SNL

Background:

American comedian and actor Tim Meadows rose to fame as the cast member of the NBC hit sketch comedy and variety show “Saturday Night Live,” a gig he held from 1991 to 2000. During his tenure, the alum of Chicago's Second City comedy troupe crafted some of the show's most memorable characters, including Leon Phelps and Lionel Osbourne, as well as did weird impressions of Ike Turner, Don King and Sammy Davis Jr., among other celebrities. Meadows jointly picked up an Emmy nomination in 1993 for his writing contribution. Meadows has acted in a number of movies, including “The Ladies Man” (2000), where he reprised the role of Leon Phelps, “Mean Girls” (2004), “The Cookout” (2004), “The Benchwarmers” (2006), “Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story” (2007), “Semi-Pro” (2008), “Aliens in the Attic” (2009) and “Grown Ups” (2010).

Meadows and his wife Michelle Taylor, whom he married in 1997, filed for divorce in November 2004. The marriage produced two sons, Isaiah Crosby Meadows and Julian Meadows.

Wayne State Alum

Childhood and Family:

Timothy Meadows, who would later be known as Tim Meadows, was born on February 5, 1961 , in Highland Park, Michigan. His father, Lathon Meadows, who was a janitor died of lung cancer in 1997. His mother, Mardell, worked as a nurse's assistant. Tim was raised in Detroit, MI, and later studied television and radio broadcasting at Wayne State University.

On July 20, 1997, Tim was married to Michelle Taylor. The couple have two sons, Isaiah Crosby Meadows (born December 28, 2000) and Julian Meadows.

The Ladies Man

Career:

After graduating from Wayne State University, Tim Meadows started performing improvisational comedy at the Soup Kitchen Saloon in Ferndale, Michigan before relocating to Chicago, Illinois and joining ImprovOlympic improvisation troupe. He went on to work with the Second City troupe, alongside future star Chris Farley, and following a three year stint with the famed troupe, in 1991, Meadows got a big break on television when he was recruited as a featured player on the popular sketch comedy series “Saturday Night Live” in 1991.He progressed to become a regular cast member in 1993 and, in the same month, Meadows, who also wrote episodes, shared an Emmy nomination for Outstanding Individual Achievement in Writing in a Variety or Music Program. However, Meadows was fired from the show in 1994, but was soon hired back at the insistence of Meadows was fired from the show in 1994 only to be hired back at the insistence of producer Lorne Michaels. He would stay until 2000, becoming one of the longest running cast member in the history of “SNL.”

During his 10 year stint, Meadows did many notable impressions of various celebrities like O.J. Simpson, Ike Turner, Sammy Davis, Jr., Don King, Tiger Woods, Will Smith, Ted Lange, Oprah Winfrey and Alan Keyes. He also created some of the series' most unforgettable characters, including “Quiet Storm” radio DJ Chris 'Champagne' Garnet, Lionel Osbourne, the host of the fictional public affairs show, “Perspectives,” and Leon Phelps - The Ladies' Man. Commenting about his character of Leon Phelps, he said, “I can honestly say there's not a day that goes by where somebody doesn't come up and tell me how much they love the Ladies Man. It happens every day.”

Meadows made his feature film acting debut in “Coneheads” (1993), a film based on the “SNL” sketches about the Coneheads, directed by Steve Barron and produced by Michaels. The film earned mixed reviews from critics and was not a success at the box office. He went on to appear in other films based on “SNL” sketches such as “Wayne's World 2” (also 1993, played Sammy Davis Jr) and “It's Pat” (1994) before given his own feature film starring role, as the titular hero of “The Ladies Man” (2000), which was directed by Reginald Hudlin and Meadows co-wrote with Dennis McNicholas and Andrew Steele. Although it was largely panned by critics, the film managed to open at No. 4 at the North American box office with 5.4 million in its opening weekend. The film went on to gross over $13.7 million against a budget of $24 million.

Meanwhile, in 1996, Meadows performed at the Kennedy Center in Washington, DC in the Second City production “Truth, Justice, and the American Way.” In the next year, he appeared in a public service announcement for the Free Tibet Organization. He also made guest appearances in HBO's “The Chris Rock Show” (1997) and Comedy Central's “Strangers With Candy” (1999) as well as provided his voice to a character named Richard Stands in the Fox holiday special, “ Olive, the Other Reindeer” (1999).

