Tim Allen Biography

Tim Allen is a Detroit comedian who made it big in the 1990s with his own sitcom, Home Improvement.

In the movies, he’s best known for playing Santa in The Santa Clause, and for being the voice of Buzz Lightyear in Toy Story.

Born in Denver, he grew up in the Detroit area. After graduating from Western Michigan University in 1976, Allen tried his hand at stand-up comedy. His career was nearly ended shortly after, when he was arrested for cocaine possession in 1978.

Allen spent 28 months of a three-year sentence in federal prison, then went back to stand-up comedy, polishing a stage persona as a man’s man of the regular guy type, trading on masculine stereotypes and punctuating his jokes with a series of grunts that became his calling card.

With a successful stage act, the world of TV beckoned and Allen got a sitcom crafted around his image, playing a lovable but thick-headed home improvement expert.

The show was a hit and Home Improvement ran from 1991 until 1998.

Tim Allen had another hit television show later on, Last Man Standing (2011-19), and he made headlines when ABC cancelled the show, claiming “liberal Hollywood” was against him for his opinions on social issues.

On the big screen, he has had equal success, especially has the voice of Buzz Lightyear in all four Toy Story movies (1995-2019).

His other films include the hits Galaxy Quest (1999) and The Santa Clause 2 (2002).