Church started in the entertainment business as a radio personality and doing voice-over work. He changed his name to "Thomas Haden Church", taking "Haden" and "Church" from his ancestry. After appearing in an independent film, he moved to California to pursue an acting career. His character delivers a last love letter from "Eddie Labec" to "Carla" in the Cheers episode, "Death Takes a Vacation on Ice". He played the part of slow-witted aircraft mechanic Lowell Mather for six seasons (1990–95) on the NBC sitcom Wings.
He worked in television for two more seasons with a lead role on Ned & Stacey opposite Debra Messing. He has had supporting roles in films such as Tombstone, George of the Jungle, and The Specials. He has often played villains or comic relief in films, such as in Demon Knight.
Church bought a ranch in Texas in 1998. In late 2000 he took a break from films. After having small roles in films such as Monkeybone and 3000 Miles to Graceland, he made his directorial debut with Rolling Kansas in 2003. He has voiceover work in commercials, such as for Merrill Lynch and Icehouse beer.
In 2003, director Alexander Payne called him regarding the role of "Jack", the selfish best friend to Paul Giamatti's character, in Sideways. During the audition, Church stripped naked to read the audition scene, later saying "To me, it was painfully obvious... I was reading the scene where Jack comes in naked and there has to be in-born vulnerability in the scene." (He later found that he was the only actor to strip down for the audition). Sideways earned acclaim for Church. He won an IFP Independent Spirit Award and was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor.
He has since appeared in films such as Idiocracy, done voice-over work on films such as Over the Hedge and starred in one of AMC's highest rated television productions, Broken Trail, with Robert Duvall, in 2006, for which he won an Emmy. In 2007, he appeared as the tragic villain Sandman in Sam Raimi's Spider-Man 3 starring Tobey Maguire and Kirsten Dunst.
In 2005, he was invited to join the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. In October 2008, Church appeared as "Joe Six-Pack" in a video on funnyordie.com, challenging Joe the Plumber by drinking more beer. Church starred in the FEARnet webseries, Zombie Roadkill, alongside David Dorfman.
He is currently appearing in the HBO original series Divorce where he plays Robert.
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