Kenan Thompson made his screen debut in the 1994 American sports comedy-drama film ‘D2: The Mighty Ducks’ directed by Sam Weisman. The film was largely panned by critics and holds a 21% approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes. That same year, he also joined the cast of the American sketch comedy television series ‘All That’ created by Mike Tollin and Brian Robbins. He remained a part of the show until 1999. However, he made guest appearances on the show in 2002 and 2005. He again joined ‘All That’ after its revival in 2019 and remained a part of the show until it went off-air in 2020. Thompson continued to star in television series and shows such as ‘The Steve Harvey Show’ (1996-1998), ‘Kenan & Kel’ (1996-2000), ‘Sister, Sister’ (1997), ‘Sabrina, the Teenage Witch’ (1998), ‘Cousin Skeeter’ (1999), ‘The Parkers’ (2000), ‘Felicity’ (2001), and ‘Off Centre’ (2002). In 2003, he became a part of the American late-night live television sketch comedy and variety show ‘Saturday Night Live’ created by Lorne Michaels. The show has become one of the longest-running television programs in the United States. Thompson also appeared in television shows like ‘Wild 'n Out’ (2005), ‘Crank Yankers’ (2007), ‘The Mighty B!’ (2008), ‘Psych’ (2009), ‘iCarly’ (2011), and ‘The '90s Are All That’ (2011).
In 2011, he voiced the ‘Greedy Smurf’ in the American 3D live-action/computer-animated comedy film ‘The Smurfs’ directed by Raja Gosnell. Even though the film was panned by critics, it managed to gross over $563.7 million on a $110 million budget. He continued to star in films such as ‘The Magic of Belle Isle’ (2012), ‘The Smurfs 2’ (2013), ‘The Opposite Sex’ (2014), ‘Brother Nature’ (2016), ‘Going in Style’ (2017), ‘The Grinch’ (2018), ‘Wonder Park’ (2019), ‘Trolls World Tour’ (2020), and ‘Home Sweet Home Alone’ (2021). He last appeared in the American sketch comedy streaming television series ‘That Damn Michael Che’ in 2022.