Tom Green, the Canadian comedian, has finally become a citizen of the United States.
On Feb. 20, the comedian participated in his official naturalization ceremony and took the oath of allegiance to the country at the Los Angeles Convention Centre.
The comedian shared a video of himself sitting in the front row with TMZ at the ceremony, as he waved his little American flag excitedly. In the same video, President Donald Trump could be seen in a pre-recorded welcoming message to the new citizens of the United States.
Green was born and raised in Ontario, Canada, but when MTV decided to add his show to their roster, he packed up and moved to the United States, where he had been living as a permanent resident for the last twenty years, according to Yahoo Entertainment.
I am not an American citizen. I can not vote in the election. I am a permanent resident of the USA. I am Canadian. @Chainster13
— Tom Green (@tomgreenlive) October 11, 2012
According to TMZ, Green said that commenting on society was great as a stand-up comedian, but after spending 20 years living in the United States, he wanted the opportunity to vote—and he wasn’t getting anywhere without being an American citizen.
“I’ve sort of become tired of not voting,” Green said in the interview with Yahoo, “I mean, I live in the United States. I’ve lived here for 20 years, I feel like I would like to be part of the political process and part of the democratic process and vote in the next election, and that’s why.”
So, after two decades of living in the United States, he finally became a citizen of the United States. This means that Green has dual-citizenship with Canada. It also meant that he could vote in the upcoming 2020 election, reported TMZ.
He made a clarification that he still very much loves Canada, and now with this dual-citizenship status, he can add blue to that red and white color that came with his Canadian citizenship, because he loves both countries.
Rise to Fame and Marriage
The comedian has been doing stand-up comedy since he was a young boy, most of which was at Yuk Yuk’s comedy club in his hometown in Canada. In between the performances, he was also featured on his college radio station, where he DJ’ed along with co-hosted a call-in show, according to Entertainment Central Pittsburgh.
With the different platforms that he experimented in, Green became flexible in many genres of media.
In 1996, he started his own television program, “The Tom Green Show,” on a public access channel and featured various types of content, from stunts, pranks, to interviews with bands. It lasted until 1998.
In 1999, MTV picked up the show and brought Green to fame. Since then, he had been involved in a variety of projects.
Green starred a number of films, including Charlie’s Angels, a film his wife-to-be Drew Barrymore co-produced. Barrymore was a fan of Green’s show and asked if he could star on Charlie’s Angels, and the two were engaged in 2000, according to PEOPLE. The two split nine months later.
friendly reminder that Tom Green was married to Drew Barrymore — don’t stop believing in your dreams pic.twitter.com/XDPomu6XAF
— Chris Dankland (@cdankland) May 23, 2014
Green left the spotlight after that, only to return in 2006 when he started his own talk show, “Tom Green’s House Tonight,” and then “Tom Green Live,” according to Entertainment Central Pittsburgh.
Green talked about his marriage during one of the sets on “Tom Green Live” behind the scene interviews—he and called it “a crazy, whirlwind of a time,” according to Huffington Post.
“It was just a very short period of time that I had a brief marriage,” said Green. “I don’t really tend to talk about it that much comfortably [or] publicly. All of that was part of that sort of crazy, whirlwind of a time.”
Green didn’t keep in contact with Barrymore, but he wished her the best and is glad that she’s doing well.
“I haven’t talked to her in many, many years,” he said, “I’m glad she’s doing great. I’m really happy that she’s doing good.”
Green also appeared on other shows, such as “Celebrity Apprentice” and most recently, “Celebrity Big Brother,” where he was voted the most popular houseguest.
.@tomgreenlive talks to @etnow about his surreal experience inside the #BBCeleb house and how he’s feeling after last night’s Double Eviction. pic.twitter.com/tg1PWiCxfj
— Big Brother (@CBSBigBrother) February 9, 2019
