Kenan Thompson

Kenan Thompson
Thompson in May 2012
Born	Kenan Thompson (1978-05-10) May 10, 1978 Atlanta, Georgia, U.S.
Occupation(s)	Actor, voice actor, comedian
Years active	1992-present
Spouse	Christina Evangeline ​ ​ (m. 2011)​
Website	www.kenanthompson.net

Kenan Thompson (born May 10, 1978) is an American actor, voice actor and comedian. He is best 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 in the sitcom Kenan & Kel and the films Good Burger and Fat Albert. 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 one sibling, Kevin Thompson. He began acting at age 15, appearing in the school play The Gingerbread Duck. One of his earliest roles was as an entertainment reporter for CNN's "Real News for Kids", and he would go on to star in All That, and Kenan & Kel. 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, D3: The Mighty Ducks, Love Don't Cost a Thing, Barbershop 2: Back in Business, My Boss's Daughter, and Snakes on a Plane. Kenan had a recurring role on The Steve Harvey Show as Junior, with co-star Kel Mitchell. Recently, he returned to Nickelodeon for the show The Mighty B! as the voice of Rocky Rhodes. He also guest-starred on iCarly as himself.

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. The series premiered on April 19, 2009, 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, 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.

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 (All That and Kenan and Kel). Kel Mitchell, his comedy partner and close friend, also auditioned to be on SNL, but only Thompson was hired. 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 eleven 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 the third cast member to be born after the show's premiere in 1975 after Mike O'Brien (born 1976) and Bobby Moynihan (born 1977). Thompson also holds the record for most celebrity impressions performed on the show, performing 108, beating Darrell Hammond's previous record of 107.

Personal life

Thompson married model Christina Evangeline on November 11, 2011. Together, they have one child, a girl, born on June 24 of 2014.

Filmography

Thompson at the 2006 San Diego Comic-Con

Performing "An Evening with Kenan Thompson" in 2010

Film

Year	Title	Role
1994	D2: The Mighty Ducks	Russ Tyler
1995	Heavyweights	Roy
1996	D3: The Mighty Ducks	Russ Tyler
1997	Good Burger	Dexter Reed
2000	The Adventures of Rocky and Bullwinkle	Lewis
2002	Big Fat Liar	Party Guest
2002	The Master of Disguise	Guy on Computer
2003	Love Don't Cost a Thing	Walter Colley
2003	My Boss's Daughter	Hans
2004	Barbershop 2: Back in Business	Kenard
2004	Fat Albert	Fat Albert
2006	Snakes on a Plane	Troy
2008	Space Chimps	Ringmaster (voice)
2008	Wieners	Wyatt
2009	Stan Helsing	Teddy
2011	The Smurfs	Greedy Smurf (voice)
2012	The Magic of Belle Isle	Henry
2013	The Smurfs 2	Greedy Smurf (voice)
2015	The Smurfs 3	Greedy Smurf (voice)

Television

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1994–1999	All That	Various Roles	Main role, 102 episodes
1996–1998	The Steve Harvey Show	Junior	4 episodes
1996–2000	Kenan & Kel	Kenan Rockmore	Main role, 68 episodes
1997	Sister, Sister	Trevor	Episode: "Inherit the Twin"
1998	Sabrina, the Teenage Witch	Himself	Guest Appearance, Episode: "Sabrina's Choice"
1999	The Amanda Show	Himself	Guest Appearance, Episode 1.1
	Cousin Skeeter	Kenan Rockmore	Episode: "The Hoo, I'm Wild Wild West"
1999–2000	Oh Yeah! Cartoons	Host
2000	Two Heads Are Better Than None	Kenan Rockmore	Kenan & Kel TV movie
	The Parkers	Damon	Episode: "Trading Places"
2001	Felicity	DeForrest Ingram	4 Episodes
2002	Off Centre	MC French	2 Episodes
2003–Present	Saturday Night Live	Various Roles
2005	Wild 'N Out	Himself	Black Team Leader
2007	Crank Yankers	Mark Thomas	Episode 4.1
2009	Psych	Joon	Episode: "High Top Fade Out"
	Sit Down, Shut Up	Sue Sezno	13 Episodes
2011	iCarly	Himself	Episode: iParty With Victorious
	The '90s Are All That	Host
2013	The Awesomes	Austin "Impresario" Sullivan	Voice
	Martha Speaks	Stanley	Episode: Stanley Saves The Day/Milo Goes For Gold Guest star

Year	Title	Notes
2004	Good Times	Comedy album

External links

• Official website
• Kenan Thompson at IMDb
• Kenan Thompson at the Notable Names Database