What Is Chris Parnell's Net Worth?
Chris Parnell is an American actor who has a net worth of $7 million. Parnell was a cast member on the NBC sketch series "Saturday Night Live" from 1998 to 2006, and he had a very memorable recurring role as Dr. Leo Spaceman on another NBC series, "30 Rock," from 2006 to 2013.
Chris has more than 170 acting credits to his name, including the films "Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy" (2004), "Hot Rod" (2007), "Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story" (2007), "Anchorman 2: The Legend Continues" (2013), and "Sisters" (2015) and the television series "Miss Guided" (2008), "Suburgatory" (2011–2014), "Grown-ish" (2018), and "Happy Together" (2018–2019). Parnell voices Cyril Figgis on "Archer" (2009–present) and Jerry Smith on "Rick and Morty" (2013–present), and he has also lent his voice to the films "Escape from Planet Earth" (2013), "Hotel Transylvania 2" (2015), and "Hotel Transylvania 3: Summer Vacation" (2018) and the TV shows "WordGirl" (2007–2015), "Electric City" (2012), "Nature Cat" (2015–2020), "Dawn of the Croods" (2015–2016), "The Mr. Peabody & Sherman Show" (2015–2017), "Elena of Avalor" (2016–present), "American Dad!" (2016–present), and "Family Guy" (2019–2021).
Chris is also known for starring in the "Lazy Sunday" video with Andy Samberg; the video went viral after airing on "SNL" in December 2005 and was named one of the "videos that changed YouTube forever" by "Business Insider" in 2020.
Early Life
Chris Parnell was born Thomas Christopher Parnell in February 5, 1967, in Memphis, Tennessee. He grew up in a Southern Baptist household with father Jack (a radio personally) and mother Shirley. In a 2015 Reddit AMA (Ask Me Anything), Chris was asked about his heritage, and he responded, "My heritage I don't know, because I'm adopted, but based on information that the adoption agency got from my birth parents, they seem to think I was Irish, English and German." Parnell attended the Southern Baptist Educational Center and Germantown High School, and when he was 17, he decided that he wanted to pursue a career as a stage actor. After graduation, he enrolled at the University of North Carolina School of the Arts, where he earned a BFA in Drama. Chris then moved to Houston, Texas, and joined an apprentice actor program at the Alley Theatre. He was not asked to join the theatre company after his apprenticeship, so he returned to Memphis and spent a year teaching at Germantown High School. In 1992, Parnell moved to Los Angeles and began taking classes at the Groundlings.
Career
While he was a company player with the Groundlings, Chris started acting in commercials and landing guest roles on TV shows such as "Hope & Gloria" (1996), "Seinfeld" (1997), and "The Jamie Foxx Show" (1997). He made his big screen debut in 1996's "Jingle All the Way," and in 1998, he was hired as a featured player on "Saturday Night Live." He was promoted to a full cast member the following season, and in 2001, he was fired due to budget cuts, but his absence didn't last long. As Parnell joked in a November 2002 "SNL" rap, "Lorne liked me so much he hired me twice." In September 2006, after appearing in more than 140 episodes of the show, Chris was the victim of budget cuts once again, but he quickly found a new role, thanks to his former "SNL" castmate Tina Fey: Dr. Leo Spaceman on "30 Rock." Quite possibly the world's worst (but most entertaining) doctor, Dr. Spaceman was featured in 24 episodes of the series and was reportedly "sort of loosely based on Lorne Michaels' real life doctor."
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Parnell appeared in the 2000 "SNL" spin-off movie "The Ladies Man," then he co-starred with fellow University of North Carolina School of the Arts alum Diedrich Bader in 2003's "Evil Alien Conquerors." That year he also appeared in the film "Down with Love," and in 2004, he played Garth Holliday in "Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy" and "Wake Up, Ron Burgundy: The Lost Movie." Chris reprised the role in 2013's "Anchorman 2: The Legend Continues." In 2007, he co-starred with Andy Samberg, Isla Fischer, Bill Hader, and Danny McBride in "Hot Rod" and with John C. Reilly, Jenna Fischer, Tim Meadows, and Kristen Wiig in "Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story." In 2008, Parnell played Vice Principal Bruce Terry on the ABC series "Miss Guided," then he appeared in the films "Paper Man" (2009), "Labor Pains" (2009), "Hollywood & Wine" (2010), and "The Dogfather" (2010) and reunited with his former "SNL" co-star Horatio Sanz on the Comedy Central sitcom "Big Lake" (2010).
From 2011 to 2014, Chris played Fred Shay on ABC's "Suburgatory" alongside "SNL" vet Ana Gasteyer, and in 2012, he appeared in "21 Jump Street," "The Five-Year Engagement," and "The Dictator." He co-starred with numerous "SNL" alums in 2015's "Sisters," "The Ridiculous 6," and "The Spoils Before Dying," then he appeared in the films "Battle of the Sexes" (2017), "Life of the Party" (2018), "Slice" (2018), "Goosebumps 2: Haunted Halloween" (2018), and "The Last Laugh" (2019). Parnell played Dean Parker on the "Black-ish" spin-off "Grown-ish" in 2018, and from 2018 to 2019, he was a series regular on the CBS sitcom "Happy Together." In 2021, he appeared in the Netflix film "Finding ʻOhana" and the Disney+ comedy "Home Sweet Home Alone," which is the sixth movie in the "Home Alone" series. Chris has guest-starred on numerous TV series, including "Friends" (2001), "Curb Your Enthusiasm" (2011), "Glee" (2014), "Brooklyn Nine-Nine" (2015), "Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt" (2017; 2020), "The Goldbergs" (2019–2020), and "Will & Grace" (2019–2020).
Personal Life
Chris is married with two children, and his wife is reportedly a former actress.
Award Nominations
Parnell has earned five Behind the Voice Actors Award nominations. In 2013, "Archer" received a nomination for Best Vocal Ensemble in a Television Series – Comedy/Musical, and "Hotel Transylvania" earned a Best Vocal Ensemble in a Feature Film nomination. In 2014, Chris was nominated for Best Male Vocal Performance in a Television Series in a Supporting Role – Comedy/Musical for "Rick and Morty," and "Archer" earned another nomination for Best Vocal Ensemble in a Television Series – Comedy/Musical. In 2016, Parnell and his "Rick and Morty" castmates received a nomination for Best Vocal Ensemble in a Television Series.
Real Estate
In 2013, Chris paid $1.7 million for a home in the Silver Lake area of Los Angeles. He put the home on the market in October 2020 for $2.7 million. In July 2020, Parnell purchased a 2,848 square foot Silver Lake home for $3.375 million, more than $400,000 over the four-bedroom, three-bathroom home's asking price.
