Tom Arnold Biography

TOM ARNOLD

Date of Birth: March 6, 1959

Born in Iowa with two other siblings, Arnold's parents divorced when he was only four years old. His father married again to a woman who had two of her own children, and after a few years they had two more children of their own. Now in a family which included seven children, Arnold started his career as a comedian in local clubs.

He then attended and graduated from the University of Iowa, where he discovered his gift for writing comedy. Following college, he moved to Minneapolis and worked various jobs to finance his stand-up. In the 1988 Minneapolis comedy Competition he won first place, which led him to write with comedienne Roseanne Barr, and to an appearance on her HBO special.

With an offer to create and star in her own television series, Roseanne convinced Arnold to come with her to Los Angeles and work on the series Roseanne, which became an award-winning and long-lasting hit. After two years of writing for and acting on the show, Arnold also became the executive producer. During Roseanne's successful run, Arnold was awarded a Peabody Award for writing, a Golden Globe Award for writing and producing, and two CableAce Award nominations for comedy writing.

In 1990 he married Roseanne, but after three years of marriage, the couple broke up and Arnold left the show. He worked on a number of other series including The Jackie Thomas Show, Tom, and The Tom Show, but none of the shows did well in the ratings.

Not willing to give up on stardom, Arnold turned his attention to the big screen, and completed some notable performances in blockbuster films like True Lies (1994) Nine Months (1995) and Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery (1997). In 1997 he decided to produce and star in his own feature, McHale's Navy, but the experiment turned out to be a disaster. Arnold continued to work in feature films, but stuck to supporting roles.

Although he hasn't taken on a large project for television since the telefilm Jackie's Back, Arnold has made several guest appearances on several hit series such as The Ben Stiller Show, The Larry Sanders Show, General Hospital, Brotherly Love, The Simpsons, Veronica's Closet, Get Real, V.I.P. and Baywatch. He eventually ended up returning to feature films, usually just in supporting roles, and can most recently be seen in the romantic comedy Hit & Run (2012) alongside Dax Shepard, Kristen Bell and Bradley Cooper.

Since his divorce to Roseanne, Arnold married actress Julie Champnella (played hairdresser in Carpool) in 1995. But that relationship went sour as well, and five years later he was single again. He since married Shelby Roos on June 29, 2002.

When not on set Arnold has established a writing scholarship for students at the Indian Hills Community College in Iowa. He is also very active with the San Diego Children's Center for abused and neglected children.

Filmography:

Hit & Run (2012)
Camp Fred (2012)
Tyler Perry's Madea's Witness Protection (2012)
Jewtopia (2012)
Last Call (2012)
Restitution (2011)
The Pool Boys (2011)
Walk a Mile in My Pradas (2011)
Hard Breakers (2010)
Knockdown (2010)
Endure (2010)
April Showers (2009)
The Haunting of Bryan Becket (2009)
The Jerk Theory (2009)
A Christmas Proposal (2008)
Gardens of Midnight (2008)
Remarkable Power (2008)
The Year of Getting to Know Us (2008)
The Skeptic (2007)
Parmigiano (2007)
Gardens of the Night (2007)
Palo Alto (2007)
Good Dick (2007)
Remarkable Power (2007)
Oranges (2007)
The Final Season (2007)
Pride (2007)
Firedog (2006) (voice)
The Kid & I (2005)
Happy Endings (2005)
Barely Legal (2005)
Soul Plane (2004)
True Lies 2 (2002)
Exit Wounds (2001)
Ablaze (2000)
Bar Hopping (2000)
Just Sue Me (2000)
Lloyd (2000)
Shriek if You Know What I Did Last Friday the 13th (2000)
We Married Margo (2000)
Animal Factory (2000)
Blue Ridge Fall (1999)
Civility (1999)
Welcome to Hollywood (1998)
Buster & Chauncey's Silent Night (1998) (V)
National Lampoon's Golf Punks (1998)
Hacks (1997)
Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery (1997) (uncredited)
McHale's Navy (1997)
Touch (1997)
The Stupids (1996)
Carpool (1996)
Big Bully (1996)
Nine Months (1995)
True Lies (1994)
Undercover Blues (1993)
Coneheads (1993) (uncredited)
Hero (1992)
Freddy's Dead: The Final Nightmare (1991)