Chris Parnell
Born: 1967-02-05 in Memphis, Tennessee, USA
Known For: Acting
Biography
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).
Filmography
2026
- Stop! That! Train! as Conductor Davenport
- The Hawk as Anton Floyd
- The Dink as Neil
- Life, Larry and the Pursuit of Unhappiness: An Almost History of America as Benjamin Franklin
- Breaking Bear as Dwight Salter / Governor Jim Cummings / Shooter (voice)
- Lorne as Narrator
- Mimics as Jack Conrad
- Micro Budget as Toby
2025
- Good Hang with Amy Poehler as Self - Guest
- Oh My God... Yes! A Series of Extremely Relatable Circumstances as Ted (voice)
- SNL50: Beyond Saturday Night as Self
- Ladies & Gentlemen... 50 Years of SNL Music as Self (archive footage)
- A Loud House Christmas Movie: Naughty or Nice as Gerald (voice)
- SNL50: The Homecoming Concert as Self
2024
- Fallout as Overseer Benjamin
- Rock, Paper, Scissors as Parchment Paper (voice)
- Our Little Secret as Veterinarian
- In Fidelity as Lyle Ayker
2023
- My Adventures with Superman as Agent Slade Wilson (voice)
- Krapopolis as Ares (voice)
- As We Know It as Ted Sommers
- Millennial Hunter as John (voice)
2022
- Chip 'n Dale: Rescue Rangers as Dave Bollinari (voice)
- Night at the Museum: Kahmunrah Rises Again as Washington (voice)
- Senior Year as Jim Conway
2021
- Name That Tune as Self - Contestant
- Home Sweet Home Alone as Uncle Stu
- Dogs in Space as Ed (voice)
- Marvel's M.O.D.O.K. as Alvin Healy / Tenpin (voice)
- Finding ʻOhana as Brown
- Hot Mess Holiday as Mike
- Yung Punx: A Punk Parable as therapist (voice)
2020
- Close Enough as Ron (voice)
- Dummy as Agent Chett
- Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt: Kimmy vs. the Reverend as Junior
- I Am Woman as Artie Mogull
2019
- Love, Death & Robots as The Cat (voice)
- Miracle Workers as God's Dad
- The Laundromat as Doomed Gringo #2
- Alien News Desk
- The Last Laugh as Charlie Green
2018
- grown-ish as Dean Burt Parker
- Hotel Transylvania 3: Summer Vacation as Stan / Fish Man (voice)
- Goosebumps 2: Haunted Halloween as Walter
- Life of the Party as Mr. Truzack (Wayne)
- Happy Together as Wayne
- Slice as Mayor Tracy
2017
- Will & Grace as Dr. DiLorenzo
- Great News as Gerald
- Battle of the Sexes as DJ
- Michael Bolton's Big, Sexy Valentine's Day Special as Dr. Vince Harbert
- Austin Found as Alan Dickinson
- Elena of Avalor: Realm of the Jaquins as Migs (voice)
2016
- Elena of Avalor as Migs (voice)
- The $100,000 Pyramid as Self
- Match Game as Self - Panelist
- Ask the Storybots
- Rhett & Link's Buddy System as Vice Chairman
- Bajillion Dollar Propertie$ as Walton Rothchild
- Elena and the Secret of Avalor as Migs (voice)
2015
- Dawn of the Croods as Snoot / Evil Egg (voice)
- Be Cool, Scooby-Doo! as Dustin Wallswreath / Jim McCoy / Cop (voice)
- Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt as Junior
- Hotel Transylvania 2 as Fly (voice)
- Another Period as Dr. Sigmund Freudas
- The Mr. Peabody & Sherman Show as Mr. Peabody (voice)
- Adam Ruins Everything
- The Ridiculous 6 as Bank Manager
- Sisters as Phil
- The Spoils Before Dying as Bebop Jones
- Highston as Wilbur Liggetts
- Jeff Dunham: Unhinged in Hollywood as Self
- The Better Half as Daniel
2014
- Late Night with Seth Meyers as Self - Guest
- Last Week Tonight with John Oliver as HOA Ambassador
- BoJack Horseman as Klaus / News Reporter (voice)
- The Tom and Jerry Show as Narrator (voice)
- black-ish as Dean Parker
