cast by season

Kenan Thompson is in his eighth season on "Saturday Night Live."

Thompson has made numerous standout contributions to the show including impressions of Bill Cosby, Rev. Al Sharpton, Charles Barkley, Reba McEntire, and Whoopi Goldberg, and entertained us as "DJ Dynasty Handbag," the scathingly fierce co-host of "Deep House Dish," as boisterous second wife "Virginica Hastings," and Weekend Update correspondent "Jean K. Jean." Thompson garnered praise from audiences with his latest characters, "Lorenzo McIntosh" a convict who uses "scare tactics" with delinquents and the disruptive singing talk show host "D'Andre Cole" on the wildly popular sketch, "What Up With That."

A native of Atlanta, Georgia, Thompson made his television debut as a member of Nickelodeon's all-kid sketch comedy series "All That." He and his partner Kel Mitchell debuted in a spin-off show "Kenan and Kel" in 1996. Thompson also had a recurring role on the WB's "Felicity."

For Thompson's next film role, he will lend his voice in the animated feature, "The Smurfs" as "Greedy Smurf." He other recent projects include starring opposite Samuel L. Jackson in "Snakes on a Plane" and the comedy "Wieners." Thompson also lent his voice to the animated "Space Chimps," the television series "Shut Up, Sit Down," as well as the Kobe/LeBron Nike puppet campaign during the last NBA Playoffs. Thompson's other feature film credits include "Fat Albert," "D2: The Mighty Ducks," "Good Burger" "Rocky & Bullwinkle," "Heavyweights" with Ben Stiller, "The Boss' Daughter" with Ashton Kutcher and "Barbershop 2."

Thompson lives in Los Angeles and New York. His birthday is May 10.