Tom W. Chick (birthday August 14, 1966) is an American television and movie actor, and independent journalist. His most prolific TV roles were as Oscar's lover Gil in the US version of The Office, and the hard-hitting reporter Gordon in The West Wing. As a writer, Tom has contributed to many current and past video game publications. He currently functions as editor-in-chief for the Fidgit gaming blog.
Tom W. Chick
Biography[]
Chick attended Harvard Divinity School and received a Masters of Theological Studies[1] with a focus on the Old Testament. Deciding not to pursue the ministry, he later moved to Hollywood, California where he currently resides and pursues a career in writing about video games and occasionally acting for television roles. He is also the co-founder and administrator of a web-based site for games discussion, Quarter To Three.[2]
Writing career[]
Chick is an independent journalist whose columns on video games have appeared online and in print. As a freelance columnist, he has written for a number of sites, including Firing Squad,[3] Yahoo Games,[4] Gamespy,[5] GameSpot, Xtreme Gamer,[6] 1Up,[7] Rotten Tomatoes[8] and others. His articles have also appeared in magazines such as the "Tom vs. Bruce" series in Computer Gaming World, and he was listed as "one of the field's rare American practitioners" in an article on "New Games Journalism" in the New York Times.[9]
In May 2008, He partnered with the Sci-Fi Channel as Editor in chief of a new co-branded gaming blog, entitled Fidgit.
Chick's reviews are no stranger to controversy as he has been an outspoken critic of what he calls the "7–9 rating scale" at some game review sites,[10] and due to occasional game reviews which were widely considered to be different from the main, such as his harshly critical review of Deus Ex of which he said "I'd say it's only 90% bad." in a June 2000 review.[11]
He has also collaborated on other games journalism projects, such as a podcast with independent games developer Brad Wardell hosted at the now-defunct PowerUser.TV. He is now a regular panelist on the strategy game themed podcast Three Moves Ahead with colleagues Troy Goodfellow, Julian Murdoch, Rob Zacny and old collaborator Bruce Geryk. He also appeared in Joystiq Podcast number 114 which was released on October 23, 2009. [1]
Acting career[]
Tom Chick as Gordon in The West WingChick's most successful television acting engagement was a recurring role as reporter Gordon in nine episodes of The West Wing. He also played Oscar's homosexual lover Gil in The Office, and Mario in The Nine.
Selected filmography[]
- Frank & Jesse (1994) ... Detective Whitcher
- Beverly Hills, 90210 (1994) ... Joe (single episode)
- ER (1997) ... Weissbroot (single episode)
- Frasier (1997) ... Waiter (two episodes)
- The King of Queens (2001) ... Guy (one episode)
- The West Wing (2003–2005) ... Gordon (nine episodes)
- The Office (US) (2006–2007) ... Gil (four episodes)
- The Nine (2006) ... Mario (two episodes)