| Thomas F. Wilson | |||||||||||||
| Birth Name: | Thomas Francis Wilson Jr. | ||||||||||||
| Birth Date: | 15 April 1959 | ||||||||||||
| Birth Place: | Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, U.S. | ||||||||||||
| Other Names: | Tom Wilson | ||||||||||||
| Years Active: | 1979–present | ||||||||||||
| Children: | 4 | ||||||||||||
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Thomas Francis Wilson Jr. (born April 15, 1959) is an American actor, stand-up comedian, musician, podcaster and YouTuber. He is best known for playing Biff Tannen, Griff Tannen, and Buford "Mad Dog" Tannen in the Back to the Future film trilogy (1985–1990). He also played coach Ben Fredricks in the comedy series Freaks and Geeks (1999–2000) and voices various characters, mainly villains, on the animated series SpongeBob SquarePants (2001–present).
Thomas Francis Wilson Jr. was born in Philadelphia on April 15, 1959, and grew up in nearby Wayne. While attending Radnor High School, he was involved in dramatic arts,[1] served as president of the debate team (where his partner was future New York Times columnist David Brooks), played the tuba in the high school band, and was the drum major of the school marching band. He studied international politics at Arizona State University and attended the American Academy of Dramatic Arts in New York City. In 1979, he got his first significant stage experience as a comedian.
In 1981, Wilson moved to Los Angeles to pursue his acting career.[2] [3] He shared an apartment with fellow aspiring comedians Andrew Dice Clay and Yakov Smirnoff, and later joked that he "taught them both about America".[4] He had a small role in the second season of NBC's Knight Rider in an episode titled "A Knight In Shining Armor".
Wilson's breakthrough role was as the bully Biff Tannen in the 1985 film Back to the Future. He returned in the sequels Back to the Future Part II and Back to the Future Part III to not only reprise his role as Biff, but to also play Biff's grandson Griff Tannen and great-grandfather Buford "Mad Dog" Tannen. In each Back to the Future film, his character ends up in a pile of manure after trying to kill or hurt Michael J. Fox's character Marty McFly. He reprised his role as Biff and voiced various Tannen relatives in the animated series. Wilson did not reprise his role as Biff in the initial versions of Telltale's released in 2011, being replaced by Kid Beyond. When the game was ported to the PlayStation 4, Xbox 360 and Xbox One in 2015 in commemoration of the original film's 30th anniversary, Wilson returned to provide Biff's voice in these newer versions. Wilson found the car scene in the first Back to the Future, in which he molests Lea Thompson's character, Lorraine the most difficult scene he shot. In between takes Wilson whispered to Thompson "I'm so sorry, Lea." to which Thompson replied with "It's just acting, Tom."
In 1992, he voiced gangster Tony Zucco in and police detective Matt Bluestone in the animated series Gargoyles. He later went to co-star with Mark Hamill in the video game . It was the third chapter in the Wing Commander series, but the first to feature live action and was extremely popular at the time. The character played by Wilson was Major Todd "Maniac" Marshall, a fellow starfighter pilot to Hamill's character. Wilson also starred in the sequels (1995) and (1997) and contributed his voice to the animated series Wing Commander Academy (1996) in the same role. He also guest starred in an episode of in 1997.
Wilson played McKinley High School's Coach Ben Fredricks in the 1999–2000 NBC comedy drama Freaks and Geeks. In 1994, Wilson was briefly reunited with his Back to the Future co-star Christopher Lloyd in the film Camp Nowhere.
Wilson has done voice-over work for the Nickelodeon television series SpongeBob SquarePants. He has voiced many villainous characters that are physically strong and menacing, such as Flats the Flounder in the third-season episode "The Bully", The Tattletale Strangler in "SpongeBob Meets the Strangler", and the non-villainous character Reg the Club Bouncer in "No Weenies Allowed". In 2005, he played Coach Phelps in the TV series Zoey 101.[5]
In 2009, he released his first stand-up comedy special and second comedy album, Tom Wilson: Bigger Than You.[6]
He hosted a podcast, Big Pop Fun, on the Nerdist Network from 2011 to 2014. The podcast featured Tom sharing stories of his career, as well as informal chats with show business friends including Samm Levine, Blake Clark, Steve Oedekerk and "Weird Al" Yankovic.
