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'{{Infobox actor | name = Chris Parnell | image = Chris Parnell by David Shankbone.jpg | imagesize = 200px | caption = Parnell at the [[Tribeca Film Festival]] in 2007 | birthname = Thomas Christopher Parnell | birthdate = {{birth date and age|1967|2|5}} | birthplace = [[Memphis, Tennessee|Memphis]], [[Tennessee]], [[United States|U.S.]] | othername = | occupation = Actor/Comedian | yearsactive = 1995–present }} '''Thomas Christopher''' "'''Chris'''" '''Parnell''' (born February 5, 1967) is an [[United States|American]] comic actor best known as a cast member on ''[[Saturday Night Live]]'' from 1998-2006 and currently for his recurring role as [[Dr. Leo Spaceman]] on [[NBC]]'s [[Emmy Award]]-winning comedy series ''[[30 Rock]]''. Parnell also recently co-starred in the short-lived 2008 sitcom ''[[Miss Guided]]'' and is currently one of the lead voices on the [[FX (TV channel)|FX]] animated comedy ''[[Archer (TV series)|Archer]]''. Parnell will star alongside his former ''SNL'' castmate [[Horatio Sanz]] in the upcoming [[Comedy Central]] series ''Big Lake'', which will begin airing on August 3, 2010. ==Early Life== Parnell was born and raised to a [[Southern Baptist]] family in [[Memphis, Tennessee|Memphis]], [[Tennessee]] and graduated from [[Germantown High School (Tennessee)|Germantown High School]] and later attended the [[University of North Carolina School of the Arts]] where he received his BFA in Drama. After graduating, Parnell moved back to [[Tennessee]] and taught acting and film at his former high school. He still had a strong passion for performing and eventually moved to [[Los Angeles]] to pursue an acting career. While in [[Los Angeles]] he began performing with [[The Groundlings]] where he was eventually discovered by ''[[Saturday Night Live]]''. ==Career== After performing as a company player with [[The Groundlings]] for a number of years, Parnell was hired to join the cast of ''[[Saturday Night Live]]'' as a featured player on September 26, 1998, and was promoted to repertory player the following season. In the summer of 2001, budget cuts and hiring four new cast members required [[Lorne Michaels]] to dismiss two cast members; he chose to lay off Parnell and [[Jerry Minor]] over [[Horatio Sanz]], [[Rachel Dratch]], and [[Maya Rudolph]]. After returning to SNL, Parnell appeared in numerous [[Sketch comedy|sketches]], and [[Saturday Night Live commercial|commercial parodies]], and performed memorable [[impressionist (entertainment)|impression]]s of various [[celebrity|celebrities]]. One of his most popular sketches is [[Lazy Sunday]], a rap video he shot with [[Andy Samberg]] about buying [[cupcakes]] and going to see ''[[The Chronicles of Narnia]]''. He has also performed raps about hosts [[Jennifer Garner]], [[Britney Spears]], [[Kirsten Dunst]] and [[Ashton Kutcher]]. In the summer of 2006, Lorne Michaels announced that four cast members would be fired due to budget cuts, but he did not say who.