Kenan Thompson (; born May 10, 1978) is an American actor and comedian. He has been a cast member on the NBC sketch comedy series Saturday Night Live since 2003, making him the longest-tenured cast member in the show's history. He was also the first regular cast member born after the show's premiere in 1975. Outside of SNL, Thompson starred on NBC's sitcom Kenan from 2021 to 2022.
Thompson began his acting career in the early 1990s, and was an original cast member of Nickelodeon's sketch comedy series All That (1994–2005), where he often collaborated with co-star Kel Mitchell. Beginning in 1996, they starred in their own sitcom Kenan & Kel (1996–2000). Thompson also had roles in The Mighty Ducks franchise, Good Burger and its sequel Good Burger 2, and as the title character in the 2004 film Fat Albert. His voice acting work includes Space Chimps (2008), Rock Dog (2016), The Grinch (2018) and Wonder Park (2019).
He has been nominated six times for a Primetime Emmy Award for his work on SNL, winning once. He is ranked at No. 88 on VH1's 100 Greatest Teen Stars.
Early life
Thompson was born on May 10, 1978, in Columbus, Ohio. His parents are Fletcher and Elizabeth Ann Thompson. He has two siblings: an older brother and a younger sister. His family moved to Atlanta, Georgia, when he was 9 months old. Thompson's mother enrolled him in acting classes at age five. His first role as Toto in a church production of The Wiz had no lines. He auditioned for a theater company, The Youth Ensemble of Atlanta (YEA). As a child, he was a fan of The Price Is Right, which he has called "my first love" and "very joyful viewing" that shaped his acting style.
Career
1994–2002: Breakthrough with Kenan & Kel
One of Thompson's earliest roles was as an entertainment reporter for CNN's "Real News for Kids". He went on to star in the original run of All That for its first five seasons, playing such characters as Principal Pimpell, Miss Piddlin, Pierre Escargot, and Superdude. He starred as Kenan Rockmore on Nickelodeon's Kenan & Kel from 1996 to 2000, mostly while still working on All That. Thompson said he had sent several audition tapes to SNL, which dismissed him as looking too young; he said "it was a couple years' worth of that".
Thompson has been a cast member on SNL for 22 years, breaking the record for the longest-tenured cast member in the show's history previously held by former castmate Darrell Hammond, who was on the show for 14 years. Thompson became the most senior cast member in the second half of the 2013–14 season, following the departure of Seth Meyers. Thompson also holds the record for most celebrity impressions performed on the show, performing 139, beating Hammond's previous record of 107. Although early on he planned to stay on the show until something else came along, by 2019 he noted that SNL was his "forever plan".
In 2014, SNL head writer Brian H. Tucker noted that simply putting "KENAN REACTS" would get a script more laughs, further elaborating, "Put him in your sketch somewhere, anywhere, and your sketch will get better. Because Kenan knows how to take ordinary lines and make them funny, and take funny lines and make them special." Similarly, Lorne Michaels in a 2019 article referred to Thompson as "the person I most rely on in the cast".
Thompson's celebrity impressions on SNL include Al Sharpton, Whoopi Goldberg, Bill Cosby, Charles Barkley, David Ortiz, O. J. Simpson, and Steve Harvey. He has performed in over 1,500 sketches, hitting the mark during the March 5, 2022, episode hosted by Oscar Isaac. In commemoration of his 20th anniversary on the show, Thompson received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame on August 11, 2022. It was placed next to Lorne Michaels's star.
Recurring characters
- Darnell Hayes, the host of Black Jeopardy! The series premiered on April 19, 2009,
alt=Thompson waving|thumb|Thompson at a [[Washington Capitals event with the Stanley Cup in 2018]]
In 2015, film ticketing website Fandango announced that Thompson would play their brand character, Miles Mouvay. Thompson would play Mouvay in 18 videos, eight 30-second commercials, and several comedic skits.