Wilson currently maintains a YouTube channel, where he regularly vlogs. As of March 2023, his channel has over 36,100 subscribers.[7]
Wilson married Caroline Thomas on July 6, 1985.[8] They have four children, and live in Los Angeles, California.
Wilson is a devout Catholic and released a contemporary Christian album in 2000 called In the Name of the Father.[9] He is also a painter in his spare time,[10] and many of his paintings focus on classic children's toys. In 2006, he was selected to join the California Featured Artist Series at Disneyland.[11]
With the rise in popularity of the Back to the Future series, many people began to ask Wilson questions about his experiences making the films. He found the repetitive nature of the questions to be both hilarious and frustrating, and wrote a song about them titled "Biff's Question Song" which he includes in his stand-up routine.[12]
| Year | Title | Role | Notes | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1985 | Ninja Turf | Member of Spike's Gang | ||
| Back to the Future | Biff Tannen | |||
| 1986 | April Fool's Day | Arch Cummings | ||
| Let's Get Harry | Bob Pachowski | |||
| 1987 | Smart Alex | Lieutenant Stevenson | ||
| 1988 | Action Jackson | Officer Kornblau | ||
| 1989 | Back to the Future Part II | Biff Tannen, Griff Tannen, Gertrude Tannen | ||
| 1990 | Back to the Future Part III | Buford "Mad-Dog" Tannen, Biff Tannen | Saturn Award for Best Supporting Actor | |
| 1991 | High Strung | Al Dalby | ||
| 1993 | Blood In Blood Out | Det. Rollie McCann | ||
| 1994 | Caroline at Midnight | Officer Keaton | ||
| Mr. Write | Billy | |||
| Camp Nowhere | Lt. Eliot Hendricks | |||
| 1995 | Born to Be Wild | Det. Lou Greenburg | ||
| 1997 | That Darn Cat | Officer Melvin | ||
| 1998 | Girl | The Ticket Seller | ||
| 2003 | Ashtin Carnaby | Voice, direct-to-video[13] | ||
| 2004 | The SpongeBob SquarePants Movie | Victor, Fish #3, Tough Fish #1 | Voice | |
| 2006 | Bart Tatlock | |||
| Zoom | Dylan's Teacher | |||
| 2009 | The Informant! | Mark Cheviron | ||
| House Broken | Fire Chief Henry Decker | |||
| 2010 | Kevin | |||
| 2011 | Rio | Trapped Bird, Screaming Hang Glider | Voice | |
| 2012 | Robert Collins | |||
| 2013 | Epic | Finn | Voice | |
| The Heat | Captain Frank Woods | |||
| Tom and Jerry's Giant Adventure | Mr. Bigley, Ginormous | Voice, direct-to-video | ||
| 2015 | Angry Customer #1 | Voice | ||
| 2021 | Coach Lawrence | Voice |
| Year | Title | Role | Notes | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1984 | Knight Rider | Chip | Episode: "A Knight in Shining Armor" | |
| The Facts of Life | Moose | Episode: "All or Nothing" | ||
| 1990 | Turner & Hooch | Det. Scott Turner | Pilot | |
| 1991–1992 | Back to the Future | Biff Tannen, additional voices | Voice, 26 episodes | |
| 1992 | Tony Zucco, John Grayson | Voice, episode: "Robin's Reckoning" | ||
| 1995–1996 | Gargoyles | Matt Bluestone | Voice, 14 episodes | |
| 1996 | Joey | Voice, episode: "A Little Piece of Home" | ||
| Wing Commander Academy | Todd 'Maniac' Marshall | Voice, 13 episodes | ||
| Sabrina, the Teenage Witch | Simon | Episode: "Dream Date" | ||
