Ethan Suplee began acting in school plays. At 16, after high school, he was encouraged by friend Giovanni Ribisi to take an acting class. (It was also through Ribisi that Suplee first met his fellow "Earl" castmember, Jason Lee.) Ethan dropped out of the acting class at 17, however he left inspired to pursue acting as a career. He was originally best known as the kid from Sega's "Dead Squirrel" Game Gear commercials in the early 1990s. He is currently featured in the NBC sitcom My Name Is Earl as Earl Hickey's dimwitted but supportive brother, Randy Hickey. Randy Hickey is Earl's dimwitted brother who assists Earl with righting his wrongs. He initially assumed he and Earl would resume stealing once Earl completed his list. Despite his poor intellect, he often says profound things and has proven to be extremely helpful to Earl in his missions, though he is sometimes resentful when Earl's list forces him to make sacrifices. He has a boyishly innocent nature. He has a schoolboy crush for Catalina. It is also revealed that he has an extreme fear of birds. He is also afraid of the pope's mitre because he thinks there might be a chicken under it. He hates cats and is allergic to them.