Actor Thomas Middleditch is best known for his role as brilliant but socially awkward and heaped-upon Richard Hendricks on HBO’s Silicon Valley.
But how did he get to where he is today?
Hardcore fans know that it’s been a 15-year long grind for this Canadian actor from obscurity to stardom, with his roots in improv theater.
After leaving British Columbia he wound up in Toronto, where he broke through in theater, later moving to Chicago and becoming part of the Second City ensemble.
In that group, he worked the summertime cruise circuit from New York, Bahamas, and Bermuda with what Middleditch referred to in the web series The Hot Ones as “working-class Bronx Jersey Queens” folks.
Cameo spotters remember his painful moment in The Wolf of Wall Street where Jonah Hill terrorized him and ate his pet goldfish.
But it is in HBO’s Silicon Valley where Middleditch has made a real mark for himself.
Last year he earned an Outstanding Lead Actor Emmy nomination, and he has received two Critics’ Choice Television Award nominations to boot.
Middleditch now looks to have found his next big project while on break from the hit HBO series.
Variety broke the news this week that Middleditch was cast with Stranger Things star Millie Bobby Brown and Kyle Chandler in movie Godzilla: King of the Monsters, which will be directed by Michael Dougherty.
Kids get to hear him in action soon too, as he will be heard voicing one of the leads in DreamWorks Animation’s Captain Underpants.
His last season voicing Disney XD animation’s Penn Zero airs this summer, where his animated character Penn goes on part-time hero missions with his best friends Sashi and Boone.
Middleditch also recently wrapped production on the movie Replicas with Keanu Reeves.
In his spare time, the star has previously gone on record saying that he loves video games, has a pilot’s license, deleted his Twitter account and adores Canadian snack foods.
Tonight, Silicon Valley episode The Patent Troll sees Middleditch’s character Richard try to confront a…patent troll.
Also, Jared (Zach Woods) steps into several identities in an effort to keep the company cost-effective.
Erlich (T.J. Miller) will keep schmoozing while Jian-Yang (Jimmy O. Yang) has a brand new smart fridge and Gilfoyle (Martin Starr) has a brand new object of hate.
As previously reported, Silicon Valley has been renewed for a fifth season by HBO.
However, T.J. Miller, who we profiled last week, will not be returning to reprise his role as Erlich.
Silicon Valley airs Sunday at 10/9c on HBO.