Joseph Owen Thomas is an English actor, writer and comedian. He rose to fame when he was cast in the role of Simon Cooper in the award-winning E4 sitcom The Inbetweeners. The programme spanned for 3 series, producing 18 episodes, between 2008 and 2010. The show's success lead to two film adaptions, The Inbetweeners Movie and The Inbetweeners 2, both achieving box office success. After The Inbetweeners concluded, Thomas remained connected to Channel 4, joining the cast of comedy-drama series Fresh Meat in 2011, portraying the role of Kingsley Owen. The show was a success, winning and being nominated for multiple British Comedy Awards and being recognised for nominations at the British Academy Television Awards. Thomas was reunited with his The Inbetweeners colleague James Buckley when they both joined the cast of BBC Two sitcom White Gold, with Thomas portraying the role of Martin Lavender. This became the second time that Thomas worked with a co-star from The Inbetweeners, having worked with Simon Bird for the second time in Chickens, a Sky 1 comedy in which they both created and wrote. White Gold broadcast 12 episodes with 2 series produced, airing between 2017 and 2019; Thomas also wrote 2 episodes.
Early life and education
Born in Chelmsford, Essex, as the first of four boys, Thomas attended King Edward VI Grammar School, Chelmsford before attending Pembroke College, Cambridge, where he read History. At Cambridge, Thomas was a member of the Footlights, alongside his future Inbetweeners co-star Simon Bird. Bird and Thomas served as the President and the Secretary of the Footlights, respectively, in 2005–2006. Of his education, he states, "I never really recovered from the fact that the lecturers weren't paid to be nice to me. Or that the carrot-and-stick thing that happened at school no longer occurred. If you do quite well, nobody's that bothered; and if you really fuck up, nobody's that bothered. It has to be from you and I was easily distracted". Nevertheless, Thomas graduated with a 2:1 degree in History in 2006. After graduation, Thomas briefly shared a flat with Bird and fellow Pembroke graduate and Footlights alumnus Jonny Sweet.
Thomas' big break in television was his role as Simon Cooper in The Inbetweeners which was so popular that it spawned two feature films, The Inbetweeners Movie and The Inbetweeners 2. Together with Bird and writing partner Sweet, he wrote Chickens, a satirical sketch about three conscientious objectors during World War I, which was a part of a proposed series, Comedy Showcase. It made its debut in September 2011 and a full series was commissioned. Following this, Thomas starred in the student sitcom Fresh Meat as Kingsley Owen and played a Maths teacher in the first episode of the second series of Threesome. In 2017, Thomas began starring in the sitcom White Gold, along with his other The Inbetweeners co-star James Buckley.
Radio
In 2018 Thomas began work on Proposal, a comedy radio series announced as part of BBC Radio 2's spring "funny fortnight", in which he plays Jamie, a man preparing to propose to his girlfriend Lucy.
Personal life
Thomas started dating his Inbetweeners co-star Hannah Tointon in 2010 or 2012. They became engaged in early 2017. Thomas resides in Barbican Estate, London.
