Jonathan Taylor Thomas Weiss was born Sept. 8, 1981 in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania. When Jonathan was four, his family to Sacramento, Calif. At the age of seven, Jonathan began working as a model for print advertisements, and over the next few years he appeared in various TV commercials. JTT won his first prime-time part as Greg Brady's son Kevin in TV special The Bradys and later that same year landed his biggest role yet as Randy Taylor on Home Improvement. Jonathan's audition went well, but what really gave him an edge was that the casting directors thought that he looked a lot like his TV dad-to-be, Tim Allen. A few years later, Thomas worked in feature films as the voice of young Simba in Disney's The Lion King and as Ben Archer in Man of the House with Chevy Chase and also starred in Tom and Huck and the The Adventures of Pinocchio. Ever the overachiever, he attended Harvard and was the first actor ever to receive a Lifetime Achievement Award at the Kids' Choice Awards (for his work as Randy Taylor). Thomas went on to appear on Ally McBeal and 8 Simple Rules for Dating My Teenage Daughter. His stage name is derived from his real first and middle names and his brother's middle name (Thomas).

Character Bio

When he's not fighting with his brothers, middle child Randy writes for the school newspaper. He's sarcastic and often gets into trouble. His story line is cut short when he leaves for Costa Rica at the beginning of the show's eighth and final season (because Jonathan Taylor Thomas reportedly wanted to leave the show to go to college). He does not appear in the finale, but is 'home' for the Christmas episode in Season 8.