Thomas Dekker (actor)

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Thomas Dekker
Thomas Dekker (4701156311).jpg
Dekker in 2010
Born
Thomas Alexander Dekker

(1987-12-28) December 28, 1987 (age 36)
Occupations
  • Actor
  • musician
  • singer
  • director
  • producer
Years active1993–present
Spouse
Jesse Haddock
(m. 2017)
Relatives Alun Williams (grandfather)

Thomas Alexander Dekker (born December 28, 1987) is an American actor, musician, singer, director and producer. He is known for his roles as John Connor in Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles , Adam Conant on The Secret Circle , and Zach on Heroes .

Contents

Dekker did the voice of Littlefoot in The Land Before Time V-IX (singing voice in The Land Before Time V ) and as Fievel Mousekewitz in An American Tail: The Treasure of Manhattan Island and An American Tail: The Mystery of the Night Monster . Dekker portrayed Jesse Braun in the 2010 remake of A Nightmare on Elm Street and Smith in Gregg Araki's film Kaboom . Dekker starred as Gregory Valentine in the TV show Backstrom .

Dekker has also written, produced and self-published online his three electronica albums.

Early life

Dekker was born in Las Vegas, Nevada. His mother, Hilary (née Williams), is a concert pianist, acting coach, actor, and singer from Wales, and his late father, David John Ellis Dekker, was an American artist, set designer, opera singer, and actor [1] [2] of English and Dutch ancestry. [3] [4] [5] His maternal grandfather was Alun Williams, a radio broadcaster for the British Broadcasting Corporation. [6] As a child, he and his parents moved all over the world, including his mother's native United Kingdom and Canada. [7]

Career

Early career

Starting his acting career at age six, Dekker was first seen in the soap The Young and the Restless . He then appeared in Star Trek Generations, two episodes of Star Trek: Voyager and the film Village of the Damned (1995). Dekker also appeared as a child actor on Seinfeld (season 5, episode 16, 1994) and as Bobby (season 7, episode 4, 1995). In 1997, he became a regular on the Disney Channel show Honey, I Shrunk the Kids: The TV Show which is based on the movie of the same name where he played Nick Szalinski for three years. After the show ended in 2000, he went on to appear in Run of the House , Fillmore! , CSI: Crime Scene Investigation , House , Boston Public , Reba and 7th Heaven . He appeared in films such as Campus Confidential and An American Tail: The Mystery of the Night Monster . Dekker has won three Young Artist Awards for his work in The Land Before Time films and one for his guest appearance on Boston Public . In 2001, he played the part of young Donny Osmond in the film Inside the Osmonds .

2006–present

In 2006, Dekker landed a recurring role on Heroes playing the character of Zach (Claire Bennet's best friend). He played Zach for eleven episodes before leaving Heroes to take a starring role in Fox's new show Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles as John Connor, starring opposite Lena Headey and Summer Glau. That show debuted January 13, 2008, and was canceled on May 18, 2009. Dekker also played the lead character Nate Palmer in the web-based science fiction series IQ-145. [8]

In 2009, Dekker appeared in From Within (filmed in 2007), My Sister's Keeper , a drama in which he starred with Cameron Diaz, Alec Baldwin, Abigail Breslin and Medium star Sofia Vassilieva, and Laid to Rest alongside Lena Headey. In 2010, Dekker starred in the remake of A Nightmare on Elm Street , released on April 30, 2010. His character's name was Jesse Braun, loosely based on the character Rod Lane in the original. That same year he also had a role in All About Evil , an indie horror film. [9]

Dekker starred in Gregg Araki's Kaboom (2010). It is the first film ever awarded the Cannes Film Festival "Queer Palm Award" for its contribution to LGBT presence in cinema. Dekker was a "top candidate" for the lead role in Paramount's remake of Footloose (2011), but the role went to Kenny Wormald. [10] In April 2011, Dekker starred as Lance Loud in the HBO original film Cinema Verite , about the creation of America's first reality television series, An American Family . Dekker played the role of Adam, the male lead on the television series The Secret Circle developed by The CW. [11]

He appeared in Daughtry's music video for their single "Waiting for Superman", which was released September 17, 2013. [12]

Dekker was a regular on the 2015 Fox crime drama Backstrom , playing Gregory Valentine, the gay underworld contact and roommate of Rainn Wilson's title character, revealed to be his half-brother.

Music

Dekker was brought up with a musical background, and started writing music at age ten while living in Canada. At the age of fifteen he landed a record deal; however after feeling that he wasn't as involved in the music as he would have liked, he left to concentrate on making his own music. At the age of sixteen, Dekker started writing and producing his own classical music influenced by electronica which he describes as "electrofolk". His debut album Psyanotic [13] was released in 2008. [14]

Personal life

Dekker on a panel at the 2008 Comic-Con Thomas Dekker I have Super Powers.jpg
Dekker on a panel at the 2008 Comic-Con

Dekker has stated that for much of his childhood, he was a victim of sexual molestation. [15] In his teenage years, he was part of a "metalhead" subculture, where he "caused trouble in Las Vegas," and was arrested "five or six times." [15]

Dekker was involved in an auto accident on October 15, 2009, when he hit a 17-year-old cyclist training for a race on a freeway onramp. [16] [17] Originally charged with two counts of felony DUI, the charge was reduced to one count of misdemeanor reckless driving when it was found that the cyclist was at fault. He pleaded no contest, and was sentenced to a fine of $300 and two years of informal probation, and ordered to attend a 12-hour alcohol-education class. [18]

Dekker is a vegan. [19] [20] [21] [22]

