Chris Parnell
Acting
- Born:
- 1967-02-05
- Place of birth:
- Memphis, Tennessee, USA
Biography
Thomas Christopher "Chris" Parnell (born February 5, 1967) is an 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 is currently one of the lead voices on the FX animated comedy Archer. In 2010, Parnell starred alongside his former SNL castmate Horatio Sanz in the Comedy Central series Big Lake. 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. While on SNL, Parnell appeared in numerous sketches, and commercial parodies, and performed memorable impressions of various 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. 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 recently starred together in Big Lake, a 2010 sitcom on Comedy Central from executive producers Will Ferrell and Adam McKay. He also recently appeared as Dr. Drummer/Santa in the SyFy Holiday Special episode from the television show Eureka, which aired on December 7, 2010 (Season 4 Episode 10).
Known For
Filmography
Hexed
Wake
Breaking Bear
The Dink
The Hawk
Life, Larry and the Pursuit of Unhappiness: An Almost History of America
Stop! That! Train!
Lorne
Micro Budget
Mimics
A Loud House Christmas Movie: Naughty or Nice
Good Hang with Amy Poehler
Oh My God... Yes! A Series of Extremely Relatable Circumstances
SNL50: The Homecoming Concert
Ladies & Gentlemen... 50 Years of SNL Music
SNL50: Beyond Saturday Night
Our Little Secret
An SNL Thanksgiving
In Fidelity
Fallout
Rock, Paper, Scissors
As We Know It
Krapopolis
Millennial Hunter
My Adventures with Superman
Night at the Museum: Kahmunrah Rises Again
Chip 'n Dale: Rescue Rangers
Senior Year
Hot Mess Holiday
Dogs in Space
Yung Punx: A Punk Parable
Home Sweet Home Alone
Marvel's M.O.D.O.K.
Finding ʻOhana
Name That Tune
I Am Woman
Close Enough
Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt: Kimmy vs. the Reverend
Dummy
The Laundromat
Love, Death & Robots
Alien News Desk
Miracle Workers
The Last Laugh
Goosebumps 2: Haunted Halloween
Happy Together
Slice
Hotel Transylvania 3: Summer Vacation
Life of the Party
grown-ish
Will & Grace
Battle of the Sexes
Elena of Avalor: Realm of the Jaquins
Austin Found
Great News
Michael Bolton's Big, Sexy Valentine's Day Special
Elena and the Secret of Avalor
Rhett & Link's Buddy System
Ask the Storybots
Elena of Avalor
The $100,000 Pyramid
Match Game
Bajillion Dollar Propertie$
Dawn of the Croods
Sisters
The Better Half
The Ridiculous 6
Highston
The Mr. Peabody & Sherman Show
Be Cool, Scooby-Doo!
Adam Ruins Everything
Hotel Transylvania 2
Jeff Dunham: Unhinged in Hollywood
The Spoils Before Dying
Another Period
Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt
Penn Zero: Part-Time Hero
Benched
Bad Judge
black-ish
BoJack Horseman
WordGirl: Earth Day Girl
Garfunkel and Oates
Wordgirl: Monkey Business
The Maya Rudolph Show
AJ's Infinite Summer
Last Week Tonight with John Oliver
The Tom and Jerry Show
Break Point
Late Night with Seth Meyers
Anchorman 2: The Legend Continues
Rick and Morty
The Goldbergs
Brooklyn Nine-Nine
Turbo
Drunk History
WordGirl Vs. The Energy Monster
Escape from Planet Earth
Hotel Transylvania
Gravity Falls
Comedy Bang! Bang!
The Dictator
The Five-Year Engagement
21 Jump Street
WordGirl: The Rise of Miss Power
Prep & Landing: Naughty vs. Nice
Answer This!
Suburgatory
I Just Want My Pants Back
Love Bites
Hollywood & Wine
Workaholics
Mad Love
Bob's Burgers
Conan
The Women of SNL
T.U.F.F. Puppy
Fish Hooks
Big Lake
Kung Fu Magoo
Saturday Night Live in the 2000s: Time and Again
The Dogfather
Archer
Glenn Martin, DDS
Labor Pains
Paper Man
Glee
Saturday Night Live: The Best of Amy Poehler
Better Off Ted
Childrens Hospital
Saturday Night Live Weekend Update Thursday
The Life & Times of Tim
Eavesdrop
Harold
Miss Guided
Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story
WordGirl
Hot Rod
Sunny and Share Love You
Kabluey
The Grand
I'm Reed Fish
30 Rock
Eureka
Ira & Abby
Saturday Night Live: The Best of Commercial Parodies
Robot Chicken
American Dad!
Wake Up, Ron Burgundy: The Lost Movie
Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy
Looking for Kitty
Evil Alien Conquerors
Barely Legal
Down with Love
Farm Sluts
A Freezerburnt Christmas
The Religetables
Saturday Night Live: The Best of Will Ferrell
TV Funhouse
Curb Your Enthusiasm
The Ladies Man
Ed
Family Guy
The Hughleys
Conrad Bloom
Union Square
Jingle All the Way
Suddenly Susan
The Jamie Foxx Show
Caroline in the City
Hope and Gloria
Friends
Late Night with Conan O'Brien
The Simpsons
Seinfeld
Murphy Brown
Shadows on the Wall
Saturday Night Live
Harry and the Mutant Mid-Century Furniture
Crohnie