"What are you lookin' at, butthead?!"
When I'm flyin' in a plane or I'm on the street
There's a lot of friendly people that I like to meet
They shake my hand but never ask my name
And they start asking questions that are always the same
"Hey, what's Michael J. Fox like?" He's nice
"What's Christopher Lloyd like?" Kinda quiet
"What's Crispin Glover like?" ... Unusual?
Stop askin' me the question.
There's a lot of friendly people that I like to meet
They shake my hand but never ask my name
And they start asking questions that are always the same
"Hey, what's Michael J. Fox like?" He's nice
"What's Christopher Lloyd like?" Kinda quiet
"What's Crispin Glover like?" ... Unusual?
Stop askin' me the question.
Thomas Francis Wilson Jr. (born April 15, 1959) is an American actor, voice actor, writer, musician and painter.
Biff Tannen, the bully of the McFly family and archenemy of Marty McFly in Back to the Future, is his most famous role. He's had a hefty voice acting career since, he notably voiced several characters in the DC Animated Universe and in Disney animated series.
Notable credits:
- Knight Rider (1983) - Chip
- The Facts of Life (1985) - Moose
- Ninja Turf (1985) - Member of Spike's Gang
- Back to the Future Trilogy:
- Back to the Future (1985) - Biff Tannen
- Back to the Future Part II (1989) - Biff Tannen, Griff Tannen
- Back to the Future Part III (1990) - Buford Tannen, Biff Tannen
- Let's Get Harry (1986) - Bob Pachowski
- Action Jackson (1988) - Officer Kornblau
- Batman: The Animated Series (1993) - Tony Zucco, "Robin's Reckoning" (voice)
- Gargoyles (1994) - Matt Bluestone (voice)
- Wing Commander (1994-97) - Major Todd "Maniac" Marshall (live-action footage, in III, IV and Prophecy; voice in Wing Commander Academy)
- Sabrina the Teenage Witch (1996) - Simon
- Lois & Clark (1997) - Carter Landry
- Freaks and Geeks (1999) - Coach Ben Fredricks
- SpongeBob SquarePants (1999-) - Flats the Flounder, the Tattletale Strangler, Marty (Patrick's fake dad), others (voice), Himself
- Nash Bridges (2001) - Jack Noon
- Titus (2001) - Joe
- Crash Bandicoot: The Wrath of Cortex (2001) - Rok-Ko
- Max Steel (2000-02) - Pete Costas (voice)
- Atlantis: Milo's Return (2003) - Ashton Carnaby (voice)
- Boston Public (2003) - Paul Stanton
- Two and a Half Men (2003) - Mike
- Reba (2005) - Ted
- The George Lopez Show (2005) - Sonny
- Zoom: Academy for Superheroes (2006)
- Cold Case (2006) - Arnold Brown
- Ghost Whisperer (2006-2008) - Tim Flaherty
- House (2007) - Lou
- Boston Legal (2007) - Jeffrey Bass
- Bones (2008) - Chip Barnett
- Psych (2009) - Butch
- True Jackson, VP (2010) - Ben Franklin
- The Informant (2009) - Mark Cheviron
- Rio (2011) - Trapped Bird / Screaming Hang Glider
- Epic (2013) - Finn (voice)
- The Heat (2013) - Captain Frank Woods
- Pig Goat Banana Cricket (2015-18) - Banana (voice)
- Tales of Arcadia (2016-) - Coach Lawrence (voice)
- Legends of Tomorrow (2018-19) - Henry "Hank" Heywood, Jr.
- The Patrick Star Show (2021-present) - Cecil Star
Tropes applying to Tom:
- I Am Not Spock: He is so associated with the role of Biff Tannen (and Griff and Buford) that fans of the Back to the Future franchise never stop asking him about it. He even wrote a song (quoted above) expressing his bemused frustration. Wilson has nevertheless said in interviews that he loves the role(s) and the movies, just stop asking him the same questions!note
- MST3K Mantra: Invoked in "Biff's Question Song", when someone asks him about the hoverboards in Back to the Future Part II:"Do those hoverboards really fly?"
It's a movie!
Stop asking me the question! - Nice Guy: He plays a lot of unpleasant, bullying characters, but one would be amazed by how utterly nice and polite he really is. In fact, Biff was created after his own childhood encounter with bullies.
- Playing Against Type: His minor role in Epic is Finn, a good guy; he seems to have a sweet, if not a little sassy, personality, from what is seen in his few scenes.
- Typecasting: He tends to be cast as mean characters.