After leaving “SNL,” Meadows played the regular role of Kevin Blakeley, a detective with a Peeping Tom past, in the NBC sitcom “The Michael Richards Show,” co-created by and starring Michael Richards. The show debuted on NBC on October 24, 2000 but was canceled within two months because of poor ratings. He next appeared as Leroy Watkins in an episode of “Third Watch” called “Exposing Faith” (2001), co-starred with Kristin Davis in the Fox TV film “Three Days” (2001), directed by Michael Switzer, before returning to series television as regular on the NBC short lived sitcom “Leap of Faith” (2002), opposite Sarah Paulson and Lisa Edelstein. In 2003, Meadows co-starred in “Wasabi Tuna,” an action/comedy film directed by Lee Friedlander and written by Celia Fox, had a featured role in William Tannes's comedy feature, “Nobody Knows Anything!,” starring Linda Black, Alan Blumenfeld and Carmine Caridi, and was cast as Miles McDermott, the producer of “Family Fakeout” and the main antagonist of the film, on the Disney Channel Original Movie “The Even Stevens Movie.”

Meadows portrayed the high school principal in the teen comedy/drama film “Mean Girls” (2004), which was produced by Lorne Michaels and written by Tina Fey, a longtime castmember and writer for “SNL.” Directed by Mark Waters and starring Lindsay Lohan, the film was mostly well received by critics and enjoyed a success at the box office. The same year, he also co-starred with Quran Pender, Ja Rule, Eve, Danny Glover and Queen Latifah in the comedy film “The Cookout.” Commenting on why he did the movie “The Cookout,” he stated, “For me was the chance to work with Queen Latifah. The chance to work with Danny Glover, Farrah Fawcett, and the fact that they were going to pay me with a check that was going to clear.”

Meadows landed guest spots television shows such as UPN's “One on One” (2004, as Leroy Ballard), NBC's “The Office” (2005, as Christian), “Everybody Hates Chris” (2006, as Soul Train Teacher), “ Lovespring International” (2006, as Joe Reynolds), “Reba” (2006, as Steve Norris) and “ According to Jim” (2007, as Dennis), “Curb Your Enthusiasm” (2007, as Hal) as well as had recurring roles in The WB's “Living with Fran” (2005, as Greg Peters), the ABC short lived sitcom “Help Me Help You” (2006, as Dr. Pete 'Petey' Spiller), Comedy Central's “The Colbert Report” (2006-2010, as P.K. Winsome) and “Easy to Assemble” (2008-2010, as Tim). He lent his voice to a character in the animated series “Lil' Bush: Resident of the United States” (2007-2008), played the regular role of Paul Dufrayne, one of Bill's best friends since the 1980s, in the TBS sitcom “The Bill Engvall Show” (2007-2009), starring comedian Bill Engvall, and starred along with David Spade and Marc Evan Jackson in the comedy series “Carpet Bros” (2008-2010). Meadows also played the role of Wayne in “The Benchwarmers” (2006), a sports/comedy film staring his former “SNL” co-stars Rob Schneider and David Spade and directed by Dennis Dugan, was cast as drummer Sam McPherson in Jake Kasdan's “Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story” (2007), starring John C. Reilly, supported Will Ferrell, Woody Harrelson, André Benjamin and Maura Tierney in the sports screwball comedy “Semi-Pro” (2008), directed by Kent Alterman, and portrayed Sheriff Doug Armstrong in John Schultz's adventure film, “Aliens in the Attic” (2009).

Meadows landed the regular role of Professor Aloysius Haines in the comedy/drama series “Glory Daze,” which ran on TBS from November 16, 2010 to January 18, 2011. Co-stars in the series included Kelly Blatz, Matt Bush and Drew Seeley. 2010 also saw him play Dr. Volk in two episodes of “ The New Adventures of Old Christine” as well as appear in the films “GravyTrain,” “Breast Picture,” “Freak Dance,” “Grown Ups” (with Adam Sandler, Salma Hayek and Kevin James) and “The Rally to Restore Sanity and/or Fear” (TV).

Recently, in 2011, Meadows reprised his role of Principal Duvall in the made for TV film sequel “Mean Girls 2,” making him the only cast member to return from the original 2004 film, and teamed up with Billie Joe Armstrong, Edward Asner and Jack Black in the comedy film “Will Ferrell: Mark Twain Prize.” He will soon appear in the Adam Sandler comedy film “Jack and Jill,” which is set to be released on November 11, 2011.

Awards:
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