Thomas Lennon, an American actor, comedian, screenwriter, producer, director, and novelist, was born on August 9, 1970. In Reno 911, he portrays Lieutenant Jim Dangle!
Thomas Lennon is a skilled screenwriter who collaborated with Robert Ben Garant on a number of blockbuster studio comedies. The Pacifier, Balls of Fury, Baywatch, and the Night at the Museum movies were all written by them.
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Table of Contents
Early Life
Thomas Lennon was raised by his parents, Kathleen, Timothy, and sister, Meggan. Meggan has entered the entertainment industry, appearing as Maya Burroughs in the 2011 movie “Another Earth,” penning the television documentary “Reflections from Ground Zero” in 2002, and working as a field producer on the 2009 documentary “By the People: The Election of Barack Obama.”
Thomas Lennon graduated from Oak Park and River Forest High School in 1988, where he met Kerri Kenney during a Northwestern University theater camp when he was 16 years old.
They both attended New York University and were members of the comedy group The New Group. They would go on to co-create and co-star in the television series “The State” and “Reno 911!” Lennon first chose to study drama at NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts, but he eventually changed to the institution’s cinema program.
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Career
The State, formerly known as The New Group, performed in NYC theaters and bars. Thomas appeared in “Aisle Six,” a short film written and directed by David Wain of The State, in 1992. Members of the group also contributed to the MTV sketch comedy program “You Wrote It, You Watch It.” Thomas co-starred in and contributed to the MTV series “The State” from 1993 to 1995 with Kerri Kenney, Robert Ben Garant, Michael Ian Black, Joe Lo Truglio, Ken Marino, Michael Showalter, and David Wain. Lennon, Garant, and Black developed Comedy Central’s “Viva Variety” in 1997; the show had 28 episodes over four seasons. On the show, Thomas created and produced it as well as acted as Meredith Laupin.
He also made appearances in the feature film “Row Your Boat” (1998) and the short film “A Friend of Dorothy” (1994) during the 1990s. He also provided the voice of a documentarian in the film “Drop Dead Gorgeous” (1999) and appeared in two episodes of “Friends” (1999) as Joey Tribbiani’s “identical hand twin.”
In 2003, Thomas Lennon co-created the unscripted mockumentary-style series “Reno 911!” with Kenney and Garant. He has made appearances in the films “Le Divorce,” “How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days,” and “A Guy Thing.” Up until 2009, the program ran on Comedy Central; in 2020, the streaming site Quibi brought it back.
Thomas Lennon’s Lieutenant Jim Dangle has been a well-liked Halloween costume for almost 20 years. “Reno 911!” inspired the 2007 movie “Reno 911!: Miami” and the 2021 special “Reno 911! : The Hunt for QAnon.” Thomas acted in the movies “Heights” (2005), “Conversations with Other Women” (2005), “Herbie: Fully Loaded” (2005), and “Bickford Shmeckler’s Cool Ideas” (2006).
In 2005’s “The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy,” he provided the voice of Eddie The Shipboard Computer. He portrayed Karl Wolfschtagg in “Balls of Fury” in 2007 and Orville Wright in “Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian” in 2009. He also co-starred in “17 Again” with Matthew Perry and Zac Efron and in “I Love You, Man” with Paul Rudd and Jason Segel.
Following “What to Expect When You’re Expecting” and “The Dark Knight Rises” in 2012, Lennon participated in the movies “Cedar Rapids,” “Bad Teacher,” “What’s Your Number?” and “A Very Harold & Kumar 3D Christmas” in 2011.
Alongside Rob Corddry, Leslie Bibb, and Keegan-Michael Key, Lennon and Garant played a pair of priests/exorcists in “Hell Baby” in 2013, while Thomas made appearances in “Rapture-Palooza,” “We’re the Millers,” and “Sean Saves the World” as Max Thompson. Lennon appeared in the movies “Knight of Cups” (2015), “Monster Trucks” (2016), and “Pottersville” around this time. He played Felix Unger to Matthew Perry’s Oscar Madison in the CBS version of “The Odd Couple” from 2015 to 2017.
He appeared in the movies “A Futile and Stupid Gesture,” “The 15:17 to Paris,” “Half Magic,” “Dog Days,” and “Puppet Master: The Littlest Reich” in 2018. He has recurring roles as Principal Novak on Netflix’s “Santa Clarita Diet” and Leo Getz on Fox’s “Lethal Weapon” from 2017 to 2019. Thomas portrayed Mr. Mxyzpltk in four episodes of “Supergirl” on The CW in 2020. He also made appearances in the movies “Valley Girl” and “Have a Good Trip: Adventures in Psychedelics.” He appeared in “Friends: The Reunion” on HBO Max in 2021 and as Dr. Whomever in the crime drama “Cherry.”
Lennon has also made appearances as a guest star on a number of television shows, including “Veep,” “Modern Family,” “The Goldbergs,” “Children’s Hospital,” and “New Girl” (2019). He replaced Peter Gadiot as Mr. Mxyzpltk in the fifth and sixth seasons of Supergirl in 2020 and 2021.
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Award Nominations
Outstanding Short Form Comedy or Drama Series in 2020 and Outstanding Short Form Comedy, Drama or Variety Series in 2021 are the two Primetime Emmy nominations for Thomas Lennon’s “Reno 911!” He was nominated for the Best Short Form Series Critics’ Choice Super Award in 2021 because of the series. In 1995, he was nominated for a CableACE Award for Comedy Series for “The State,” and in 2009, he and his “I Love You, Man” co-star Paul Rudd were nominated for an MTV Movie Award for Best Kiss.
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Net Worth And Real Estate
American actor, comedian, writer, director, and producer Thomas Lennon has a $6 million fortune.
In the Hancock Park neighborhood of Los Angeles, Thomas and Jenny spent $2.175 million on a 3,051 square-foot house in 2009. The “NewsRadio” and “ER” star Maura Tierney sold the four-bedroom, three-bathroom house to the couple.
Personal Life
On April 27, 2002, Thomas Lennon wed actress Jenny Robertson; their son Oliver was born in 2009. Lennon dressed up as Jim Dangle and worked as a guest cashier at a nearby Walmart in July 2021 to help raise money for the Children’s Hospital of Wisconsin, where the family owns a home. Every gift was doubled by Thomas and Walmart after he asked each customer if they would want to make a donation along with their purchase. Lennon, a supporter of Morrissey and The Smiths, occasionally joins the tribute group Sweet and Tender Hooligans to play guitar.