On April 20, 2011, in an interview with Out magazine Dekker spoke about his sexuality, which had been the subject of speculation:

I've only really had relationships with women, but I'm certainly not closed to it. If there are possibilities of being able to do anything in life, why would you say you would never take any up? In the later chunk of my teen years I was so all over the place with sex. It was terrible. I never really had a real relationship at all. During puberty, it's all about sex, and it's all about figuring yourself out. I think I overdid it when I was younger. [23]

On July 13, 2017, Dekker came out as gay and revealed that he married Canadian actor Jesse Haddock in April that year. [24] [25] [26]

Awards

Filmography

Film

YearTitleRoleNotes
1994 Star Trek Generations Thomas PicardCredited as Thomas Alexander Dekker
1995 Village of the Damned David McGowan
1997 The Land Before Time V: The Mysterious Island Littlefoot Singing voice
1998 An American Tail: The Treasure of Manhattan Island Fievel Voice only
The Land Before Time VI: The Secret of Saurus Rock Littlefoot
1999 An American Tail: The Mystery of the Night Monster Fievel
2000 The Land Before Time VII: The Stone of Cold Fire Littlefoot
2001 The Land Before Time VIII: The Big Freeze
2002Help, I'm a Boy!MickeyVoice: English version
The Land Before Time IX: Journey to Big Water LittlefootVoice only
2006Simple JoysStephenShort film
2007The War PrayerThe Singer
2008 From Within Aidan
WhoreTomWriter, director, producer, and editor
2009 Laid to Rest Tommy
My Sister's Keeper Taylor Ambrose
2010 A Nightmare on Elm Street Jesse Braun
All About Evil Steven
Kaboom Smith
2011 Angels Crest Ethan
ChromeSkull: Laid to Rest 2 Tommy
Foreverland Bobby
2012The Good LieCullen FrancisMain role
2013 Plush Jack St. Claire
Enter the Dangerous Mind Jake
2014Lost in the White CityKyle
Squatters JonasMain role
2015 Fear Clinic Blake
2016 Do You Take This Man Bradley
Jack Goes Home N/AWriter, producer, and director
Welcome to Willits Klaus
2019 Miss Bala Justin
2021 Body Brokers Jacko

Television

YearTitleRoleNotes
1993 The Young and the Restless Phillip Chancellor IV #4
1994 The Nanny J.B. Bingington's SonEpisode 1.12: "The Show Must Go On"
1994–1995 Seinfeld Porter / Son
Bobby
Episode 5.16: "The Stand In"
Episode 7.04: "The Wink"
1995 Star Trek: Voyager Henry BurleighEpisode 1.16: "Learning Curve"
Episode 2.08: "Persistence of Vision"
1996 Caroline in the City Young RichardEpisode 2.09: "Caroline and the Therapist"
1997 The Weird Al Show SonEpisode 1.04: "Back to School"
Men in Black: The Series Timmy (voice)Episode 1.02: "The Buzzard Syndrome"
Extreme Ghostbusters Kevin Rivera (voice)2 episodes
1997–2000 Honey, I Shrunk the Kids: The TV Show Nick SzalinskiMain cast (Seasons 1–3; 1997–2000)
2000-2003 Scruff ScruffMain Role
2000 Touched by an Angel DennisEpisode 7.03: "The Invitation"
Grosse Pointe Leslie BicksEpisode 1.09: "Boys on the Side"
2001 Inside the Osmonds Donny Osmond (younger)Television film
Family Guy Student (voice)Episode 3.01: "The Thin White Line"
2001–2003 Jackie Chan Adventures Little Valmont / Young Valmont (voice)Episode 2.01: "Through the Rabbit Hole"
Episode 3.11: "Little Valmont, Big Jade"
2002 The Mummy Simon Montgomery (voice)Episode 1.12: "The Puzzle
Family AffairJeremyEpisode 1.07: "No Small Parts"
2003 Run of the House SethEpisode 1.03: "The Party"
Fillmore! Crockett, Biggie, James Heron (voices)Episode 2.04: "South of Friendship, North of Honor"
Episode 2.06: "The Nineteenth Hole Is A Shallow Grave"
Episode 2.07: "Links in a Chain of Honor"
Boston Public Julien McNealEpisode 4.06: "Chapter Seventy-Two"
Episode 4.08: "Chapter Seventy-Four"
2004 CSI: Crime Scene Investigation Jimmy JonesEpisode 5.03: "Harvest"
2005 7th Heaven Vincent9 episodes
Campus Confidential BrettTelevision film
Reba BuzzerEpisode 5.10: "Issues"
2006 House BoydEpisode 2.19: "House vs. God"
Shark Ben ChanningEpisode 1.08: "Love Triangle"
2006–2007 Heroes Zach 12 episodes
2008Psi-KixJacqueVoice only
IQ-145Nate Palmer10 episodes
2008–2009 Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles John Connor Main cast (Seasons 1–2; 2008–2009)
2009 Glenn Martin, DDS Unknown role (voice)Episode 1.07: "From Here to Fraternity"
2011 Elvira's Movie Macabre Elrick / Jack ShemanskyEpisode 1.15: "Lady Frankenstein"
Cinema Verite Lance Loud
2011–2012 The Secret Circle Adam ConantMain cast
2015 Backstrom Gregory ValentineMain role
2022 The Rookie: Feds Jeffrey BoyleRecurring role
The Rookie
Swimming with Sharks Travis
2023 Star Trek: Picard Titus RikkaEpisode 3.03: "Seventeen Seconds"

Music videos

YearTitleRoleNotes
2013"Waiting for Superman"The HeroMain role

Discography

Albums

Soundtracks

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