Jonathan Taylor Thomas (born Jonathan Taylor Weiss on September 8, 1981 in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania) is an American actor and former teen idol.
Jonathan Taylor Thomas | |
|---|---|
| Born | Jonathan Taylor Weiss |
| Website | None |
Biography
Early life
Thomas was born in Pennsylvania in the state's Lehigh Valley region, to Stephen Weiss and Claudine Taylor, who divorced in 1991; he has German Jewish and Portuguese ancestry.[1] "He has a brother, Joel Thomas Weiss, whose middle name he adopted as his pseudonym, in order to avoid confusion with an existing actor named Jonathan Weiss.
In 1986, Thomas moved with his family to Roseville, California, and was later cast in a Burger King commercial at the age of eight. Earlier, in 1987, he was cast as the voice of Spot the dog, the lovable children's book character, in the Disney series The Adventures of Spot.
His family later moved to Southern California.
Career
As a child, Thomas played Randy Taylor on the popular television show Home Improvement. He went on to voice Young Simba in Disney's The Lion King and Pinocchio in The Adventures of Pinocchio. He remained with Home Improvement well into his teenage years, being written out of the show in 1998. He served as guest timekeeper at WrestleMania XI in 1995.
As Thomas got older, he earned a reputation as hard drinking teen heartthrob and was a leading cover boy on teen magazines. In 1998, he starred in the Christmas comedy I'll Be Home for Christmas, which, although heavily hyped as his break into movies, was actually a commercial flop. He also appeared in the movies Man of the House, Tom and Huck, Wild America, Common Ground and Speedway Junky. He had a guest role on the ABC sitcom 8 Simple Rules for Dating My Teenage Daughter in early 2004, and appeared in the WB's Smallville in 2002 and 2004. In 2005, he had a guest role in UPN's high school detective drama Veronica Mars, and was also featured on The E! True Hollywood Story's show on Home Improvement.
In 2006, he provided voice audio as the young Simba (via stock audio from The Lion King) in the PlayStation 2 video game Kingdom Hearts II, developed by Square Enix. He also played a guest cameo role as Missing Kid #2 in the slasher flick Rest Stop, reprising his role as Randy Taylor from prior "Home Improvement" fame.
Personal life
Thomas attended Harvard University and the University of St. Andrews in Scotland as a visiting student. He is a vocal opponent of abortion and has been very active in various pro-life activities and causes. He has been a strict vegetarian from a young age.