Tom Holland (director)

Tom Holland
Born	(1943-07-11) July 11, 1943 Poughkeepsie, New York
Nationality	American
Education	Worcester Academy
Alma mater	University of California, Los Angeles
Occupation	Film director, screenwriter, producer, actor, model
Years active	1964-present
Notable work	Fright Night, Fatal Beauty, Child's Play, The Stranger Within, The Temp, The Langoliers, Thinner
Children	1; Josh Holland
Parent(s)	Lee Holland (mother, deceased) Tom Holland (father, deceased)

Tom Holland (born July 11, 1943) is an American director, writer, and actor. He is best known for directing and writing horror movies like Psycho II (1983), Fright Night (1985), Child's Play (1988), and Thinner (1996).

Early life

Holland, the son of Lee and Tom Holland, was born in Poughkeepsie, New York. Holland attended Ossining Public High School before transferring to Worcester Academy, where he graduated in 1962. He is the father of American actor Josh Holland.

Education

Holland attended UCLA, where he graduated Summa Cum Laude and Phi Beta Kappa. He also received his Juris Doctorate from the UCLA School of Law.

In explaining why he chose not to pursue a promising legal career Holland states:

"I had just taken the Bar Exam and I was waiting for my results, which at the time took three months to post. At the same time I received word that a treatment I had written had been optioned. As a struggling actor I had become used to being poor, so I decided to pursue my passion to create rather than litigate. And I've never really looked back."

Holland did pass the Bar Exam on his first attempt and has been a member of the California Bar Association since 1973.

Career

During his early career in New York and Hollywood, Holland worked on over 200 commercials to learn film making and support his family.

"In the beginning I did everything, worked as a Grip, Loader, PA, what have you. In my mind I was always working toward directing feature films and so I decided early on that any job I could take on a working set would give me the tools to make my own films."

Acting career

Holland trained as an actor at the Actor's Studio under the tutelage of Lee Strasberg. Throughout the 60's and early 70's Holland appeared under the moniker of Tom Fielding in several supporting and guest star roles for both television and film, including A Walk in the Spring Rain alongside Anthony Quinn and Ingrid Bergman.

In December 2009 Holland was cast for Adam Green's Hatchet 2,^[1] to star alongside Danielle Harris, Tony Todd, Kane Hodder, and R.A. Mihailoff.^[2] He narrated the film Hatchet II alongside Adam Green on San Diego Comic-Con International 2010.^[3] In an interview published in January 2011 with mondo-video.com, Holland shared some stories about his acting days, which included working with legendary actress Ingrid Bergman and martial arts expert, Bruce Lee.

Dead Rabbit Films/Directing

He and David Chackler founded the horror film company Dead Rabbit Films;.^[4] Their first feature film was the remake of Fright Night.^[5] Holland is also reportedly scheduled to be writing and directing a feature-length anthology of horror shorts titled Twisted Tales.^[6] Currently, they and others are interviewing for a film documentary that will tell their story behind the scenes.

Holland is famous for writing and directing twisted tales of ordinary people facing the unknown in addition to evil beings from beyond. He began by writing the scripts of the films The Beast Within and Psycho II, followed later by directing Fright Night, Child's Play, and the TV films The Stranger Within and The Langoliers. His only non horror film is the crime comedy-drama Fatal Beauty.

As of 2015, he is also a member of the board of advisers for the Hollywood Horror Museum.

Filmography

Film

Television

Critical reception

Awards and nominations

References

External links

• Tom Holland at the Internet Movie Database