- Penn Zero: Part-Time Hero as Judge Blort Clooney (voice)
- Bad Judge as Douglas Riller
- Garfunkel and Oates as Stan
- Benched as Mitch
- Break Point as Jay LaRoche
- AJ's Infinite Summer as Dad (voice)
- The Maya Rudolph Show as Self
2013
- Rick and Morty as Jerry Smith (voice)
- Brooklyn Nine-Nine as Geoffrey Hoytsman
- The Goldbergs as Harrison Whitby
- Drunk History as Thomas Edison
- Turbo as Announcer #2 (voice)
- Anchorman 2: The Legend Continues as Garth Holliday
- Escape from Planet Earth as Hammer (voice)
2012
- Gravity Falls as Host (voice)
- Hotel Transylvania as Mr. Fly (voice)
- Comedy Bang! Bang! as Poseidon
- 21 Jump Street as Mr. Gordon
- The Dictator as News Anchor
- The Five-Year Engagement as Bill
- WordGirl: The Rise of Miss Power
2011
- Bob's Burgers as Warren Fitzgerald (voice)
- Workaholics as Bruce Benson
- Suburgatory as Fred Shay
- Love Bites as Chad Banks (segment "A Sexual Haunting")
- Mad Love as Officer Barrett
- Prep & Landing: Naughty vs. Nice as Mr. Thistleton (voice)
- I Just Want My Pants Back as JB
- Hollywood & Wine as Peter West
- Answer This! as Brian Collins
2010
- Conan as Self
- Fish Hooks as Announcer / Allibut (voice)
- T.U.F.F. Puppy as Caped Cod (voice)
- Big Lake as Chris Henkel
- Kung Fu Magoo as Cole Fusion / Ninja (voice)
- The Women of SNL as Various (archive footage)
- The Dogfather as Brian Franks
- Saturday Night Live in the 2000s: Time and Again as Self
2009
- Glee as Mario
- Archer as Cyril Figgis (voice)
- Glenn Martin, DDS
- Better Off Ted as Walter
- Labor Pains as Jerry Steinwald
- Paper Man as Peter
- Saturday Night Live: The Best of Amy Poehler as Edward Turlington (archive footage)
2008
- Childrens Hospital as Ron Pippin
- The Life & Times of Tim as William (voice)
- Saturday Night Live Weekend Update Thursday
- Miss Guided as Bruce Terry
- Harold as Coach Vanderpool
- Eavesdrop as Terrence
2007
- WordGirl
- Hot Rod as Barry Pasternack
- Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story as Theo
- The Grand as Harold Melvin
- Kabluey as Frank
- I'm Reed Fish as Ralph
- Sunny and Share Love You as Kevin Keith Baker
2006
- 30 Rock as Dr. Leo Spaceman
- Eureka as Dr. Noah Drummer
- Ira & Abby as Dr. Ronald Silverberg
- Saturday Night Live: The Best of Commercial Parodies
2005
- American Dad! as Doctor (voice)
- Robot Chicken as Scooter / Major Nelson (voice)
2004
- Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy as Garth Holliday
- Wake Up, Ron Burgundy: The Lost Movie as Garth Holliday
- Looking for Kitty as Guy Borne
2003
- Barely Legal as Mr. Ronald Greitzer
- Down with Love as TV Emcee
- Evil Alien Conquerors as Du-ug
- Farm Sluts as Larry
2002
- Saturday Night Live: The Best of Will Ferrell as Self / Various (archive footage)
- The Religetables
- A Freezerburnt Christmas
2000
- Curb Your Enthusiasm as Hank
- Ed as DJ Curtis Morris
- TV Funhouse as James Brolin (voice)
- The Ladies Man as Phil Swanson
1999
- Family Guy as Joe Paterno (voice)
1998
- The Hughleys as Rick
- Conrad Bloom as Simpson
1997
- Union Square as Don
1996
- The Jamie Foxx Show as Director
- Jingle All the Way as Toy Store Sales Clerk
- Suddenly Susan as Waiter
1995
- Caroline in the City as Gene
- Hope and Gloria as Howard
1994
- Friends as Bob
1993
- Late Night with Conan O'Brien as Self - Guest
1989
- The Simpsons as Surgeon fiancé (voice)
- Seinfeld as NBC Executive
1988
1986
- Shadows on the Wall as Charlie
1975
- Saturday Night Live as Self - Various Characters