Tom Lenk

Character actor in film and TV, Broadway's Rock of Ages, comedy shows at the Edinburgh Fringe, and a TV podcast with Felicia Day.

After the show

Lenk followed Andrew from Buffy’s final season into two episodes of Angel’s fifth season in 2004. He then built a steady character-actor career on film, with parts in Date Movie (2006), The Number 23 and Transformers (both 2007), and The Cabin in the Woods, Argo and Joss Whedon’s Much Ado About Nothing, in which he played Verges (all 2012). He later appeared in Barb and Star Go to Vista Del Mar (2021).

On television he guest-starred on Six Feet Under, House, How I Met Your Mother, Nip/Tuck and Bones, and recurred as Hudson Rafferty on Lifetime’s Witches of East End (2013 to 2014). Later credits include Transparent, HBO’s Room 104, Batwoman, American Horror Stories, NCIS: New Orleans and NCIS: Hawai’i, plus a voice role in Netflix’s Dead End: Paranormal Park (2022).

On stage, he played Franz in Broadway’s Rock of Ages in 2009 and has toured US regional theatres in the one-man comedy Buyer & Cellar. He co-starred in Tilda Swinton Answers an Ad on Craigslist, a comedy co-created with Byron Lane that played Los Angeles, New York, San Francisco, London and the Edinburgh Fringe. His own Fringe shows include Nerdgasm (2011), Tom Lenk Is Trash (2019) and Lottie Plachett Took a Hatchet (2022), a camp comedy whodunnit based on the Lizzie Borden case.

In February 2021, after Charisma Carpenter’s statement about Joss Whedon, Lenk wrote on Twitter: “I thought it was important to leave space for the women and series regulars of BTVS to speak.” He said he was listening, and sent his love and support to the women of Buffy.

Lately

Lenk co-hosts Undressing with Felicia Day, a podcast in which the two break down favorite TV shows episode by episode, including The Witcher and the third season of Bridgerton (2024). He also lists a role on Apple TV+’s Palm Royale among his recent screen credits, and his film credits include The Unreason (2024).

Off screen

Lenk is openly gay. Alongside acting, he works with brands and media companies on comedy content and has appeared as a red carpet personality for E!.