Henry Jackson Thomas[1] (born September 9, 1971)[2] is an American actor. He began his career as a child actor and had the lead role of Elliott Taylor in the film E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial (1982), for which he won a Young Artist Award and received a Golden Globe Award, a BAFTA Award, and Saturn Award nominations. Thomas also had roles in other films, including Cloak & Dagger (1984), Fire in the Sky (1993), Legends of the Fall (1994), Suicide Kings (1997), All the Pretty Horses (2000), Gangs of New York (2002), 11:14 (2003), and Dear John (2010). Thomas was nominated for the Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actor – Series, Miniseries or Television Film for his role in the television film Indictment: The McMartin Trial (1997).
More recently, Thomas collaborated with filmmaker Mike Flanagan, appearing in the films Ouija: Origin of Evil (2016), Gerald's Game (2017) and Doctor Sleep (2019) as well as the television series The Haunting of Hill House (2018) (which earned him a Saturn Award) and its follow-up series The Haunting of Bly Manor (2020). In 2021, he had a main role in Flanagan's horror series Midnight Mass, and, in 2023, he starred as one of the Usher siblings in The Fall of the House of Usher (2023), also by Flanagan.
Thomas was born in San Antonio, Texas.[1] He attended East Central High School and Blinn College.[1][3]
Thomas struggled with the popularity he gained in the months following the release of E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial.[4] In November 2019, Thomas reprised his role as Elliott for an Xfinity & Sky UK commercial, in which E.T. returns to visit a now-adult Elliott and his family for the holidays.[5]
Since 2016, Thomas has worked frequently with filmmaker Mike Flanagan, appearing in his films Ouija: Origin of Evil, Gerald's Game and Doctor Sleep, as well as in the Netflix horror series The Haunting of Hill House, which Flanagan created and directed. Thomas also has a role in Flanagan's follow up to The Haunting of Hill House, The Haunting of Bly Manor, and Flanagan's mini-series Midnight Mass.
Thomas worked in Stargirl portraying Doctor Mid-Nite and voicing his A.I. counterpart "Chuck" until the latter role was recast with Alex Collins in season two.
Thomas wrote songs and played guitar for a San Antonio band, The Blue Heelers (named for the breed of dog), in the 1990s. Although the band was not signed to a record label, it self-produced an album, Twister. Thomas continued to write and record songs. In 1998, his song "Truckstop Coffee" (recorded with the Blue Heelers) appeared on V2's soundtrack for Niagara, Niagara.[6] In 2003, Thomas and Nikki Sudden collaborated on the music for Mika Kaurismäki's film Honey Baby, which featured four original songs written and performed by Thomas as the fictional musician Tom Brackett.[7] An album was in the works, but Sudden died unexpectedly in 2006.[8]
Thomas married actress Marie Zielcke on May 10, 2004. They had a daughter, Hazel. The couple were divorced in 2007. Thomas also has two children with his current wife Annalee,[9][4] and in 2014 moved to Wilsonville, Oregon.
Actor Henry Thomas is 51.