Thomas Randall Mann, Jr. (born September 27, 1991) is an American actor. He is best known for starring as Thomas Kub in the 2012 comedyProject X and Greg Gaines in the 2015 drama Me and Earl and the Dying Girl.
Thomas Mann was born in Portland, Oregon, and grew up in Dallas, Texas. His father is a construction project manager. Mann attended Plano East Senior High School briefly before moving to California at the age of 17 to give acting a serious go.
Early work
In 2009, Mann made his acting debut on the Nickelodeon sitcom television series iCarly portraying the role of Jeffrey. Later in the year, Mann appeared in The Middle portraying the role of Brendan Nichols.
In 2010, Mann was cast as the protagonist in the comedy film Project X. Mann was told he could not audition for Project X because producers only wished to cast people without acting credits; Mann was ultimately given the role after auditioning seven times. The film centers on Mann’s character Thomas Kub who throws a house party for his birthday that becomes totally out of hand. Filming began in June that same year in Los Angeles, California on a $12 million budget. A planned sequel was in development in 2012. In March 2012, Mann was in final negotiations to star in a film adaptation of the 2006 novel King Dork. It was optioned in November 2006 by Gary Sanchez Productions, a joint production company founded by Will Ferrell and Adam McKay. The same year, Mann appeared in the film Fun Size alongside Victoria Justice portraying the role of Roosevelt, the film which was released in the United States on October 26, 2012. The film was a box office bomb and a critical flop. In 2013, Mann appeared in Hansel & Gretel: Witch Hunters portraying the role of Ben. The film was released in the United States on January 25, 2013., The same year, Mann appeared in Beautiful Creatures a film adaption of the book with the same name, Mann appeared alongside Viola Davis and Emma Thompson, portraying the role of Link. The film was released on February 14, 2013 and grossed $60 million worldwide against a budget of $60 million. Mann later appeared in As Cool As I Am alongside Sarah Bolger and James Marsden. The film was released on June 21, 2013 by IFC Films.
Breakthrough: 2014–present
In 2014, Mann appeared in Welcome to Me portraying art student Rainer Ybarra, appearing alongside Kristen Wiig. The film made its world premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival on September 5, 2014 before being released in a limited release by Alchemy on May 1, 2015. In 2015, Mann starred in the film adaptation of Jesse Andrews’ novel, Me and Earl and the Dying Girl, which premiered on January 25, 2015 at the 2015 Sundance Film Festival. The film was acquired by Fox Searchlight for $12 million, the most amount of money paid for a film at the festival, and was released on June 12, 2015 in the United States. The same year, Mann appeared in The Stanford Prison Experiment which also had its world premiere at the 2015 Sundance Film Festival, Mann portrayed the role of Prisoner 416. The film was released in a limited release on July 17, 2015 by IFC Films. Mann also appeared in Barely Lethal, the film which starred Sophie Turner and Hailee Steinfield was released on May 29, 2015 in a limited release and through video on demand by DirecTV Cinema and A24. Mann’s upcoming roles include The Preppie Connection in which Mann will portray the role of Tobias Hammell. The film is about a student at a private school using connections to start a drug trafficking network at the school. In Some Freaks, a teen romance, Mann will portray the role of Matt. He is also due to star in Outliving Emily and Blood Father, the latter opposite William H. Macy and Mel Gibson. In 2016, Mann will appear alongside Bella Thorne in the Amityville: The Reawakening. The film is scheduled to be released on April 15, 2016 by The Weinstein Company. Mann has signed on to star along side Chloë Grace Moretz and Jenny Slate in Brain on Fire.