- Born
- Birth nameThomas Lee Holland
- Height5′ 10″ (1.78 m)
- Tom Holland is an American director and screenwriter of horror and thriller films. His early writing projects include Class of 1984 (1982) and the Robert Bloch- inspired Psycho II (1983), the latter starring Anthony Perkins as the menacing psychopath, Norman Bates.
Tom gained more notoriety, however, as a director. His directorial debut was the popular 1980s Vampire film, Fright Night (1985) which, at the time, was said to have been responsible for redefining the sub-genre, influencing later films like The Lost Boys (1987) and Near Dark (1987). The film was a box office hit and garnered three Saturn Awards and one Dario Argento Award.
For his next project, Child's Play (1988), Tom again cast Chris Sarandon. The film was a Number One box-office hit in America and a worldwide success, despite controversy over its thematic content. It, like Fright Night (1985) has since gathered a cult following amongst horror fans. Tom then went onto direct two films based upon adaptations of Stephen King's novels: The Langoliers (1995) and Thinner (1996). He also took a cameo role in the Stephen King miniseries The Stand (1994).
Tom's other projects have included _The Incredible Hulk_ episode 'Another Path', Steven Spielberg's Amazing Stories (1985), three episodes of Tales from the Crypt (1989), and the prestigious Masters of Horror (2005) anthology. He starred in A Walk in the Spring Rain (1970) with Ingrid Bergman.
In 2009 Tom took a starring role in Hatchet II (2010) alongside Kane Hodder and Tony Todd.- IMDb Mini Biography By: Matt Lee-Williams
- SpouseKathy Holland(? - present)
- Characters undergoing massive physical transformation, usually being very thin/skeletonized (Thinner (1996), Fright Night (1985), We All Scream for Ice Cream (2007), hallucination sequence in The Langoliers (1995)).
- Often casts Chris Sarandon, William Forsythe, his son Josh Holland. Also frequently has himself and/or Stephen King in cameos.
- Character sees/knows something supernatural and/or dangerous, but can't get anyone else to believe him/her.
- Frequently combines horror or suspense with sweet food (Examples include: cookies in The Temp (1993), Ice Cream in We All Scream for Ice Cream (2007), pie in Thinner (1996), apples in Fright Night (1985)).
- Frequently has characters kneeling at some point (often before their death).
- In his acting days during the 1960s and '70s, Holland appeared in more than 200 television commercials.
- Graduated Summa Cum Laude and Phi Beta Kappa from UCLA.
- During his tenure as an actor on the soap opera A Flame in the Wind (1964), Holland attended The Beatles' infamous Shea Stadium concert. The band had the crowd worked up into a frenzy when one of the attendees recognized Holland, and he soon found himself being mobbed, requiring the police to help him escape the overzealous crowd.
- Holland got his start as a director by helming low-budget Hasbro toy commercials in the 1970s.
- When Holland was a struggling young actor, Shelley Winters helped to secure a place for him in the famed Actor's Studio.
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