After a long year off the air, Tim Allen is back. The comedian is returning to television with a new season of Last Man Standing, which provides a great opportunity to look back at his best roles.
Allen, 65, kicked off his career as a stand-up comedian in 1975, but he waited more than a decade to finally break into acting. Once he joined Home Improvement as Tim Taylor, his status as a star was cemented. It was almost impossible to avoid him in the 1990s, as he starred in several Disney movies, including Toy Story.
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During his long career, Allen won a Golden Globe in 1995 for Home Improvement and earned an Emmy nomination in 1993. In 2000, he won an Annie Award for voicing Buzz Lightyear in Toy Story 2.
Scroll on for a look at Allen’s best roles.
Photo credit: ABC
Mike Baxter on Last Man Standing
Allen’s current role is Mike Baxter, a Denver-based sporting goods store owner who has three daughters, on Last Man Standing. Mike has a conservative political viewpoint, which sometimes clashes with his wife Vanessa’s. Nancy Travis stars as Vanessa, while Amanda Fuller, Molly Ephraim and Kaitlyn Dever play their daughters.
The series ran on ABC from 2011 to 2017 before it was cancelled. After a season off the air, Fox agreed to bring it back, although Ephraim is being replaced by Molly McCook. The new episodes debut on Sept. 28.
Buzz Lightyear in the Toy Story franchise
In 1995, Tim Allen and Tom Hanks starred as Buzz Lightyear and Woody in Pixar’s historic film Toy Story, the first feature-length computer-animated film. Since then, Allen has voiced Buzz in the two Toy Story sequels and several TV specials.
Although Allen’s relationship with ABC soured after Last Man Standing was cancelled, he is still working with Disney on Toy Story 4.
Tim Taylor on Home Improvement
Home Improvement made Allen a star. The series ran on ABC from 1991 to 1999 and was created by Matt Williams, Carmen Finestra and David McFadzean. It was one of the most-watched shows in the U.S. during the 1990s.
Allen starred as Tim Taylor, the host of The Tool Man TV show, with Patricia Richardson as his wife Jill. Zachary Ty Bryan, Jonathan Taylor Thomas and Taran Noah Smith played Tim’s three sons.
Scott Calvin in The Santa Clause
In 1994, Allen starred in John Pasquin’s The Santa Clause as Scott Calvin, a normal man who has to become Santa Claus after the real Santa falls off his roof. The film was such a success that two sequels followed in 2002 and 2006.
Pasquin has become a regular collaborator with Allen, working on Home Improvement, Jungle 2 Jungle, Joe Somebody and Last Man Standing.
Jason Nesmith in Galaxy Quest
In 1999, Allen and Sigourney Weaver starred in Galaxy Quest, a science fiction parody where a bunch of actors who starred on a Star Trek-like show are mistaken as real space travelers by actual aliens who thought their show was a documentary.
Although not a big hit when it was released, Dean Parisot’s film has become a cult classic.
Doug Madsen in Wild Hogs
Walter Becker’s 2007 comedy Wild Hogs teamed up Allen with John Travolta, Martin Lawrence and William H. Macy. The quartet played a group of middle-aged men in Cincinnati who are bored by their lives. After Travolta’s wife divorces him, his character convinces the group to go on a road trip to California.
The film was a big hit at the box office, but plans for a sequel never made it to fruition.
Michael Cromwell in Jungle 2 Jungle
At the height of his ’90s popularity, Allen starred in Jungle 2 Jungle, a Disney-released remake of the French film, Little Indian, Big City.
The 1997 film stars Allen as a self-obsessed commodities broker in Los Angeles who needs to get a divorce from his first wife to marry his second, but he has to travel to Venezuela to get it. He also learns he has a 13-year-old son, played by Sam Huntington.
Luther Krank in Christmas With The Kranks
In 2004, Allen got another dose of Christmas spirit as the family patriarch in Christmas With The Kranks.
Directed by Joe Roth and written by Chris Columbus, the film co-stars Jamie Lee Curtis and Dan Aykroyd. After their daughter leaves, the Kranks try to skip Christmas, but after getting angry messages from their neighbors, they realize they cannot escape the Christmas spirit. They have hours to prepare for Christmas before their daughter comes home.