On September 23, 2015, Thompson appeared on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon alongside former All That co-star Kel Mitchell in which they reprised their popular Good Burger roles as "Ed" and "Lester Oakes, Construction Worker". They later competed against one another in an episode of the revived Nickelodeon game show Double Dare that aired in November 2018. In 2019, Thompson served as a judge for NBC's comedy competition series Bring the Funny. He also became an executive producer with Mitchell for Nickelodeon's All That revival, premiering in June. In May 2019, NBC announced they had picked up Thompson's single-camera comedy The Kenan Show to series. The series, retitled Kenan, premiered in 2021 on NBC, featuring Thompson as a newly-widowed father determined to be a "super dad". He was nominated for the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Comedy Series after its first season. In May 2022, the series was canceled after its second season.
He appears in the third episode of the revival of The Kids in the Hall as Ron, a Friend of the Kids in the Hall, and hosted the NHL Awards in June 2022. He hosted the 74th Primetime Emmy Awards on September 12, 2022. To promote SNL<nowiki/>'s 50th Anniversary, Thompson made several announcements on the New York City Subway from February 10, 2025, to February 16, 2025.
Personal life
Thompson married model Christina Evangeline in 2011. The couple have two daughters, born in 2014 and 2018. On April 7, 2022, it was announced that the two had been separated for over a year, and are co-parenting their daughters. On June 15, 2022, it was announced that Thompson was officially filing for divorce.
In 2020, he became the spokesman for Universal Destinations & Experiences' "Let Yourself Woah" campaign, and was set to host the 2020 White House Correspondents' Dinner before it was cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic. 2021 would also see Thompson be named host of that year's Nickelodeon Kids' Choice Awards and People's Choice Awards. He also hosted The Jonas Brothers Family Roast on Netflix.
In December 2021, Thompson co-founded the production company and talent incubator Artists for Artists (AFA). Their first announced project, Mike Tyson: Undisputed Truth Part 2 is in collaboration with Mike Tyson and wife Lakiha "Kiki" Spicer and a sequel to the boxer's 2013 HBO special. In March 2022, AFA fully funded the launch of Twenty Two Entertainment, led by actors Michael Rainey Jr. and Gianni Paolo, best known from the Starz series Power Book II: Ghost.
In December 2023, Thompson released a memoir titled When I Was Your Age.
In early 2024, Thompson was diagnosed with GERD.
On August 21, 2024, Thompson appeared at the Democratic National Convention tying Project 2025 to the presidential candidacy of Donald Trump, claiming, "You vote for him. You vote for all of this."
Filmography
Film
{| class="wikitable sortable"
|-
!scope="col"| Year
!scope="col"| Title
!scope="col"| Role
!scope="col"| Notes
|-
| 1994
| D2: The Mighty Ducks
| Russ Tyler
|
|-
| 1995
| Heavyweights
| Roy Murphy
|
|-
| 1996
| D3: The Mighty Ducks
| Russ Tyler
|
|-
| 1997
| Good Burger
| Dexter Reed
|
|-
| 2000
|
| Lewis
|
|-
| rowspan="2" | 2002
| Big Fat Liar
| Party Guest
|
|-
|
| Guy on Computer
|
|-
| rowspan="2" | 2003
| Love Don't Cost a Thing
| Walter Colley
|
|-
| My Boss's Daughter
| Hans
|
|-
| rowspan="2" | 2004
| Barbershop 2: Back in Business
| Kenard
|
|-
| Fat Albert
| Fat Albert
|
|-
|2005
|Here Comes Peter Cottontail: The Movie
|Flutter
|Voice
