Tom Rosenthal (actor)


Thomas Alan Smith Rosenthal is an English actor and comedian. He is the son of television sports presenter Jim Rosenthal. His television roles include: Jonny Goodman in Friday Night Dinner and Marcus Gallo in Plebs. Rosenthal has written and performed three stand-up comedy shows - Child of Privilege', 'благодаря' and 'Manhood' - which was described by the Guardian as ‘a striking show, raising questions and laughter in equal measure.’

Life and career

Rosenthal was born in Hammersmith, London, the son of Christine "Chrissy", a former Newsnight producer, and Jim Rosenthal, a television sports presenter, and grew up in the village of Cookham in Berkshire. He studied Philosophy at King's College London.
His father is Jewish. One of his paternal great-grandfathers was German-born Jewish physician and writer Oscar Levy. In 2011, he stated, "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." He was dubbed a "super-smart child of privilege" by the London Evening Standard. Rosenthal has talked openly about living with obsessive–compulsive disorder.
Rosenthal is vocal about his negative experience with circumcision and his opposition to the practice.
In 2011 he was cast with a leading role as Jonathan "Jonny" Goodman in the Channel 4 sitcom, Friday Night Dinner, along with Simon Bird.
In 2013 he was cast as "Marcus" in the ITV sitcom Plebs.
In 2014 he created and starred in a comedy pilot for BBC iPlayer with Naz Osmanoglu, entitled Flat TV, which was later commissioned into a mini-series.
In 2019 he played Private Pike in , a recreation of three missing episodes of the BBC sitcom Dad's Army.

Achievements