Thomas Dekker Biography

Thomas Alexander Dekker (born December 28, 1987) is an American film, television actor, musician and voice actor. He is also a singer and has written and produced two albums.

He is best known for his roles as John Connor in Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles, Adam Conant on The Secret Circle, and Zach on Heroes. 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. He is known for playing 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.

Early life

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

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 Village of the Damned. Dekker has also appeared as Bobby on "Seinfeld" (Season 7 Episode 4). Later, 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.

In 2009, Dekker appeared in From Within, a thriller filmed in 2007, and My Sister's Keeper, a drama in which he starred alongside Cameron Diaz, Alec Baldwin, Abigail Breslin and Medium star Sofia Vassilieva.

Recent roles include Laid to Rest, which also stars Lena Headey, All About Evil, an indie horror film, Slaughter's Road, a werewolf film co-starring Ray Stevenson and directed by David Hayter, and Cinema Verite, a behind-the-scenes look at the making of the 1973 PBS documentary series An American Family in which he plays Lance Loud. He starred in the 2010 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.

Dekker stars in Gregg Araki's Kaboom. 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, but the role went to Kenny Wormald.

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.

As of 2011, Dekker has been cast as Adam, the male lead on the TV series The Secret Circle developed by The CW.

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

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 was released in 2008.

Personal life

Dekker has stated that for much of his childhood, he was a victim of sexual molestation. 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".

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. 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.

Dekker is a vegan.

On April 20, 2011 in an interview with Out magazine Dekker spoke about his sexuality, which has 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."

On July 13, 2017 Dekker came out as gay via Twitter and revealed that he married his husband in April.

Awards

• Young Artist Award  "? Best Performance in a TV Comedy Series "? Leading Young Actor (Honey, I Shrunk the Kids: The TV Show) (1997)
• Young Artist Award  "? Best Performance in a Voice-Over: TV/Film/Video "? Young Actor (An American Tail: The Mystery of the Night Monster) (1999)
• Young Artist Award  "? Best Performance in a TV Series "? Guest Starring Young Actor (Boston Public) (2000)
• Young Artist Award  "? Best Performance in a Voice-Over Role (The Land Before Time IX: Journey to the Big Water) (2002)

