That Thing You Do! - Cast

Cast

• Tom Everett Scott as Guy "Shades" Patterson, the film's main protagonist, drums
• Johnathon Schaech as James "Jimmy" Mattingly II, the leader of The One-ders, guitar and lead vocals
• Tom Hanks as Mr. White, the band's second manager (he is briefly addressed as "Andy" by Sol Siler in the film, and the CD liner notes show his initials as "A.M. White")
• Steve Zahn as Leonard "Lenny" Haise, guitar and backing vocals and the "jokester" of the group
• Ethan Embry as "T. B. Player," a.k.a. The Bass Player (character's name is never revealed), bass guitar and backing vocals
• Liv Tyler as Faye Dolan, Jimmy's girlfriend and the band's "costume mistress"
• Charlize Theron as Tina Powers, Guy's girlfriend
• Bill Cobbs as Del Paxton, Guy's favorite jazz musician
• Giovanni Ribisi as Chad, the band's original drummer
• Obba Babatundé as Lamarr, the Ambassador Hotel bellman
• Alex Rocco as Sol Siler, founder of Play-Tone Records
• Chris Isaak as Uncle Bob, Guy's uncle and their first recording engineer
• Larry Antonino as Scott 'Wolfman' Pell
• Holmes Osborne as Mr. Patterson, Guy "Shades" Patterson's father.

Playtone artists

• Robert Torti as Freddy Fredrickson
• Kennya Ramsey, Julie Harkness, and Darlene Dillinger as The Chantrellines
• Chaille Percival as Diane Dane

Cameos

• Director Jonathan Demme one of the producers of That Thing You Do!, also directed Tom Hanks in his first Oscar-winning role for Philadelphia, and has a cameo as the director of Weekend At Party Pier.
• Comedian Barry Sobel, who co-wrote Hanks' stand-up material for and was featured in the film Punchline, has a cameo as "Goofball" in Weekend at Party Pier.
• Tracy Reiner, who played "Betty Spaghetti" Horn in A League of Their Own and Mary Haise in Apollo 13 (both Tom Hanks movies), has a cameo as Anita, the co-star of Weekend at Party Pier.
• Musician Chris Isaak appears as Uncle Bob who produces the band's first recording, and would later appear as astronaut Edward Higgins White in Tom Hanks' From the Earth to the Moon miniseries.
• Actress Rita Wilson, Hanks' wife, has a small part as Marguerite, the waitress at The Blue Spot jazz club, whose interest in Guy becomes compromised when Guy realizes his jazz idol Del Paxton is in the club.
• Tom Hanks' son, Colin, appears as a page at the City of Broadcasting. He can be seen escorting Faye (Liv Tyler) from her car to her seat in the studio audience. His role is slightly expanded in the extended edition DVD.
• Elizabeth Hanks, Hanks' daughter with his first wife, appears as "Bored Girl in Dress Shop".
• Peter Scolari, Tom Hanks' co-star on the '80s sitcom Bosom Buddies, plays Troy Chesterfield, host of The Hollywood Television Showcase.
• Football player/commentator Howie Long appears as Mr. White's driver/partner Lloyd in the extended cut; his part was entirely cut from the theatrical release.
• Bryan Cranston appears as astronaut Gus Grissom during The Hollywood Television Showcase scenes.
• Clint Howard, the brother of Ron Howard, appears as a KJZZ Disk Jockey. Howard played EECOM Paul Lucas in From the Earth to the Moon and Sy Liebergot in Apollo 13. Both characters were EECOM for the Apollo program, with Paul Lucas being a fictional character.
• Kevin Pollak (Apollo Program Manager Joe Shea in From the Earth to the Moon) appears as Victor 'Boss Vic Koss' Kosslovich
• Gedde Watanabe who starred with Hanks & Rita Wilson in "Volunteers" appears as a Playtone photographer.
• Chris Ellis as Phil Horace, the band's first manager. Ellis had previously acted in Apollo 13 with Tom Hanks, as Mercury Seven astronaut Deke Slayton. He later appeared with Tom Hanks as Agent Hanratty's FBI supervisor in Catch Me If You Can.
• Marc McClure as the Hollywood Showcase Director; McClure had previously acted in Apollo 13 with Hanks, as Flight Director Glynn Lunney