Biff Tannen is a legendary antagonist in the Back to the Future franchise, but the actor who plays him, Thomas Wilson Jr., is nothing at all like the character, writes Michael Palan for Looper.com.

Wilson grew up in Wayne and graduated from Radnor High School, more like a “regular guy from a normal family of kind people from Pennsylvania.”

He is still acting and has appeared in multiple roles in film and on television.

He’s also done voice-over work, stand-up comedy, and worked as a pop artist. A man of faith, he’s both hiding and embracing Biff Tannen.

“I was George McFly in school,” he told the Orange County Register in 1989 — an asthmatic tuba player bullied by classmates. 

“I was just the artistic kid in school that didn’t fit in anywhere really,” Wilson told the Dayton Daily News in 2009.

Wilson moved out to Hollywood after high school and a year of college, lucking into an audition for Biff.

For his final audition, he channeled all those who had bullied him in school, convincing Robert Zemeckis and Steven Spielberg that here was their Biff.

Read more about Thomas Wilson Jr. at Looper.com.

Editor’s Note: This article was originally published in July 2022.