<ref>[http://www.tvsquad.com/2006/08/22/four-snlers-are-history-says-lorne-michaels/ Four SNLers are history, says Lorne Michaels]</ref> On September 22, 2006 it was announced that three cast members had been fired: Parnell, [[Horatio Sanz]], and [[Finesse Mitchell]]. This effectively made him the only SNL performer to have been fired twice by Lorne Michaels, though Parnell did say in a 2008 interview with [[The Sound of Young America]] podcast that he was okay with being let go this time, because he was considering leaving after that season anyway, but added that he probably would have stayed one last season if he was asked back. He had been with SNL for eight seasons; at the time only four people ([[Darrell Hammond]], [[Tim Meadows]], [[Kevin Nealon]], and [[Al Franken]]) have been cast members longer. He has since made uncredited cameo appearances on the show, most recently in 2008 parodying newscasters [[Tom Brokaw]], [[Jim Lehrer]], and [[Bob Schieffer]]. Parnell and his former ''SNL'' castmate [[Horatio Sanz]] will next star together in ''"Big Lake"'', an upcoming [[Comedy Central]] series from executive producers [[Will Ferrell]] and [[Adam McKay]]. Filming recently started in March 2010. ===Recurring characters on SNL=== *Alan "Sticks" McRae, one of Deandra Wells's drummers *Daniel, a student from [[Jimmy Fallon]]'s "Jarrett's Room" sketch who lived in the dorm next to Jarret and Gobi and always falls for their bogus tricks to get girls (because of Parnell's short-lived termination, Parnell's Daniel was replaced by [[Jeff Richards (comedian)|Jeff Richards]]'s character, Jeff, a jock whose gross habits are always caught on Jarret's webcam) *Jeph, a member of the boy band 7 Degrees Celsius *Kevin Aquarius, a dancer covered in silver paint who does the robot on the talk show "Veronica and Co." *One of the Lundford Twins' Feel Good Variety Hour dancers *Merv "The Perv" Watson, a sleazy man who hits on women with equally sleazy double-entendres. Has a British cousin named Steve the Skeev (played by [[Colin Farrell]]) and a twin brother named Irv (played by [[Johnny Knoxville]]). *Sean DeMarco, a wannabe dancer who auditions to be an interpretive dancer for SNL's musical guests. *Tato, the strange manservant to bizarre art dealers Nuni and Nooni *An eyepatched Telemundo actor from Besos Y Lagrimas *Terrye Funck, a wannabe talk show host who creates his own show in the basement of his mom's house *Thad from Gays In Space *Tyler, a frequent patient from the recurring sketch [[Saturday Night Live TV show sketches#Appalachian Emergency Room|Appalachian Emergency Room]] who always tells Nerod ([[Seth Meyers]]) the receptionist tall tales about how he got an object (can of Axe body spray, jar of cotton balls, a plastic bowling pin, a Native American rainstick, his car keys, etc) stuck up his rectum (and in one case, how he got a watermelon stuck to his penis). *Warren Kirney, a married man who always convinces the hired help in his family to have a three-way with him and his wife ([[Ana Gasteyer]]) *Wayne Bloder, a barfly who always hits on the women there, along with his brother, Kip (played by [[Jimmy Fallon]]) *DJ Intro, a DJ who can sing every action. ("SNL, On "Deep House Dish") ===Celebrity impersonations on SNL=== *[[Andrew Card]] *[[Arlen Specter]] *[[Bert Convy]] *[[Bing Crosby]] *[[Bob Barr]] *[[Bob Schieffer]] *[[Cameron Crowe]] *VH1 VJ Cane *[[Chad Lowe]] *[[Charles Gibson]] *[[Chris Fowler]] *[[David Gregory (journalist)|David Gregory]] *[[Emeril Lagasse]] *[[Eminem]] *[[Eric Bloom]] of [[Blue Öyster Cult]] *[[Evan Bayh]] *[[Fred Savage]] *[[Gary Bauer]] *[[George W. Bush]] *[[Jack Osbourne]] *[[Jim Gray (sportscaster)|Jim Gray]] *[[Jim Lehrer]] *Sen. [[Joe Lieberman]] *[[John F. Lehman]] *Sen. [[John McCain]] *[[Justin Bartha]] *[[Karl Rove]] *[[Kenneth Starr]] *[[Lance Bass]] *[[Mark Geragos]] *[[Michael Isikoff]] *[[Michael