Kenan Thompson

Kenan Thompson
Kenan Thompson in 2013
Born	(1978-05-10) May 10, 1978 Atlanta, Georgia, U.S.
Occupation	Actor, comedian
Years active	1993–present
Television	All That Kenan & Kel Saturday Night Live The Awesomes Nature Cat
Spouse(s)	Christina Evangeline (m. 2011)
Children	1
Website	www.kenanthompson.net

Kenan Thompson (born May 10, 1978)^[1] is an American actor and comedian. He is known for his work as a cast member of NBC's Saturday Night Live. In his teenage years, he was an original cast member of Nickelodeon's sketch comedy series All That. Thompson is also known for his roles as Kenan Rockmore in the sitcom Kenan & Kel, Dexter Reed in the film Good Burger, and Fat Albert as the title character. In his early career he often collaborated with fellow comedian and All That cast member Kel Mitchell. He ranked at #88 on VH1's 100 Greatest Teen Stars.

Early life and career

Thompson was born and raised in Atlanta, Georgia, the son of Fletcher and Elizabeth Ann Thompson. He has two siblings, an older brother and a younger sister. He began acting at age 15, appearing in the school play The Gingerbread Duck.^[2] He auditioned for a theatre company The Youth Ensemble of Atlanta (YEA).^[3] One of his earliest roles was as an entertainment reporter for CNN's "Real News for Kids",^[4] and he would go on to star in All That, and Kenan & Kel.^[4] While Kenan attended Tri-Cities High School, a Visual and Performing Arts Magnet School in East Point, Georgia, he began filming his first movie, D2: The Mighty Ducks.

Film and television career

Kenan has starred in several films including Good Burger, based on the All That sketch of the same name, and Fat Albert, in which he played the title character. He has also had supporting roles in the movies Heavyweights, D2: The Mighty Ducks, D3: The Mighty Ducks, Love Don't Cost a Thing, Barbershop 2: Back in Business, My Boss's Daughter, and Snakes on a Plane. Thompson had a recurring role on The Steve Harvey Show as Junior, with co-star Kel Mitchell.

In 2009, Thompson was a regular voice actor in the Fox cartoon series, Sit Down, Shut Up, portraying Sue Sezno, who, as evidenced by her last name, always says no.^[5] The series premiered on April 19, 2009,^[5] but was canceled after only four episodes due to low ratings and less than favorable reviews. Thompson provided the voice for the LeBron James puppet in Nike's MVP "Most Valuable Puppets" commercials, which were produced to be shown throughout the 2009 NBA Playoffs. Thompson also guest starred on the USA Network TV show Psych in Season 4's "High Top Fade Out" (episode 7). He played an estranged college singing buddy of the character Gus. In 2011 he briefly returned to Nickelodeon, as he guest starred in "iParty with Victorious", a crossover episode of TV sitcoms "iCarly" and "Victorious". Thompson is the current host of TeenNick's 1990's programming block, The '90s Are All That.

In 2015, Fandango announced that Thompson would play their brand character, fictional character Miles Mouvay. Thompson will play Mouvay in 18 videos, eight 30-second commercials, and a few comedic skits.^[6]

On September 23, 2015, Thompson appeared on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon alongside former All That co-star Kel Mitchell in which they reprised their iconic Good Burger roles as "Ed" and "Lester Oakes, Construction Worker".

Saturday Night Live

Thompson returned to sketch comedy when he joined the cast of Saturday Night Live in 2003, becoming the first SNL cast member to be born after SNL's premiere in 1975 and the first SNL cast member to have been a cast member on children's comedy shows (the Nickelodeon sketch show All That and the Nickelodeon sitcom Kenan and Kel). Kel Mitchell, his comedy partner and close friend, also auditioned to be on SNL, but he didn't make the cut. Thompson was a featured player until 2005 (spanning the 29th and 30th seasons), and was promoted to repertory player at the beginning of season 31 (the 2005–2006 season).

Thompson has been a cast member on SNL for fourteen seasons, breaking the record for the longest-serving African-American cast member previously held by Tim Meadows, who stayed on the show for ten seasons. Thompson is now the senior cast member on the show, after Fred Armisen and Seth Meyers left the show. He is also tied with Darrell Hammond for the longest-tenured cast member in the show's history, and is also the third-oldest current cast member after Bobby Moynihan (born 1977)^[7] and Leslie Jones (born 1967). Thompson also holds the record for most celebrity impressions performed on the show, performing 122, beating Hammond's previous record of 107.

On SNL, Thompson has played at least 28 characters, and has done 122 impressions of real life personalities.^[8] The 2004 Saturday Night Live episode that combined host Donald Trump with musical guest Toots and the Maytals^[9] (the artist who introduced the term “reggae” in song^[10]) became reference material for the 2015 SNL writers to create a sketch in which the real Donald Trump has Toots Hibbert (played by Kenan Thompson^[11]) mention his interest in becoming Vice-President.^[12][13]

Personal life

Thompson married model Christina Evangeline on November 11, 2011.^[14] Together, they have one child, a daughter, born in 2014.^[15]

Filmography

Film

Television

References

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Kenan Thompson.

• Official website
• Kenan Thompson at the Internet Movie Database
• Kenan Thompson at the Notable Names Database