Thomas Alan Smith Rosenthal (born 14 January 1988) is an English actor, comedian, and writer. He is best known for his television roles as Jonny Goodman in ''
Friday Night Dinner
''Friday Night Dinner'' is a
British television sitcom written by Robert Popper and starring Tamsin Greig, Paul Ritter, Simon Bird, Tom Rosenthal, and Mark Heap. The comedy is focused on the regular dinner experience of the middle-class Bri ...
'' (2011–2020) and Marcus Gallo in ''
Plebs
In ancient Rome, the plebeians (also called plebs) were the general body of free Roman citizenship, Roman citizens who were not Patrician (ancient Rome), patricians, as determined by the capite censi, census, or in other words "commoners". Both ...
'' (2013–present). He has written and performed three stand-up comedy shows: ''Child of Privilege'' (2011), ''благодаря'' (2013), and ''Manhood'' (2019–2020), the latter of which received critical acclaim at the 2019
Edinburgh Fringe Festival.
Early life
Thomas Alan Smith Rosenthal was born in the
Hammersmith
Hammersmith is a district of West London, England, southwest of Charing Cross. It is the administrative centre of the London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham, and identified in the London Plan as one of 35 major centres in Greater London.
...
area of London on 14 January 1988, the son of ''
Newsnight
''Newsnight'' (or ''BBC Newsnight'') is BBC Two's news and current affairs programme, providing in-depth investigation and analysis of the stories behind the day's headlines. The programme is broadcast on weekdays at 22:30. and is also availa ...
'' producer Christine (née Smith) and television sports presenter
Jim Rosenthal
Jim Rosenthal (born 6 November 1947) is an English sports presenter and commentator. In a long broadcasting career, Rosenthal has presented coverage of many sports including football, rugby, automotive racing, boxing and athletics. He has covere ...
.
He is of German-Jewish descent through his father, with one of his paternal great-grandfathers being German-Jewish physician and writer
Oscar Levy
Oscar Ludwig Levy (28 March 1867 – 13 August 1946) was a German Jewish physician and writer, now known as a scholar of Friedrich Nietzsche, whose works he first saw translated systematically into English. His was a paradoxical life, of self-exile ...
. He was once dubbed a "super-smart child of privilege" by the London ''Evening Standard''. He grew up in
Cookham, Berkshire,
and read philosophy at
King's College London
King's College London (informally King's or KCL) is a public research university located in London, England. King's was established by royal charter in 1829 under the patronage of King George IV and the Duke of Wellington. In 1836, King's ...
. His early comedic influences were the TV shows ''
Spaced
''Spaced'' is a British television sitcom created, written by and starring Simon Pegg and Jessica Stevenson, and directed by Edgar Wright, about the (comedic and sometimes farcical and action-packed) misadventures of Daisy Steiner and Tim Bi ...
'', ''
Brass Eye
''Brass Eye'' is a British satirical television series parodying current affairs news programming. A series of six episodes aired on Channel 4 in 1997, and a further episode in 2001. The series was created and presented by Chris Morris, written ...
'', and ''
Da Ali G Show
''Da Ali G Show'' is a British Satire, satirical television series created by and starring English comedian Sacha Baron Cohen. In the series, Baron Cohen plays three unorthodox journalists: faux-streetwise poseur Ali G, Kazakh reporter Borat Sag ...
''.
Career
In 2011, Rosenthal was cast as Jonny Goodman in the
Channel 4
Channel 4 is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network operated by the state-owned enterprise, state-owned Channel Four Television Corporation. It began its transmission on 2 November 1982 and was established to provide a four ...
sitcom ''
Friday Night Dinner
''Friday Night Dinner'' is a
British television sitcom written by Robert Popper and starring Tamsin Greig, Paul Ritter, Simon Bird, Tom Rosenthal, and Mark Heap. The comedy is focused on the regular dinner experience of the middle-class Bri ...
'', alongside
Simon Bird
Simon Antony Bird (born 19 August 1984) is an English comedian, actor, director and producer. He is best known for playing Will McKenzie in the multi-award-winning E4 comedy series ''The Inbetweeners'' (2008–2010), as well as its two films ...
,
Tamsin Greig
Tamsin Margaret Mary Greig (; born 12 July 1966) is an English actress, narrator and comedian. She played Fran Katzenjammer in the Channel 4 sitcom '' Black Books'', Dr Caroline Todd in the Channel 4 sitcom '' Green Wing'', Beverly Lincoln in ...
,
Paul Ritter
Simon Paul Adams (20 December 1966 – 5 April 2021), known professionally as Paul Ritter, was an English actor. He had roles in films including ''Son of Rambow'' (2007), '' Quantum of Solace'' (2008), ''Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince' ...
