Church, Thomas Haden (1961- )

US actor. He gained wide acclaim for his role as a womanizing, washed-up actor opposite Paul Giamatti in Alexander Payne's road movie Sideways (2004), for which he was nominated for a 2005 Academy Award for best supporting actor.

He played the endearingly obtuse airplane mechanic Lowell Mather on the popular television comedy series Wings 1990-95 and the title character, opposite Debra Messing, on the sitcom Ned and Stacey (1995).

Church was born in Fort Worth, Texas. He worked as a disc jockey and voice-over artist before moving to Los Angeles, California, to pursue a career in film. He debuted in an uncredited role in the adventure Gypsy Angels (1980). Among his other films in supporting roles are the western Tombstone (1993), the family comedy George of the Jungle (1997; and its sequel, 2003), the comedy thriller 3,000 Miles to Graceland (2001), and the crime comedy Lone Star State of Mind (2002). He wrote, directed, and appeared in the indie road comedy Rolling Kansas (2003), which premiered at the Sundance Film Festival and debuted on the Comedy Central cable channel in 2004. He was also executive producer of the drama Scotch and Milk (1998).