| Andersonville | Thomas Sweet | Television film | ||
| 1997 | Carter Landry | Episode: "Lethal Weapon" | ||
| Duckman | Park Ranger Smith | Voice, episode: "Short, Plush and Deadly" | ||
| Aaahh!!! Real Monsters | Marty | Voice, 2 episodes | ||
| steve.oedekerk.com | Costumer, Talk Show Host | Television special | ||
| 1997–1998 | Fired Up | Steve Summer | 5 episodes | |
| 1998 | Pinky and the Brain | Larry Bruhn | Voice, episode: "Dangerous Brains" | |
| Men in White | Ed Klingbottom | Television film | ||
| The New Batman Adventures | Howlin' Jake, Gotham Angels Biker | Voice, episode: "Torch Song" | ||
| Zoomates | Mark the Polar Bear | Voice, television short | ||
| Maggie | Hank | 2 episodes | ||
| The Angry Beavers | Otis Otto, Bowling Patron | Voice, episode: "Alley Oops!" | ||
| 1999 | The Hughleys | Stan | Episode: "Why Can't We Be Friends?" | |
| Pepper Ann | Coach Bronson | Voice, episode: "Beyond Good and Evel/One of the Guys" | ||
| 1999–2000 | Freaks and Geeks | Coach Ben Fredricks | 6 episodes | |
| 2000–2001 | Max Steel | Pete Costas | Voice, 20 episodes | |
| 2000 | Buzz Lightyear of Star Command | Buster | Voice, episode: "Root of Evil" | |
| 2001 | Nash Bridges | Jack Noon | Episode: "Bear Trap" | |
| The Zeta Project | Burly Boyfriend | Voice, episode: "West Bound" | ||
| Titus | Joe | Episode: "Amy's Birthday" | ||
| 2001–present | SpongeBob SquarePants | Flats the Flounder, Tattletale Strangler, Marty, Herb Star, Regg, additional voices | Voice, recurring role | |
| 2002 | She Spies | Roger 'Rush' Gibson | Episode: "Fondles" | |
| 2002–2003 | Do Over | Coach Dorsey | 4 episodes | |
| 2003 | Ed | Sean Nowell | 4 episodes | |
| The Pitts | Guard | Voice, episode: "Ticket to Riot" | ||
| Boston Public | Paul Stanton | Episode: "Chapter Sixty-Six" | ||
| Stripperella | Tom Green, Zumo, Painted Patron, Director | Voice, 2 episodes | ||
| Two and a Half Men | Mike | Episode: "Pilot" | ||
| 2004 | The Mullets | Lyle Turner | Episode: "Losin' It" | |
| Rock Me Baby | Buffalo Buck | Episode: "Go, Otis! It's Your Birthday | " | |
| Johnny Bravo | Trent | Voice, episode: "The Time of My Life/Run Johnny Run" | ||
| 2005 | Rodney | Bill | Episode: "Sorry Charlie" | |
| Zoey 101 | Coach Phelps | Episode: "Disc Golf" | ||
| Higglytown Heroes | Truck Driver | Voice, episode: "Kip's Dad Gets a Strike" | ||
| Reba | Ted | Episode: "Reba and the One" | ||
| George Lopez | Sonny | Episode: "George Drives the Batmobile" | ||
| 2006 | Help Me Help You | Kenny | 4 episodes | |
| Still Standing | Coach Kirk Stone | Episode: "Still Flunking" | ||
| Cold Case | Arnold Brown | Episode: "Superstar" | ||
| 2006–2008 | Ghost Whisperer | Tim Flaherty | 6 episodes | |
| 2007 | American Body Shop | Juicy Lou | 2 episodes | |
| House | Lou | Episode: "Whatever It Takes" | ||
| Boston Legal | Jeffrey Bass | Episode: "Attack of the Xenophobes" | ||
| 2008 | The Spectacular Spider-Man | Stan Carter | Voice, 6 episodes | |
| Bones | Chip Barnett | Episode: "The Baby in the Bough" | ||
| Back at the Barnyard | Krebs | Voice, episode: "Brave Udders" | ||
| 2008–2009 | Sportsmaster, Catman | Voice, 12 episodes | ||