Kors]] *[[Moe Howard]] ==Filmography== *''[[Jingle All the Way]]'' (1996) as a toy store sales clerk *''[[Operation (film)|Operation]]'' (1998) as a cadaver *''[[Megalomania (film)|Megalomania]]'' (2000) as Stanley Brutus *''[[The Ladies Man (2000 film)|The Ladies Man]]'' (2000) as Phil Swanson *''[[Evil Alien Conquerors]]'' (2002) as Du-ug *''[[Farm Sluts]]'' (2003) as Larry *''[[Down with Love]]'' (2003) as the TV Emcee *''[[National Lampoon's Barely Legal]]'' (2003) as Mr. Ronald Greitzer *''[[Looking for Kitty]]'' (2004) as Guy Borne *''[[Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy]]'' (2004) as Garth Holliday *''[[Wake Up, Ron Burgundy: The Lost Movie]]'' (2004) as Garth Holliday *''[[I'm Reed Fish]]'' (2006) as Ralph *''[[Hot Rod (film)|Hot Rod]]'' (2007) as Barry Pasternak *''[[Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story]]'' (2007) as Theo *''[[Harold (film)|Harold]]'' (2008) as Coach Vanderpool *''[[The Grand (film)|The Grand]]'' (2008) as Harold Melvin *''[[Labor Pains]]'' (2009) as Jerry *''[[Hollywood & Wine]]'' (2009) as Peter West *''[[Kung Fu Magoo]]'' (2010) as Cole Fusion (voice) ==Television== *''[[Big Lake]]'' - Chris Henkel (Series Regular) *''[[30 Rock]]'' - Dr. Leo Spaceman (Recurring Role, 13 episodes) *''[[Archer (TV series)|Archer]]'' - Cyril Figgis (Series Regular) *''[[The Life & Times of Tim]]'' - Various Voices (3 episodes) *''[[Funny or Die Presents]]'' - Various Roles (2 episodes) *''[[Glenn Martin, DDS]]'' - Joe Biden, Various Voices (3 episodes) *''[[Kröd Mändoon and the Flaming Sword of Fire]] - Narrator (voice) *''[[Miss Guided]]'' - Vice Principal Bruce Terry (Series Regular) *''[[WordGirl]]'' - Narrator, Various Voices (Series Regular) *''[[Saturday Night Live]]'' - Cast Member, Various Roles (Series Regular) *''[[Better Off Ted]]'' - Walter Palmer (1 episode) *''[[Ed (TV series)|Ed]]'' - DJ Curtis Morris (1 episode) *''[[Friends]]'' - Bob (1 episode) *''[[The Hughleys]]'' - Rick (1 episode) *''[[Murphy Brown]]'' - Handler #2 (1 episode) *''[[The Jamie Foxx Show]]'' - Director (1 episode) *''[[Nick Freno: Licensed Teacher]]'' - Announcer (1 episode) *''[[Seinfeld]]'' - Stu Crespi (1 episode) *''[[Suddenly Susan]]'' - Phil (2 episodes) *''[[Union Square (television)|Union Square]]'' - Don (1 episode) *''[[Conrad Bloom]]'' - Simpson (2 episodes) *''[[Caroline in the City]]'' - Gene (1 episode) *''[[Hope & Gloria]]'' - Howard (1 episode) ==Music appearances== *''[[Supafloss]] *''[[Incredibad]] *''[[Lazy Sunday]] ==See also== *[[Recurring Saturday Night Live characters and sketches]] ==References== {{reflist}} ==External links== *[http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0663177/ Chris Parnell] at the [[Internet Movie Database]] *[http://www.maximumfun.org/blog/2008/07/podcast-chris-parnell-amazingly-funny.html Extensive audio interview] on public radio program [[The Sound of Young America]] {{DEFAULTSORT:Parnell, Chris}} [[Category:1967 births]] [[Category:Actors from Tennessee]] [[Category:American actors]] [[Category:American comedians]] [[Category:American film actors]] [[Category:American impressionists (entertainers)]] [[Category:American stage actors]] [[Category:American television actors]] [[Category:American voice actors]] [[Category:The Groundlings]] [[Category:Living people]] [[Category:North Carolina School of the Arts alumni]] [[Category:People from Memphis, Tennessee]] [[de:Chris Parnell]] [[pl:Chris Parnell]]'