Holes

Background:

American actor Khleo Thomas has built a reputation for himself as a promising young talent thanks to his supporting role of Zero in the Disney motion picture “Holes” (2003), from which he received a Young Artist nomination. “Holes” was his second big screen outing after the 2002 “Friday After Next.” He also appeared in “Baadasssss” (2003), “Walking Tall” (2004), “Roll Bounce” (2005), “Dirty” (2005), “The Beautiful Ordinary” (2007) and “Krews” (2008). Thomas has added to his resume roles on the small screen as well, including the Disney Channel Original movie “Going to the Mat” (2004). On his role in the film, he said, “There are definitely some similarities but the difference is I'm not a nerd. Fly's kind of a nerd and nervous around people. I'm not. I try to be as cool with people as I can. That's kind of why the school is against him. But he's a musical guy and music is something we both share.

Outside of acting, Thomas is a rap singer. He enjoys football, baseball, basketball, track, skateboarding and lifting weights. He also likes reading, especially the popular “Harry Potter” series.

In 2009, Thomas appeared as Cupcake in Craig Carlisle’s “Bob Funk” and Raymond in Tim Story’s “Hurricane Season.” He will portray Gizmo in Christ Stoke’s upcoming musical “Boogie Town” (2010)

Li'l Khlee Khlee

Childhood and Family:

Khaleed Leon Thomas was born on January 30, 1989, in Anchorage, Alaska, where his father was stationed in the Army after serving in the first Gulf War. A product of a culturally diverse family, his father is African-American and his mother was from Morocco. Thomas speaks five languages. After living in Germany, his family moved to California in 1995 where the future actor and his three siblings, Khadeem, Khamel and Khaleea, were raised.

Khaleed Leon Thomas combined his first and middle names into Khleo when he started acting in commercials at age 6. He has since used Khleo Thomas as his pseudonym. He got the nickname Li'l Khlee Khlee during the production of “Holes.”

Krews

Career:

Khleo Thomas began appearing in commercials when he was 6 years old. Three years later, he made his debut as a child guest on the Bill Cosby reality TV series “Kids Say the Darndest Things” (1998). A year later, he was cast as Lanny Brass in an episode of “Family Law” called “Games.”

After appearing as Jordan in an episode of the NBC comedy “City Guys” (2001), Thomas made his feature film debut with a small role in the comedy “Friday After Next” (2002), starring Ice Cube and Mike Epps. He received a bigger part as Hector 'Zero' Zeroni, the friend of the wrongly accused Stanley Yelnats (played by Shia LaBeouf), in the comedy “Holes” (2003), which Louis Sachars scripted based on his bestseller book. The critically acclaimed Disney movie also starred Sigourney Weaver, Jon Voight and Tim Blake Nelson and Thomas was nominated for a 2004 Young Artist for Best Performance in a Feature Film - Supporting Young Actor for his work in the film. Also in 2003, Thomas was cast with Mario Van Peebles, T.K. Carter, Nia Long and Paul Rodriguez in “Baadasssss” (2003) and worked with his self-proclaimed hero, Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson, in the remake of the 1973 film “Walking Tall” (2004), where he portrayed Pete Vaughn. It was also in 2004 that Thomas revisited the small screen as Brian in “Forgive and Forget,” an episode of the NBC hit medical series “ER.” He also costarred with Andrew Lawrence and Alessandra Toreson in the Disney Channel movie “Going to the Mat” (2004).

The following year saw Thomas in the Bow Wow starring vehicle “Roll Bounce,” a musical comedy directed by Malcolm D. Lee. He also appeared as Splooge in the Chris Fisher directed thriller “Dirty,” opposite Cuba Gooding Jr., Brittany Daniel and Wood Harris and acted in an episode of the comedy series “The Bernie Mac Show.” Thomas went on to have guest spots in such shows as the short lived “Teachers” and the hit “CSI: Crime Scene Investigation” (both 2006).

Recently playing Dylan in “The Beautiful Ordinary,” which was written and directed by Jess Manafort, and Kenny in an episode of “House M.D.” (both 2007), Thomas played the supporting role of Tom in “Krews” (2008), opposite Brian Geraghty, Faune A. Chambers and Sam Jones III. In 2009, he appeared as Cupcake in Craig Carlisle’s “Bob Funk” and Raymond in Tim Story’s “Hurricane Season.” He will portray Gizmo in Christ Stoke’s upcoming musical “Boogie Town” (2010)

In addition to his acting career, Thomas is also a rapper. Alongside Bow Wow, his costar in the 2005 “Roll Bounce,” he performed on the Scream IV Tour, at the Kid's Choice Awards in 2006, on the “The Tyra Banks Show,” on “Jimmy Kimmel Live” and for the 25th Annual BET Anniversary pre-show. Thomas was also featured on Bow Wow's “Price Of Fame” album and has collaborated with other artists like Miss Nana and Young Rome. On his own, Thomas released “Prince of the West” on his MySpace page.

Awards:
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