|-
| 2024
| Child Star
| Himself
| Documentary
|-
|2026
|Scary Movie
|Michael Jackson
|
|-
| TBD
| Macho
|
| Producer<br>Documentary
|}
Television
{| class="wikitable sortable"
|-
!scope="col"| Year
!scope="col"| Title
!scope="col"| Role
!scope="col" class="unsortable" | Notes
|-
| 1994–99, 2002,<br>2005, 2019–20
| All That
| Various roles
| Main role (Seasons 1–5); guest role (Season 7); guest role (Seasons 10–11); Executive producer (Season 11)
|-
| 1996–98
|
| Junior
| 4 episodes
|-
| 1996–2000
| Kenan & Kel
| Kenan Rockmore
| Main role
|-
| 1997
| Sister, Sister
| Trevor
| Episode: "Inherit the Twin"
|-
| 1998
| Sabrina, the Teenage Witch
| Kenan Rockmore
| Episode: "Sabrina's Choice"
|-
| 1999
| Oh Yeah! Cartoons
| Host
|
|-
| rowspan="2" | 1999
|
| Himself
| Episode: "Episode 1"
|-
| Cousin Skeeter
| Kenan Rockmore
| Episodes: "Hoo, I'm Wild Wild West" (Parts 1 & 2)
|-
| 2000
|
| Damon
| Episode: "Trading Places"
|-
| 2001
| Untitled Sisqo Project
|
| NBC television sitcom pilot
|-
| 2001
| Felicity
| DeForrest Ingram
| 4 episodes
|-
| 2002
| Off Centre
| MC French
| 2 episodes
|-
| 2003
| Clifford the Big Red Dog
| Hamburger
| Voice; episode: "Food for Thought/Friends Forever"
|-
| 2013–15
|
| Austin "Impresario" Sullivan
| Voice
|-
| rowspan="2" | 2018
| Double Dare
| Himself
| Contestant; episode: "Team Kel vs. Team Kenan"
|-
| Studio C
| Himself, various roles
|
|-
| rowspan="3" | 2019
|
| rowspan="3" | Himself
| Guest judge; episodes 8, 9
|-
| Scooby-Doo and Guess Who?
| Voice; episode: "Quit Clowning!"
|-
| 2020
| America's Got Talent
| Guest judge
| style="text-align:left;"| Season 15, two episodes
|-
| 2020–22
| Trolls: TrollsTopia
| Tiny Diamond
| Voice
|-
| 2021–22
| Kenan
| Kenan Williams
| Main role and executive producer
|-
| rowspan="5" | 2021
| 2021 Kids' Choice Awards
| Himself
| Host
|-
| Trolls: Holiday in Harmony
| Tiny Diamond
| Voice
|-
| 47th People's Choice Awards
| rowspan="2" | Himself
| rowspan="2" | Host
|-
| Jonas Brothers Family Roast
|-
| Bless the Harts
| Travis
| Voice; 6 episodes
|-
| rowspan="7" | 2022
| Fraggle Rock: Back to the Rock
| Jack Hammer Doozer
| Voice; episode: "Wembley the Spokesfraggle"
|-
|
| Mo-Slo's Dad
| Voice; episode: "An Animated Short Where Pissed-Off Supes Kill Their Parents"
Discography
{| class="wikitable sortable"
|+Kenan Thompson albums
|-
!scope="col"| Year
!scope="col"| Title
!scope="col" class="unsortable" | Notes
|-
| 2004
| Good Times
| Comedy album
|}
Awards and nominations
{| class="wikitable unsortable"
|-
! Year
! Association
! Category
! Nominated work
! Result
! class=unsortable|
|-
|2017 || rowspan=6|Primetime Emmy Award || Outstanding Music and Lyrics || Saturday Night Live: "Last Christmas" || ||
|-
|rowspan=2|2018 || Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series || Saturday Night Live: "John Mulaney" || || rowspan=2|
|-
|Outstanding Music and Lyrics || Saturday Night Live: "Come Back, Barack" ||
|-
|2020 || Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series || Saturday Night Live: "At Home #2" || ||
|-
|rowspan=2|2021 || Outstanding Lead Actor in a Comedy Series || Kenan: "Flirting" || || rowspan=2|
|-
| Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series || Saturday Night Live: "Dave Chappelle" ||
|-
|2025
|Las Culturistas Culture Awards
| colspan="2" |Titan of Culture
|
|
|-
|}
On August 11, 2022, Thompson was honored with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame for his contributions to television. The star is located at 6627 Hollywood Boulevard.
Bibliography
- Memoir.