Chris Parnell
- Acting
- February 5, 1967 · 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 · Voice
- Wake
- Breaking Bear · Dwight Salter / Governor Jim Cummings / Shooter (Voice)
- The Dink · Neil
- The Hawk · Anton Floyd
- Life, Larry and the Pursuit of Unhappiness: An Almost History of America · Benjamin Franklin
- Stop! That! Train! · Conductor Davenport
- Lorne · Self
- Micro Budget · Toby
- Mimics · Jack Conrad
- A Loud House Christmas Movie: Naughty or Nice · Gerald (Voice)
- Good Hang with Amy Poehler · Self
- Oh My God... Yes! A Series of Extremely Relatable Circumstances · Ted (Voice)
- SNL50: The Homecoming Concert · Self
- Ladies & Gentlemen... 50 Years of SNL Music · Self
- SNL50: Beyond Saturday Night · Self
- Our Little Secret · Veterinarian
- An SNL Thanksgiving · (archive footage)
- In Fidelity · Lyle Ayker
- Fallout · Overseer Benjamin
- Rock, Paper, Scissors · Parchment Paper (Voice)
- As We Know It · Ted Sommers
- Krapopolis · Ares (Voice)
- Millennial Hunter · John (Voice)
- My Adventures with Superman · Agent Slade Wilson (Voice)
- Night at the Museum: Kahmunrah Rises Again · Washington (Voice)
- Chip 'n Dale: Rescue Rangers · Dave Bollinari (Voice)
- Senior Year · Jim Conway
- Hot Mess Holiday · Mike
- Dogs in Space · Ed (Voice)
- Yung Punx: A Punk Parable · therapist (Voice)
- Home Sweet Home Alone · Uncle Stu
- Marvel's M.O.D.O.K. · Alvin Healy / Tenpin (Voice)
- Finding ʻOhana · Brown
- Name That Tune · Self
- I Am Woman · Artie Mogull
- Close Enough · Ron (Voice)
- Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt: Kimmy vs. the Reverend · Junior
- Dummy · Agent Chett
- The Laundromat · Doomed Gringo #2
- Love, Death & Robots · The Cat (Voice), Sanchez (Voice)
- Alien News Desk
- Miracle Workers · God's Dad
- The Last Laugh · Charlie Green
- Goosebumps 2: Haunted Halloween · Walter
- Happy Together · Wayne
- Slice · Mayor Tracy
- Hotel Transylvania 3: Summer Vacation · Stan / Fish Man (Voice)
- Life of the Party · Mr. Truzack (Wayne)
- grown-ish · Dean Burt Parker
- Will & Grace · Dr. DiLorenzo
- Battle of the Sexes · DJ
- Elena of Avalor: Realm of the Jaquins · Migs (Voice)
- Austin Found · Alan Dickinson
- Great News · Gerald
- Michael Bolton's Big, Sexy Valentine's Day Special · Dr. Vince Harbert
- Elena and the Secret of Avalor · Migs (Voice)
- Rhett & Link's Buddy System · Vice Chairman
- Ask the Storybots
- Elena of Avalor · Migs (Voice)
- The $100,000 Pyramid · Self
- Match Game · Self
- Bajillion Dollar Propertie$ · Walton Rothchild
- Dawn of the Croods · Snoot / Evil Egg (Voice), Snoot / Dub (Voice)
- Sisters · Phil
- The Better Half · Daniel
- The Ridiculous 6 · Bank Manager
- Highston · Wilbur Liggetts
- The Mr. Peabody & Sherman Show · Mr. Peabody (Voice)
- Be Cool, Scooby-Doo! · Dustin Wallswreath / Jim McCoy / Cop (Voice)
- Adam Ruins Everything
- Hotel Transylvania 2 · Fly (Voice)
- Jeff Dunham: Unhinged in Hollywood · Self
- The Spoils Before Dying · Bebop Jones
- Another Period · Dr. Sigmund Freudas
- Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt · Junior
- Penn Zero: Part-Time Hero · Judge Blort Clooney (Voice)
- Benched · Mitch
- Bad Judge · Douglas Riller
- black-ish · Dean Parker