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!
- Lorne as Narrator
- The Hawk as Anton
- Woody and Friends as Professor Houston
- The Dink
- Mimics as Jack Conrad
- Micro Budget as Toby
2025
- SNL50: Beyond Saturday Night as Self
- Oh My God... Yes! A Series of Extremely Relatable Circumstances as Ted (voice)
- SNL50: The Homecoming Concert as Self
- A Loud House Christmas Movie: Naughty or Nice as Gerald (voice)
- Ladies & Gentlemen... 50 Years of SNL Music as Self (archive footage)
- Saturday Night Live: 50th Anniversary Special as Self - Audience Member
2024
- Fallout as Overseer Benjamin
- Rock, Paper, Scissors as Parchment Paper (voice)
- Our Little Secret as Veterinarian
- In Fidelity as Lyle Ayker
2023
- Krapopolis as Ares (voice)
- My Adventures with Superman as Agent Slade Wilson (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
- Dogs in Space as Ed (voice)
- Marvel's M.O.D.O.K. as Alvin Healy / Tenpin (voice)
- Home Sweet Home Alone as Uncle Stu
- 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
- I Am Woman as Artie Mogull
- Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt: Kimmy vs. the Reverend as Junior
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)
- Life of the Party as Mr. Truzack (Wayne)
- Goosebumps 2: Haunted Halloween as Walter
- Happy Together as Wayne
- Slice as Mayor Tracy
2017
- Will & Grace as Dr. DiLorenzo
- Great News as Gerald
- Battle of the Sexes as DJ
- Austin Found as Alan Dickinson
- Elena of Avalor: Realm of the Jaquins as Migs (voice)
- Michael Bolton's Big, Sexy Valentine's Day Special as Dr. Vince Harbert
2016
- Elena of Avalor as Migs (voice)
- Match Game as Self - Panelist
- The $100,000 Pyramid as Self
- Bajillion Dollar Propertie$ as Walton Rothchild
- Ask the Storybots
- Rhett & Link's Buddy System as Vice Chairman
- Elena and the Secret of Avalor as Migs (voice)
2015
- Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt as Junior
- Dawn of the Croods as Snoot / Dub (voice)
- Be Cool, Scooby-Doo! as Dustin Wallswreath / Jim McCoy / Cop (voice)
- Another Period as Dr. Sigmund Freudas
- The Mr. Peabody & Sherman Show as Mr. Peabody (voice)
- Hotel Transylvania 2 as Fly (voice)
- Adam Ruins Everything
- Sisters as Phil
- The Spoils Before Dying as Bebop Jones
- The Ridiculous 6 as Bank Manager
- Highston as Wilbur Liggetts
- The Better Half as Daniel
- Jeff Dunham: Unhinged in Hollywood as Self
2014
- Late Night with Seth Meyers as Self - Guest
- BoJack Horseman as Klaus / News Reporter (voice)
- Last Week Tonight with John Oliver as HOA Ambassador
- black-ish as Dean Parker
- The Tom and Jerry Show as Narrator (voice)
- Penn Zero: Part-Time Hero as Judge Blort Clooney (voice)
- Benched as Mitch
- Bad Judge as Douglas Riller
- Garfunkel and Oates as Stan
- Break Point as Jay LaRoche
- The Maya Rudolph Show as Self
- AJ's Infinite Summer as Dad (voice)
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 Additional Voices (voice)
- Comedy Bang! Bang! as Poseidon
- Hotel Transylvania as Mr. Fly (voice)
- The Dictator as News Anchor
- 21 Jump Street as Mr. Gordon
- 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
- I Just Want My Pants Back
- Prep & Landing: Naughty vs. Nice as Mr. Thistleton (voice)
- Answer This! as Brian Collins
- Hollywood & Wine as Peter West
2010
- Conan as Self
- Fish Hooks as Announcer / Allibut (voice)
- T.U.F.F. Puppy as Caped Cod (voice)
- Big Lake as Chris Henkel
- The Women of SNL as Various (archive footage)
- Kung Fu Magoo as Cole Fusion / Ninja (voice)
- 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)
- Better Off Ted as Walter
- Glenn Martin, DDS
- Paper Man as Peter
- Labor Pains as Jerry Steinwald
- 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)
- Miss Guided as Bruce Terry
- Saturday Night Live Weekend Update Thursday
- Eavesdrop as Terrence
- Harold as Coach Vanderpool
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
- Suddenly Susan as Waiter
- Jingle All the Way as Toy Store Sales Clerk
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
1975
- Saturday Night Live as Self - Various Characters