 1981)
Jonathan Taylor Thomas (né Weiss; born September 8, 1981) is an American actor and director. He is known for portraying Randy Taylor on Home Improvement and voicing young Simba in Disney's 1994 animated feature film The Lion King and Pinocchio in New Line Cinema's 1996 film The Adventures of Pinocchio.
Early life and education
Thomas was born on September 8, 1981, in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, and later moved to Sacramento, California, and then to Los Angeles. Thomas's uncle was playwright and actor Jeff Weiss (1940–2022). Thomas has Pennsylvania Dutch and Portuguese ancestry.
In 2000, Thomas enrolled at Harvard University, where he studied philosophy and history and spent his third year abroad at the University of St Andrews in Scotland. In 2010, he graduated from the Columbia University School of General Studies.
Career
Television
Thomas began his television career in 1990, playing the role of Kevin Brady, the son of Greg Brady, on The Bradys, a spin-off of the 1970s TV show The Brady Bunch. In 1991, Thomas appeared in three episodes of Fox's sketch comedy series In Living Color. That same year, he was cast as middle son Randy Taylor on ABC's sitcomHome Improvement. Despite looking much younger, in reality, Thomas was a month older than Zachery Ty Bryan who played his elder brother Brad. Thomas remained with Home Improvement well into his teenage years but left the show in 1998 to focus on academics, and was only involved in three episodes of the final season.
Since departing Home Improvement, Thomas has acted only occasionally. In early 2004, he had a small guest role on 8 Simple Rules for Dating My Teenage Daughter, another ABC sitcom, and appeared in the WB's Smallville in 2002 and 2004. In 2005, Thomas appeared in UPN's high school detective dram