Image of Chris Parnell

Chris Parnell

​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).


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Born:
Feb 5, 1967 In Memphis, Tennessee, USA
Movie/TV Credits:
93
First Appeared:
In the series The Big D
Latest Project:
Movie Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse 2023-05-31
Known For
Poster of Austin Found
Poster of Rick and Morty
Poster of 30 Rock
Poster of Saturday Night Live: The Best of Commercial Parodies
Filmography
Series The Big D Unknown 2025
Movie Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse Tarantula (voice) 2023-05-31
Movie Senior Year Jim Conway 2022-05-11
Movie Night at the Museum: Kahmunrah Rises Again Washington (voice) 2022-12-09
Movie Chip 'n Dale: Rescue Rangers Dave Bollinari (voice) 2022-05-20
Movie Finding ʻOhana Brown 2021-01-29
Series Alpha Betas Darryl (voice) 2021-03-13
Movie Home Sweet Home Alone Uncle Stu 2021-11-12
Movie Hot Mess Holiday Mike 2021-12-11
Series Dogs in Space Ed (voice) 2021-11-18
Movie Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt: Kimmy vs. the Reverend Junior 2020-05-12
Movie I Am Woman Artie Mogull 2020-08-28
Movie The Last Laugh Charlie Green 2019-01-11
Movie The Laundromat Doomed Gringo #2 2019-09-27
Series Miracle Workers God's Dad 2019-02-12
Series grown-ish Dean Burt Parker 2018-01-03
Movie Goosebumps 2: Haunted Halloween Walter 2018-10-11
Movie Life of the Party Wayne Truzack 2018-05-10
Series Happy Together Wayne 2018-10-01
Movie Hotel Transylvania 3: Summer Vacation Stan / Fish Man (voice) 2018-06-28
Movie Slice Mayor Tracy 2018-09-10
Movie Michael Bolton's Big, Sexy Valentine's Day Special Dr. Vince Harbert 2017-02-07
Movie Battle of the Sexes DJ 2017-09-22
Movie Austin Found Alan Dickinson 2017-07-07
Movie Elena and the Secret of Avalor Migs (voice) 2016-11-20
Series Elena of Avalor Migs (voice) 2016-07-22
Series The Spoils Before Dying Bebop Jones 2015-07-08
Series Dawn of the Croods Snoot 2015-12-24
Movie Hotel Transylvania 2 Fly (voice) 2015-09-21
Movie Jeff Dunham: Unhinged in Hollywood Self 2015-09-17
Movie The Better Half Daniel 2015-12-15
Series The Mr. Peabody & Sherman Show Mr. Peabody (voice) 2015-10-09
Movie The Ridiculous 6 Bank Manager 2015-12-11
Movie Sisters Phil 2015-12-18
Movie Break Point Jay LaRoche 2014-03-08
Series Benched Mitch 2014-10-28
Movie The Maya Rudolph Show Self 2014-05-19
Movie Escape from Planet Earth Hammer (voice) 2013-02-14
Movie Anchorman 2: The Legend Continues Garth Holliday 2013-12-18
Movie Turbo Announcer #2 (voice) 2013-07-11
Series Rick and Morty Jerry Smith (voice) 2013-12-02
Movie WordGirl: The Rise of Ms. Power 2012-01-01
Movie 21 Jump Street Mr. Gordon 2012-03-14
Movie The Five-Year Engagement Bill 2012-04-27
Movie Hotel Transylvania Mr. Fly (voice) 2012-09-20
Movie The Dictator News Anchor 2012-05-15
Movie Hollywood & Wine Peter West 2011-05-03
Series I Just Want My Pants Back 2011-08-28
Movie Answer This! Brian Collins 2011-10-13
Series Suburgatory Fred Shay 2011-09-28
Movie Prep & Landing: Naughty vs. Nice Mr. Thistleton (voice) 2011-12-05
Movie The Dogfather Brian Franks 2010-04-12
Movie Kung Fu Magoo Cole Fusion / Ninja (voice) 2010-05-11
Movie The Women of SNL Various (archive footage) 2010-11-01
Series Big Lake Chris Henkel 2010-08-17
Series Better Off Ted Unknown 2009-03-18
Movie Saturday Night Live: The Best of Amy Poehler Edward Turlington (archive footage) 2009-04-18
Movie Paper Man Peter 2009-06-15
Series Glenn Martin, DDS Unknown 2009-08-17
Series Archer Cyril Figgis (voice) 2009-09-17
Movie Labor Pains Jerry Steinwald 2009-06-19
Series Miss Guided Vice Principal Bruce Terry 2008-03-18
Movie Harold Coach Vanderpool 2008-07-13
Series Saturday Night Live Weekend Update Thursday 2008-10-09
Movie Eavesdrop Terrence 2008-08-01
Movie I'm Reed Fish Ralph 2007-06-01
Movie The Grand Harold Melvin 2007-06-07
Movie Sunny and Share Love You Kevin Keith Baker 2007-01-01
Movie Kabluey Frank 2007-06-25
Series WordGirl Unknown 2007-09-07
Movie Hot Rod Barry Pasternack 2007-08-03
Movie Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story Theo 2007-12-21
Movie Saturday Night Live: The Best of Commercial Parodies 2006-05-23
Movie Ira & Abby Dr. Ronald Silverberg 2006-06-23
Series 30 Rock Unknown 2006-10-11
Movie Looking for Kitty Guy Borne 2004-05-06
Movie Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy Garth Holliday 2004-06-28
Movie Wake Up, Ron Burgundy: The Lost Movie Garth Holliday 2004-12-28
Movie Down with Love TV Emcee 2003-05-08
Movie Farm Sluts Larry 2003-01-01
Movie Evil Alien Conquerors Du-ug 2003-12-03
Movie Barely Legal Mr. Ronald Greitzer 2003-05-15
Movie Saturday Night Live: The Best of Will Ferrell Himself / Various (archive footage) 2002-09-28
Series Ed Unknown 2000-10-08
Movie Shadow of the Blair Witch Frank Parsons 2000-10-22
Movie The Ladies Man Phil Swanson 2000-10-13
Series The Jamie Foxx Show Unknown 1996-08-28
Movie Jingle All the Way Toy Store Sales Clerk 1996-11-21
Series Friends Bob 1994-09-22
Series Late Night with Conan O'Brien Unknown 1993-09-13
Series Seinfeld Unknown 1989-07-05
Series Murphy Brown Unknown 1988-11-14
Series Saturday Night Live Unknown 1975-10-11