Chris Parnell 1967 58
Chris Parnell 1967 58
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).
1.22
Popularity78
Credits6.2
Rating47.9M
Budget161M
RevenueActing
Primarily78 Credits
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Credit 78
2025 The Dink
2025 Mimics as Jack Conrad
2025 SNL50: The Homecoming Concert as Self
2025 Ladies & Gentlemen... 50 Years of SNL Music as Self
2024 Our Little Secret as Veterinarian
2024 In Fidelity as Lyle Ayker
2024 Micro Budget as Toby
2023 As We Know It
2023 Millennial Hunter as John (voice)
2022 Night at the Museum: Kahmunrah Rises Again as Washington (voice)
2022 Chip 'n Dale: Rescue Rangers as Dave Bollinari (voice)
2022 Senior Year as Jim Conway
2021 Hot Mess Holiday as Mike
2021 Yung Punx: A Punk Parable as therapist (voice)
2021 Home Sweet Home Alone as Uncle Stu
2021 Finding ʻOhana as Brown
2020 I Am Woman as Artie Mogull
2020 Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt: Kimmy vs. the Reverend as Junior
2019 The Laundromat as Doomed Gringo #2
2019 The Last Laugh as Charlie Green
2018 Goosebumps 2: Haunted Halloween as Walter
2018 Slice as Mayor Tracy
2018 Hotel Transylvania 3: Summer Vacation as Stan / Fish Man (voice)
2018 Life of the Party as Mr. Truzack (Wayne)
2017 Battle of the Sexes as DJ
2017 Elena of Avalor: Realm of the Jaquins as Migs (voice)
2017 Austin Found as Alan Dickinson
2017 Michael Bolton's Big, Sexy Valentine's Day Special as Dr. Vince Harbert
2016 Elena and the Secret of Avalor as Migs (voice)
2015 Sisters as Phil
2015 The Better Half as Daniel
2015 The Ridiculous 6 as Bank Manager
2015 Hotel Transylvania 2 as Fly (voice)
2015 Jeff Dunham: Unhinged in Hollywood as Self
2014 The Maya Rudolph Show as Self
2014 AJ's Infinite Summer as Dad (voice)
2014 Break Point as Jay LaRoche
2013 Anchorman 2: The Legend Continues as Garth Holliday
2013 Rick and Morty as Jerry Smith (voice)
2013 Turbo as Announcer #2 (voice)
2013 Escape from Planet Earth as Hammer (voice)
2012 Hotel Transylvania as Mr. Fly (voice)
2012 Electric City as Voice Actor (voice)
2012 The Dictator as News Anchor
2012 The Five-Year Engagement as Bill
2012 21 Jump Street as Mr. Gordon
2012 WordGirl: The Rise of Ms. Power
2011 Prep & Landing: Naughty vs. Nice as Mr. Thistleton (voice)
2011 Answer This! as Brian Collins
2011 Hollywood & Wine as Peter West
2010 The Women of SNL as Various (archive footage)
2010 Kung Fu Magoo as Cole Fusion / Ninja (voice)
2010 The Dogfather as Brian Franks
2009 Labor Pains as Jerry Steinwald
2009 Paper Man as Peter
2009 Saturday Night Live: The Best of Amy Poehler as Edward Turlington (archive footage)
2008 Eavesdrop as Terrence
2008 Harold as Coach Vanderpool
2007 Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story as Theo
2007 Hot Rod as Barry Pasternack
2007 Kabluey as Frank
2007 The Grand as Harold Melvin
2007 I'm Reed Fish as Ralph
2007 Sunny and Share Love You as Kevin Keith Baker
2006 Ira & Abby as Dr. Ronald Silverberg
2006 Saturday Night Live: The Best of Commercial Parodies
2004 Wake Up, Ron Burgundy: The Lost Movie as Garth Holliday
2004 Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy as Garth Holliday
2004 Looking for Kitty as Guy Borne
2003 Evil Alien Conquerors as Du-ug
2003 Barely Legal as Mr. Ronald Greitzer
2003 Down with Love as TV Emcee
2003 Farm Sluts as Larry
2002 The Religetables
2002 Saturday Night Live: The Best of Will Ferrell as Self / Various (archive footage)
2000 The Ladies Man as Phil Swanson
1996 Jingle All the Way as Toy Store Sales Clerk
Genres
8.70 Unknown 1
7.90 Documentary 1
7.00 TV Movie 5
7.00 Mystery 1
6.77 History 1
6.72 Fantasy 6
6.46 Music 6
6.45 Animation 14
5.99 Comedy 60
5.93 Crime 3
5.88 Science Fiction 3
5.87 Family 15
5.75 Romance 7
5.74 Drama 13
5.66 Horror 3
5.61 Action 5
5.52 Adventure 6
5.20 Western 1
3.50 Thriller 1