Tommy was born the fourth child in a family of nine children. His life growing up included working paper routes as a young boy in Decatur, Illinois. The interactions with his customers and his siblings taught him to communicate and interact with people of varied age groups and social standing. As he developed a love for acting in high school, he soon realized that there were many nuances to the way people communicated and his life's interactions could play a major role in finding the heart of characters he would portray. Life was good to Tommy as he married and raised a family. Throughout his working years he practiced his theater crafts through church plays and played guitar in a Christian band called "Leap of Faith" with his wife and several good friends. As he neared retirement he was encouraged by his daughter to return to the acting he loved so much as a younger man. Since leaving his career as a railroad worker in 2016, he has pursued his dream and has met with warm and positive reactions from those he has worked with. His love for life and bringing characters forward has become evident through his body of work. That love and his ability to find the soul of characters has set him on a course that will surely have theater goers recognizing his smile very soon.