| 2009 | Psych | Butch | Episode: "Let's Get Hairy" | |
| Family Guy | First Step | Voice, episode: "Quagmire's Baby" | ||
| 2010 | Adventure Time | Head Marauder, Cat Man, Coal Guy | Voice, 2 episodes | |
| True Jackson, VP | Ben Franklin | Episode: "Field Trip" | ||
| 2010–2011 | Big Love | Ricky Jax | 3 episodes | |
| 2011 | Harry's Law | Allan Meade | Episode: "Bangers in the House" | |
| Billion Dollar Freshmen | Principal Preston | Pilot | ||
| Planet Sheen | Narrator, Blurg #1 | Voice, 2 episodes | ||
| Melissa & Joey | Councilman Herbert Hancock | Episode: "Play Ball" | ||
| 2011–2012 | Franklin & Bash | Spiritual Advisor | 2 episodes | |
| 2012–2016 | Bucket | Voice, 19 episodes | ||
| 2013 | Zach Stone Is Gonna Be Famous | Andrew "Drew" Stone | 12 episodes | |
| Mad | Additional voices | Episode: "S Cape from Planet Earth/The X-Mentalist" | ||
| 2014 | See Dad Run | Principal Templeman | 2 episodes | |
| 2015–2018 | Pig Goat Banana Cricket | Banana | Voice, main role | |
| 2016 | The Ranch | Coach Fitzgerald | Episode: "The Boys of Fall" | |
| K.C. Undercover | Agent Whitman | Episode: "The Legend of Bad, Bad Cleo Brown" | ||
| School of Rock | Mr. Finn's Dad | Episode: "A Band with No Name" | ||
| 2016–2018 | Coach Lawrence | Voice, 21 episodes | ||
| 2017 | Workaholics | Barnes | Episode: "The Most Dangerless Game" | |
| Training Day | Gary Milestone | Episode: "Quid Pro Quo" | ||
| Doubt | Anthony Kellem | Episode: "Running Out of Time" | ||
| Will vs. The Future | Principal Rhodes | Pilot | ||
| The Mayor | Governor Fillucci | Episode: "Here Comes the Governor" | ||
| 2017–2018 | Mosaic | Cliff Jones | 3 episodes | |
| 2018–2019 | Coach Lawrence | Voice, 9 episodes | ||
| Legends of Tomorrow | Henry "Hank" Heywood | 9 episodes | ||
| 2019 | SpongeBob's Big Birthday Blowout | Dog walker/Himself | Television special | |
| The Epic Tales of Captain Underpants | Major Messy/Camoflush | Voice, episode: "Captain Underpants and the Cunning Combat of the Covert Camoflush" | ||
| 2020–2021 | Sydney to the Max | Grandpa Doug | 3 episodes | |
| 2020 | Coach Laurence | Voice, episode: "Wizard Underground" | ||
| 2020 | NCIS | Angus DeMint | Episode: "Blood and Treasure" | |
| 2021–present | The Patrick Star Show | Cecil Star | Voice, main role | |
| 2022–present | Spidey and His Amazing Friends | Sandman | Voice,[14] 4 episodes | |
| 2022 | Cecil Star | Voice, episode: "Help Not Wanted" |
| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1990 | Back to the Future... The Pinball | Biff Tannen | uncredited |
| 1994 | Maj. Todd "Maniac" Marshall | Credited as Tom Wilson | |
| 1996 | |||
| 1997 | |||
| 2000 | Crewman Rick Biessman | ||
| 2001 | Rok-Ko | Credited as Tom Wilson | |
| 2002 | Craig | ||
| 2010 | Catman | ||
| Electro | |||
| 2011 | Additional voices | ||
| 2013 | Back to the Future: Back in Time Video Slots | Biff Tannen | |
| 2015 | Back to the Future: The Game 30th Anniversary Edition | Credited as Tom Wilson |
| Year | Title | Position | Notes | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1989 | The Last Ride | Writer | Short film | |
| 1996 | Get Serious: Seven Deadly Subs | Writer, producer | 6 episodes |