Thomas Middleditch

Middleditch was born on March 10, 1982, in Nelson, British Columbia, Canada.^[6] His parents are British.^[7] He was cast in a play in eighth grade which he said "changed everything" for him. He discovered improv in grade school from performing with Theatresports.^[6] His first job was acting in Canadian Heritage Plays for his hometown.^[8]

He studied theatre at the University of Victoria before moving to Toronto, where he auditioned for and enrolled in George Brown Theatre School, but never began his course.^[9] He instead opted to make sketches on his own and worked at a New Balance store for an income.^[6] He relocated to Chicago, where he took classes at The Second City and iO Theater, while also performing regularly.^[6] He was a founding member in 2005 of the Improvised Shakespeare Company.^[10] Due to immigration issues, he worked various cash jobs until Charna Halpern sponsored him to get his work visa.^[6] While performing on a Second City cruise, he got an audition for Saturday Night Live.^[6] Though he did not get cast, the routine he used in his audition landed him a network holding deal and he moved to New York City.^[6]

While living in New York City, Middleditch began acting in commercials. In 2007 a sketch video for Chicken McNuggets he made with Fernando Sosa in Chicago was purchased by McDonald's and used as a commercial.^[6][11] He appeared in the 2009 romantic comedy Splinterheads, portraying the lead role of Justin Frost.^[12] On March 25, 2010, he joined a CBS pilot, Hitched, written by Josh Schwartz and directed by Rob Greenberg.^[13] On May 5, 2011, Middleditch made his first appearance in Jake and Amir, in the episode "Jake and Amir: Doobs".^[14]

On May 31, 2011, Middleditch joined the cast of Fun Size, directed by Josh Schwartz.^[15] On August 8, 2011, he joined Road to Nardo,^[16] a film that would have been Scot Armstrong's directorial debut. On December 12, 2011, he joined Jay Roach's The Campaign, starring Will Ferrell and Zach Galifianakis.^[17]

On July 23, 2012, Middleditch joined the cast of Someone Marry Barry, directed and written by Rob Pearlstein and produced by Barry Josephson.^[18] On August 23, 2012, he appeared in The Office's final season episode "The Farm".^[19] He had a role in The Brass Teapot (2013)^[20] and played a police officer in The Kings of Summer (2013).^[21]

On January 30, 2013, Middleditch joined HBO's comedy pilot Silicon Valley, playing Richard Hendricks.^[22] He has said the pilot was written with him in mind as the lead.^[6]

For his work on the show, Middleditch received four Satellite Awards nominations (winning in 2019) and two Critics' Choice Television Award nominations.^[23][24] In 2016, Middleditch earned his first Primetime Emmy Award nomination for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Comedy Series.^[25]

On April 23, 2013, he was added to the cast of Search Party, playing Nardo.^[26] Middleditch made a cameo in The Wolf of Wall Street as a broker fired for cleaning his fish bowl.^[27]

He played a hipster thief in You're The Worst. On The Pete Holmes Show, he portrayed several characters from X-Men and Street Fighter. On October 16, 2013, it was announced that Middleditch would star in Penn Zero: Part-Time Hero.^[28] In 2015, he co-starred in The Final Girls and The Bronze.^[29][30] Also in 2015, he began streaming video games on Twitch.^[31]

In 2014 he joined a CollegeHumor series on YouTube called CAMP.

Middleditch voiced Harold Hutchins in Captain Underpants: The First Epic Movie (2017).^[32] As of 2017, Middleditch has appeared in Verizon commercials.^[33] In 2019, he appeared in Godzilla: King of the Monsters and NBA 2K20.^[34][35]

In April 2020, Middleditch and Ben Schwartz starred in Netflix's improv special Middleditch and Schwartz.^[36]

In October 2020, Middleditch began playing Drew Dunbar in the CBS series B Positive.^[37][38]

In 2022, Middleditch was announced as a collaborator on Pillage Party, a co‑developed original video game project for PC and consoles developed by Australian studio PlaySide. It was planned for release in 2023 on PC and consoles but was never published.^[39]

In June 2025, Middleditch was announced as Chief Creative Officer of a revived Commodore.^[40]

Middleditch became engaged to costume designer Mollie Gates in June 2015.^[41] They married on August 22, 2015. In a 2019 Playboy interview, he revealed they had an open relationship and said swinging "saved our marriage".^[42] In May 2020, Gates filed for divorce.^[43] The divorce was finalized in April 2021.^[44]

Middleditch stated during a January 2022 appearance on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert that he had become a U.S. citizen.^[45]