Tom Chick

Tom W. Chick (born August 14, 1966) is an American television and movie actor, and independent journalist. His most prominent TV roles were as Oscar's boyfriend Gil in the U.S. 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 ended his role as editor-in-chief for the now closed Fidgit gaming blog to move on to other opportunities. Tom actively maintains a gaming and movie blog on his web site Quarter to Three.

Tom Chick
Chick in September 2006
Born (1966-08-14) August 14, 1966
NationalityAmerican
OccupationActor, journalist, critic
Known for

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]

In late September 2014, Tom Chick revealed in a podcast[3] he had stage 4 Hypopharyngeal cancer, and was about to begin chemotherapy. This treatment would interrupt his podcasting activities at Quarter To Three due to an impact on his speaking voice. Though he was actively posting on the Quarter To Three Forums in Winter, 2014, he did not return to the podcast until the March 17, 2015 podcast,[4] at which point he stated he was cancer free though his voice was still in recovery.

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,[5] Yahoo Games,[6] GameSpy,[7] GameSpot, Xtreme Gamer,[8] 1Up,[9] Rotten Tomatoes[10] 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.[11]

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,[12] and due to 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.[13]

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 Dr. Bruce Geryk. He also appeared in Joystiq Podcast number 114 which was released on October 23, 2009. After a successful kick-starter campaign, Tom Chick and Dr. Bruce Geryk brought back their popular gaming column, Tom vs Bruce in an online format.[14]

Acting career

Chick'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

References
  1. Quarter to Three Post by Tom Chick. January 25, 2007.
  2. As of 31 May 2008, the site has 7,010 registered members, with 1,709 of them having posted more than 5 times. Over half the registered membership has never posted a single message. (membership listing)
  3. Qt3 Movie Podcast: The Guest (Cancer Reveal @ 1:20)
  4. Qt3 Movie Podcast: It Follows (Return Acknowledgement @ 1:16:20)
  5. Firing Squad Tom Chick's profile page.
  6. Yahoo Games Archived 2007-01-20 at the Wayback Machine List of contributors.
  7. Painkiller review. GameSpy.com. April 2004.
  8. Bully review. Xtreme-Gamer.com. October 2006.
  9. Sword of the Stars review Archived 2006-11-26 at the Wayback Machine. 1Up.com. September 2006.
  10. Rotten Tomatoes Tom Chick's review listing
  11. Wallace, Mark. "Notes on Halo". New York Times. April 3, 2005.
  12. 1Up.com Archived 2007-09-14 at the Wayback Machine. Andrew Pfister, editor. November 2006.
  13. archive.org. Retrieved January 18, 2007.
  14. Chick, Tom. "Tom vs Bruce".
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