Biography:
By the time actor Thomas Haden Church earned an Oscar nomination for his
unforgettable supporting role as a womanizing, has-been actor heading out on one
last fling before tying the knot in director Alexander Payne's critically acclaimed
road drama Sideways (2004), many film and television viewers may have assumed (and
not without merit) that the former Wings star had all but abandoned his career in
front of the cameras. It had, after all, been nearly a decade since Church had
endeared him...
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(read more...)
self to television viewers as lovably dunderheaded mechanic Lowell
Mather on the aforementioned hit television series, and though he did remain fairly
active onscreen after Wings went off the air in 1995, his career took something of
a back seat to his familial commitments and life on his Texas cattle ranch. Coupled
with a conscious decision to move away from acting and try his talents behind the
camera, Church's fading devotion to acting still made his nomination at the 2005
Oscars feel like something of a comeback even though he had remained fairly active
in show business all along.
A Texas native whose early career included a stint as a radio disc jockey and
voice-over announcer, Church first got a taste for acting with an appearance in the
independent feature Gypsy Angels, and a move to Los Angeles followed shortly
thereafter. It didn't take long for the handsome, young aspiring actor to land his
defining role in Wings, and aside from supporting roles in the features Tombstone
and Tales From the Crypt: Demon Knight, it was his role in Wings and the subsequent
television series Ned and Stacey for which he was best remembered for some time.
Following the cancellation of Ned and Stacey, Church turned his attention primarily
to feature films with supporting roles in One Night Stand, 3000 Miles to Graceland,
Monkeybone, and Lone Star State of Mind serving to at least pay the bills. Dejected
by a somewhat stifled acting career and determined to spend more time with his wife
and children, Church opted to step behind the scenes to write and direct the
independent comedy Rolling Kansas. A lighthearted road movie concerning a trio of
brothers' quest to find a seemingly-mythical marijuana field in the sprawling plains
of Kansas, Rolling Kansas made a brief appearance at the 2003 Sundance Film Festival
before making its debut on Comedy Central the following year.
Just when it seemed that the rest of Church's onscreen career may have been
relegated to appearances in George of the Jungle sequels, acclaimed independent
filmmaker Payne had recalled his auditions for his previous two films, Election and
About Schmidt. Though Church hadn't quite made the cut on either of those films,
Payne had taken note of his talent and thought the former Wings star the perfect
candidate to play a formerly popular television star and down-on-his-luck actor
having trouble adjusting to the prospect of marriage in Payne's upcoming comedy
drama Sideways. Cast opposite American Splendor's Paul Giamatti, Church's
alternately desperate and sad performance proved the heart of the film many
considered to be the year's -- not to mention director Payne's -- best.
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