Dave Thomas (actor)

He is the eldest son of British parents, Moreen Duff Muir (May 4, 1928 - May 18, 2022), a church organist for thirty years originally from Glasgow, Scotland, and composer of church music, and John E. Thomas (1926–1996), a medical ethicist from Merthyr Tydfil, Wales who was head of the Philosophy Department at McMaster University, and the author of several books.

Dave's younger brother, Ian, is a Canadian singer-songwriter.

The family moved temporarily to Durham, North Carolina, where his father attended Duke University and earned a PhD in philosophy.

David William Thomas (born May 20, 1948) is a Canadian actor, comedian and television writer, known for being one half of the duo Bob and Doug McKenzie with Rick Moranis.

David William Thomas was born May 20, 1949, in St. Catharines, Ontario.

The family moved back to Dundas, Ontario, in 1961, where Dave Thomas attended Dundas District high school, and later graduated with an honours Bachelor of Arts degree in English literature from McMaster University in Hamilton, Ontario.

Starting his career as a copywriter at ad agency McCann Erickson in 1974, he became the head writer of the Coca-Cola account in Canada within a year.

After watching a Second City stage show in Toronto, and while suffering from self-described "boredom" in his advertising work, he auditioned for the Second City troupe and was chosen as a performer.

He was a cast member of the Toronto production of Godspell, along with Victor Garber, Martin Short, Eugene Levy, Gilda Radner, and Andrea Martin.

Paul Shaffer was the musical director.

He first achieved fame as a cast member of the Canadian TV comedy series SCTV, joining Godspell castmates Levy, Martin and later Short, plus Rick Moranis, John Candy, Harold Ramis, Catherine O'Hara and others.

Notable characters on the show include Doug McKenzie of beer-swilling brothers Bob and Doug McKenzie, editorialist Bill Needle, Scottish scone-chef/bluesman Angus Crock, motor-mouthed TV ad announcer Harvey K-Tel, Lowery organist/curio pitchman Tex Boil and the "Cruising Gourmet".

Thomas's first film role was in Home to Stay, directed by Delbert Mann, in which Thomas played in a scene with Hollywood legend Henry Fonda.

He then wrote, co-directed, and starred in the Bob & Doug McKenzie feature film Strange Brew.

Soon after, he wrote for and acted in The New Show, produced by Lorne Michaels during his hiatus from Saturday Night Live.

Short-lived, this show featured a powerhouse writing staff including Thomas along with Buck Henry, George Meyer, Jack Handey, Al Franken, Tom Davis, Valri Bromfield and Steve Martin.

His other notable acting credits include Stripes (1981), Sesame Street Presents: Follow that Bird (1985), Love at Stake (1987), Moving (1988), Coneheads (1993) and Rat Race (2001).

He appeared as Doug McKenzie on SCTV, for which he won a Primetime Emmy Award out of two nominations, and in the film Strange Brew (1983), which he also co-directed.

As a duo, they made two albums, The Great White North and Strange Brew, the former gaining them a Grammy Award nomination and a Juno Award.

Thomas tried his hand at network television hour-long shows in 1986 when he wrote and co-executive produced Steel Collar Man for CBS.

The pilot was produced but did not go to series.

In 1988, Thomas wrote another hour long show for CBS, B Men, which was back ordered, but Thomas took a directing job at Paramount, which caused the network to drop the series.

He reportedly introduced John Travolta and Kelly Preston while directing them in the Paramount film The Experts.

He wrote for, produced, and starred in The Dave Thomas Comedy Show (1990).

In 1991, he starred in the Showtime comedy, Public Enemy #2.

In 1992, he tried his hand at reality TV and co-executive produced ABC's America's Funniest People with Vin Di Bona, but left after thirteen weeks to appear in the film Coneheads.

In 1993, he co-starred in ABC's Grace Under Fire with Brett Butler and Tom Poston and continued with the show for 5 seasons.

In 1995 Thomas starred in the ABC television film Picture Perfect with Mary Page Keller and Richard Karn.

In 1995 Thomas produced a pilot of a game show called Family Challenge for ABC.

When ABC did not pick up the series, Thomas sold Family Challenge to the Family Channel, where he produced 144 episodes of the show spread over 2 seasons.

In 1996, Thomas played the title role in the Fox television film Mr. Foster's Field Trip aka Kidz in the Wood with Julia Duffy.

In 1996, he wrote the book SCTV: Behind the Scenes (McClelland & Stewart, publishers).

From 1999-2002, he voiced various roles on the animated series Mission Hill.

Thomas co-starred in the Paramount feature Rat Race.

As of 2001, Thomas has been the Executive Creative Director of Animax Entertainment, an animation studio based officially in Culver City, California.

In 2001-2002 Thomas appeared with Eugene Levy and Martin Short on Short's show Primetime Glick as Bob Hope (an impression he had first developed for SCTV with great success).

In 2002, he co-starred with Jason Priestley, Dave Foley and Ewen Bremner in Fancy Dancing.

The next year he played a lead role in Beethoven's 5th.

He provided the voice of Tuke in Brother Bear (2003), and Brother Bear 2 (2006), and is also known for playing Russell Norton in the TV series Grace Under Fire (1993-1998).

In 2003, he directed a hospital comedy feature film entitled Whitecoats, which he also wrote.