Thomas F. Wilson
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Thomas F. Wilson in the "Back to the Future" trilogy as Biff Tannen. |
Thomas Francis Wilson, Jr. (born
April 15,
1959 in
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania) is an
American voice-over artist and
character actor. He studied international politics at
Arizona State University.
While in
high school, he was involved in
dramatic
arts, president of the
debate team, and
tuba player in the high school band. Wilson's first 'real' stage experiences were as a
standup comedian, while studying at the
American Academy of Dramatic Arts. He is a contributor to the
Bob and Tom Show and is part of their comedy tour.
His breakthrough is considered to be
Back to the Future (1985). In that movie he played a menace to society named
Biff Tannen. Wilson's talents as a comedian and an actor combined to make Biff a character people loved to hate. When
Back to the Future became a trilogy, he was naturally asked to perform in these sequels again as Biff's grandson
Griff and Biff's great-grandfather
Buford 'Mad Dog' Tannen. He reprised his role as Biff and voiced various Tannen relatives in the franchise's animated series.
He later went to co-star in a
CD-ROM computer game with
Mark Hamill titled:
Wing Commander III: Heart of the Tiger (
1994). It was the third chapter in the
Wing Commander series and it was extremely popular at the time. The game character played by Wilson is Major
Todd "Maniac" Marshall, a fellow
starfighter pilot of Hamill's character. Much like Biff from
Back to the Future "Maniac" Marshall shares a very common unpopularity. Wilson also starred in the following
Wing Commander games
Wing Commander IV: The Price of Freedom (
1996), which was even hailed more than its predecessor and is considered by some to be a classic computer game, and
Wing Commander: Prophecy (
1997). Wilson played McKinley High School's Coach Ben Fredricks in the
1999-
2000 NBC dramedy Freaks and Geeks; Fredricks dated Bill Haverchuck's mother.
In
2003 Wilson appeared on the screen in a
mockumentary movie called
Trial and Error: The Making of Sequestered.
Wilson has often lent his voice to
animated productions such as
Batman: The Animated Series (
1993),
Batman: Gotham Knights (
1998),
Disney's
Atlantis: Milo's Return (
2003), and
The SpongeBob SquarePants Movie (
2004). As well as the animated roles, he has continued to voice characters in
computer and video games. His latest role is a supporting character in the film
Larry the Cable Guy: Health Inspector.
Wilson is also an accomplished painter. In 2006, he was selected to join the California Featured Artist Series at
Disneyland.
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Official website