, and
Mark Heap
Mark Heap (born 13 May 1957) is an English actor and comedian. He is known for his roles in television comedies, including, ''Brass Eye'', ''Big Train'', ''Spaced'', ''Jam (TV series), Jam'', ''Green Wing'', ''Friday Night Dinner'', ''Upstart ...
. The sitcom focused on the weekly
Shabbat dinner
Shabbat (, , or ; he, שַׁבָּת, Šabbāṯ, , ) or the Sabbath (), also called Shabbos (, ) by Ashkenazim, is Judaism's day of rest on the seventh day of the week—i.e., Saturday. On this day, religious Jews remember the biblical storie ...
in the middle-class
secular Jewish Secular Jew may refer to:
* A general epithet for Jews who participate in modern secular society and are not stringently religious
* Nonreligious Jews, including nonaffiliated, agnostics, etc.
** Jewish atheism
** Cultural Judaism
* ''Hiloni
...
Goodman family in
North London
North London is the northern part of London, England, north of the River Thames. It extends from Clerkenwell and Finsbury, on the edge of the City of London financial district, to Greater London's boundary with Hertfordshire.
The term ''nor ...
. Rosenthal played the younger son and he and Greig are the only two cast members who have Jewish roots in real life. The sixth and final series set the record for the highest audience for any comedy on Channel 4 or
E4 for 16-to-34 year olds with a 49.3% share, and the average audience for the series was 3.9 million viewers. Following the death of Ritter in 2021, it was announced that the show would not continue. To celebrate the 10th anniversary of the start of the show, an anniversary special was aired in May 2021.
In 2013, he was cast as Marcus in the ITV sitcom ''
Plebs
In ancient Rome, the plebeians (also called plebs) were the general body of free Roman citizenship, Roman citizens who were not Patrician (ancient Rome), patricians, as determined by the capite censi, census, or in other words "commoners". Both ...
''. The sitcom is a comedy set in
Ancient Rome
In modern historiography, ancient Rome refers to Roman civilisation from the founding of the city of Rome in the 8th century BC to the collapse of the Western Roman Empire in the 5th century AD. It encompasses the Roman Kingdom (753–509 B ...
, following the main characters of Marcus, Stylax, and Grumio. In 2020, it was announced that a sixth series would not be commissioned and instead a feature-length special would be released.
In 2014, he created and starred in a comedy pilot for
BBC iPlayer with
Naz Osmanoglu
Şehzade Nazım Ziyaeddin Nazım Osmanoğlu (born 24 September 1985), known professionally as Naz Osmanoglu, is an Anglo- Turkish comedian and member of the Imperial House of Osman, former ruling dynasty of the Ottoman Empire.
Personal
Osmanog ...
, entitled ''Flat TV'', which was later commissioned into a mini-series.
In 2015, he played a brief role as Gary Thorp in the ITV drama series ''
Broadchurch
''Broadchurch'' is a British crime drama television series broadcast on ITV (TV network), ITV for List of Broadchurch episodes, three series between 2013 and 2017. It was created by Chris Chibnall, who acted as an executive producer and wrote a ...
''.
In 2019, he played
Private Pike
Private Frank Pike is a fictional Home Guard private and junior bank clerk, first portrayed by actor Ian Lavender in the BBC television sitcom ''Dad's Army''. He was appointed as the platoon's information officer by Captain Mainwaring in The Man ...
in ''
Dad's Army: The Lost Episodes'', a recreation of three missing episodes of the
BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC
Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board exam. ...
...
''. That same year, his third stand-up show ''Manhood'' received critical acclaim at the
Rosenthal was in a relationship with TV and Radio presenter, Vick Hope from 2013 to 2017. He is an avid fan of
in stark contrast with his father's support for Oxford United FC.
Rosenthal said of his Jewish roots in 2011, "I get called a Jewish comedian and I'm totally fine with that, but I can't really inform either of the performances I've done this year with a Jewish background. But I have learnt a lot about the culture and it has given me great pride to do so."
In 2019, Rosenthal began to speak out about his negative experience with
as well as speaking about how the experience intersected with his struggles with
.
He stated, "The truth is that my parents were put in charge of my welfare and they did something to me that can never be remedied.
The last proper Jew in our family was four generations back.
was circumcised for medical reasons, which is another bloody rabbit hole because a lot of those cases are misdiagnosed.
The aim is to recognise that if this has happened to you and you feel fine about it, that's great. But if you don't feel fine, which I don't, then you're justified."
* Laughing Horse New Act of the Year Commended Finalist 2008
* Amused Moose Laugh-Off Finalist 2008
* Paramount Funniest Student Winner 2009 (video available)
*