Thomas Christopher "Chris" Parnell was born on February 5, 1967 in Memphis, Tennessee and is an actor and comedian. He studied drama at Germantown High School and the North Carolina School of the Arts.

Chris Parnell joined Saturday Night Live as a featured player on September 26, 1998 and was promoted to regular cast status the following season. He was fired in the summer of 2001 and then re-hired the following year in March. Parnell had expressed an interest in simultaneously remaining on SNL and working on his new TV sitcom entitled Thick and Thin, which begins in 2006.

Parnell has played in numerous sketches, parody commercials, and has performed memorable impressions of various celebrities. Some of his most recognised characters are Sean Demarco, a dancer wannabe, barfly Wayne Bloater, Tyler from the Appalachian Emergency Room, and Mervin "Merv the Perv" Watson. Some of his most memorable impersonations are of Tom Brokaw, Sen. Joe Lieberman in which he appears in a hot tub with former Vice President Al Gore and discusses politics, Pat Buchanan, Jim Lehrer, Bing Crosby, John McCain and Eminem. Parnell is particularly adept at rapping. One of his most popular rap sketches is Lazy Sunday, a "hardcore" rap video he shot with Andy Samberg about buying cupcakes and going to see The Chronicles of Narnia. He has also performed raps about hosts Jennifer Garner, Britney Spears, Kirsten Dunst and Ashton Kutcher.