Filmography

Film
Year	Film	Role	Notes
1994	Star Trek Generations	Thomas Picard	Credited as Thomas Alexander Dekker
1995	Village of the Damned	David McGowan
1998	The Land Before Time V: The Mysterious Island	Littlefoot	Singing voice
	An American Tail: The Treasure of Manhattan Island	Fievel	Voice only
	The Land Before Time VI: The Secret of Saurus Rock	Littlefoot	Voice only
2000	An American Tail: The Mystery of the Night Monster	Fievel	Voice only
	The Land Before Time VII: The Stone of Cold Fire	Littlefoot	Voice only
2001	The Land Before Time VIII: The Big Freeze		Voice only
2002	Help, I'm a Boy!	Mickey	Voice: English version
	The Land Before Time IX: Journey to Big Water	Littlefoot	Voice only
2006	Simple Joys	Stephen	Short film
2007	The War Prayer	The Singer	Short film
2008	From Within	Aidan	Main role
	Whore	Tom	Main role
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	Main role
2011	Angels Crest	Ethan	Main role
	ChromeSkull: Laid to Rest 2	Tommy
2012	Foreverland	Bobby	Post-production
	The Good Lie	Cullen Francis	Main role
2013	Plush	Jack St. Claire
	Waiting for Superman	The Hero	Main role, music video
	Enter the Dangerous Mind	Jake
2014	The White City	Kyle
	Squatters	Jonas	Main Role
2015	Fear Clinic	Blake
2016	Welcome To Willits	Klaus	Post-production
TBA	The Potters	Asher Potter	Post-production
Television
Year	Title	Role	Notes
1993	The Young and the Restless	Phillip Chancellor IV #4
1994	The Nanny	J.B. Bingington's Son	Episode 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 Burleigh	Episode 1.16: "Learning Curve" Episode 2.08: "Persistence of Vision"
1996	Caroline in the City	Young Richard	Episode 2.09: "Caroline and the Therapist"
1997	The Weird Al Show	Son	Episode 1.04: "Back to School"
	Extreme Ghostbusters	Kevin Rivera	Voice only; 2 episodes
1997-2000	Honey, I Shrunk the Kids: The TV Show	Nick Szalinski	Main cast (Seasons 1-3; 1997-2000)
2000	Touched by an Angel	Dennis	Episode 7.03: "The Invitation"
	Grosse Pointe	Leslie Bicks	Episode 1.09: "Boys on the Side"
2000-2003	Scruff	Scruff	Main Role
2001	Inside the Osmonds	Donny Osmond (younger)	Made-for-television film
	Family Guy	Student	Voice only; Episode 3.01: "The Thin White Line"
2001-2003	Jackie Chan Adventures	Little Valmont / Young Valmont	Voice only; Episode 2.01: "Through the Rabbit Hole" Episode 3.11: "Little Valmont, Big Jade"
2002	The Mummy: The Animated Series	Simon Montgomery	Voice only; Episode 1.12: "The Puzzle"
	Family Affair	Jeremy	Episode 1.07: "No Small Parts"
2003	Run of the House	Seth	Episode 1.03: "The Party"
	Fillmore!	Crockett, Biggie, James Heron	Voice only; 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 McNeal	Episode 4.06: "Chapter Seventy-Two" Episode 4.08: "Chapter Seventy-Four"
2004	CSI: Crime Scene Investigation	Jimmy Jones	Episode 5.03: "Harvest"
2005	7th Heaven	Vincent	9 episodes
	Campus Confidential	Brett	Made-for-television film
	Reba	Buzzer	Episode 5.10: "Issues"
2006	House	Boyd	Episode 2.19: "House vs. God"
	Shark	Ben Channing	Episode 1.08: "Love Triangle"
2006-2007	Heroes	Zach	12 episodes
2008	Psi-Kix	Jacque	Voice only
	IQ-145	Nate Palmer	10 episodes
2008-2009	Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles	John Connor	Main cast (Seasons 1-2; 2008-2009)
2009	Glenn Martin, DDS	Unknown role	Voice only; Episode 1.07: "From Here to Fraternity"
2011	Elvira's Movie Macabre	Elrick / Jack Shemansky	Episode 1.15: "Lady Frankenstein"
	Cinema Verite	Lance Loud
2011-2012	The Secret Circle	Adam Conant	Main cast
2015	Backstrom	Gregory Valentine	Main role

Discography

Albums

• Psyanotic (2008)
• You Are a Liar (TBA)

Soundtracks

• From The Land Before Time V: The Mysterious Island:

• 1997: "Friends for Dinner", "Always There", "Big Water"

• From An American Tail: The Treasure of Manhattan Island:

• 1998: "Anywhere in Your Dreams"

• From The Land Before Time VI: The Secret of Saurus Rock:

• 1998: "Bad Luck", "The Legend of the Lone Dinosaur", "On Your Own"

• From An American Tail: The Mystery of the Night Monster:

• 1999: "Get the Facts", "Who Will"

• From The Land Before Time VII: The Stone of Cold Fire:

• 2000: "Beyond the Mysterious Beyond", "Good Inside"

• From The Land Before Time VIII: The Big Freeze:

• 2001: "Family", "The Lesson"

• From The Land Before Time IX: Journey to the Big Water:

• 2002: "Imaginary Friends", "No One Has to Be Alone", "Chanson D'Ennui", "Big Water"

• From 7th Heaven:

• From the episode Red Socks
• 2005: "Ac-Cent-Tchu-Ate the Positive"
• 2008: "From Within"