Where is Henry Thomas now? What is he doing today? Biography

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Who is Henry Thomas?

Henry Jackson Thomas Jr. was born in San Antonio, Texas USA, on 9 September 1971 – his zodiac sign is Virgo, and he holds American nationality. He’s an actor, film producer and music composer, with close to 80 acting credits to his name, while he’s probably still known best for his portrayal of the lead character Elliott in the 1982 adventure family science fiction movie “E. T. the Extra-Terrestrial”, directed by Steven Spielberg, and which also starred Drew Barrymore and Peter Coyote. It follows a child who’s helping an alien return to his home planet, and the movie won 56 awards, including four Oscars, while it was nominated for 36 other awards.

There are rumors circulating the internet claiming that Henry’s retired from acting, however, he’s still highly active in the film industry, and is today shooting for three upcoming movies: “Riptide”, “Generation Angst” and “Barely Afloat”.

Early life and education

Henry was raised in San Antonio by his father Henry Jackson Thomas Sr. who was a hydraulic machinist, and his mother Carolyn L. (nee Davis) who was a housewife; Henry hasn’t mentioned having any siblings, and is thus believed to be an only child.

He became interested in acting at a very early age, mostly because he watched TV series and movies with his parents on a daily basis. Henry Sr. and Carolyn began taking their son to auditions when he was seven years old, and he was nine when he made his debut film appearance, playing Harry in the 1981 drama “Raggedy Man”.

Henry then continued acting throughout his entire education. He studied at East Central High School, and was interested in a couple of activities during his four years there, including playing various sports and practicing dancing. Upon matriculating in 1990, he enrolled at Blinn College, but which he dropped out of a year later, wanting to pursue an acting career.

Roles in movies

Henry played The Kid in the 1981 fantasy drama “The Steeler and the Pittsburgh Kid”, and a couple of his following roles were in 1984, in the drama “Misunderstood”, and the action crime adventure “Cloak & Dagger”, followed in 1986 by the adventure family drama “The Quest”.

In 1993, he played Greg Hayes in the critically acclaimed biographical fantasy drama “Fire in the Sky”, directed by Robert Lieberman, and which starred D. B. Sweeney, Robert Patrick and Craig Sheffer. It follows an Arizona logger who’s disappeared for five days; his co-workers have been accused of his murder, while the logger’s now returned, claiming that he was abducted by aliens. The movie was nominated for four awards.

A couple of Henry’s following notable performances were in the 1994 drama “Curse of the Starving Class”, the Oscar-winning 1994 romantic war drama “Legends of the Fall”, and the 1997 romantic drama “Niagara, Niagara”.

What marked the 2000s for him was perhaps his portrayal of the lead character Jack in the 2003 crime comedy drama “11:14”, written and directed by Greg Marcks, and which also starred Colin Hanks and Ben Foster. It follows several people right before their car crash at 11:14 pm., and the movie won one of the nine awards for which it was nominated.

Three of Henry’s most recent film roles have been in the 2020 horror thriller “Dreamkatcher”, the 2021 romantic comedy drama “To All the Boys: Always and Forever”, and the 2022 thriller “Crawlspace”.

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Roles in TV series

Henry made his TV series debut with his portrayal of Ishmael in a 1998 episode of the adventure thriller mini-series “Moby Dick”. His following role came in 2005, when cast to play Jamie in the episode “Chocolate” of the hit series “Masters of Horror” – each season comprised 13 one-hour horror movies, the series aired from 2005 to 2007, and won nine awards, including a Primetime Emmy, while it was nominated for seven other awards.

A couple of Henry’s following roles were in the 2006 episode “The End of the Whole Mess” of the fantasy horror drama “Nightmares & Dreamscapes: From the Stories of Stephen King”, the 2008 episode “Hard Reset” of the mystery crime drama “Without a Trace”, and the 2009 episode “If I Had a Hammer” of the mystery crime drama “Henry Thomas”.

In 2013 and 2014, Henry played T.J. Karsten, one of the lead characters in all 13 episodes of the drama “Betrayal”, created by David Zabel and Frank Ketelaar, and which also starred Hannah Ware and Wendy Moniz. It follows an unhappy photographer Sara, who’s begun cheating on her husband with lawyer Jack; the series was nominated for a People’s Choice Award for Favorite New TV Drama.

Three of Henry’s most recent roles in TV series have been in all nine episodes of the 2020 mystery horror mini-series “The Haunting of Bly Manor”, all seven episodes of the 2021 fantasy horror mini-series “Midnight Mass”, and in the same year the episode “Parents Are from Mars, Kids Are from Venus” of the fantasy comedy drama “Just Beyond”.

Other credits

Henry received special thanks for the 2002 short documentary video “The E. T. Reunion”.

He composed the music for the 2016 comedy series “Grip and Electric”, while he also produced all of its six episodes.

Henry sang the song “Twilight and Mist” in the 1994 movie “Legends of the Fall”, he sang four songs in the 2004 movie “Honey Baby”, and the song “Nearer, My God, to Thee” in the 2021 episode “Book VII: Revelation” of the series “Midnight Mass”.

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He’s made a guest appearance in a couple of talk-shows, most recently in “Monday Morning Critic Podcast”, “Entertainment Tonight” and “Comics, Beer & Sci-Fi”.

Awards and nominations

Henry’s won three of the 12 awards for which he’s been nominated: a 1983 Young Artist Award for Best Young Motion Picture Actor, for “E. T. The Extra-Terrestrial”, a 2007 Fantasporto Special Career Award and a 2019 Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy & Horror Film Saturn Award for Best Actor in Streaming Presentation, for “The Haunting of Hill House”.

Back in 1983, Henry was nominated for a prestigious BAFTA Film Award for Most Outstanding Newcomer to Leading Film Roles, for his performance in “E. T. the Extra-Terrestrial”.

Career as a musician

In the ‘90s, Henry played the guitar for the San Antonio band The Blue Heelers, and also wrote several songs for them; they released only a single album prior to disbanding, entitled “Twister”.

Henry wrote the song “Truckstop Coffee” for the 1997 movie “Niagara, Niagara”, and in 2003, he and Niki Sudden together composed the music for the movie “Honey, Baby”; Henry and Nikki were also to release an album together, but Nikki passed away in 2006.

Love life and wife

Henry prefers to keep the details of his love life away from the media’s attention, but it’s still widely known that he’s married thrice. He exchanged vows with his first wife Kelley Hill on 20 May 2000, but they divorced on 2 May 2002; Kelley’s a non-celebrity, and nothing is known about her.

Henry married German actress Marie Zielcke on 10 May 2004, in a private ceremony attended by many of their friends and family members; Marie gave birth to their daughter Hazel, but she and Henry divorced in 2007.

Since 2009, Henry’s been married to non-celebrity American Annalee Fery, and they have two children together; they’ve been living in Wilsonville, Oregon since 2014.

Hobbies and other interests

Henry’s quite active on Instagram and seems to be enjoying the attention which he’s receiving from his more than 50,000 followers; he’s uploaded over 260 pictures onto the network, the majority of which feature him during his everyday life.

He’s a huge fan of board games, and plays “Dungeons & Dragons” with his friends on a weekly basis.

Henry’s passionate about travelling and has been to a couple of US states for both work and pleasure; he’s also travelled to various Australian cities and European countries, and his dream travel destination is Reykjavik, Iceland.

He has his own favorite actors and actresses, some of whom are Al Pacino, the late Marlon Brando and Natalie Portman, while a couple of his favorite films include “Scarface”, the trilogy “The Godfather”, and “Scent of a Woman”.