Thomas Wood is an Actor, based out of New York City. You can see him in such films as the upcoming indie horror feature Shankman’s, and Music Videos like Transit’s “Listen & Forgive”. His theatre credits include Bobby from Tennessee William’s Small Craft Warnings and Grisha in Checkov’s Cherry Orchard with WSCAvant Bard, Bert, the research assistant in Flowers for Algernon with the Landless Theatre Company, and Brutus in William Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar with The Catholic University of America’s prestigious Department of Drama, with whom he spent four years studying all aspects of stagecraft while earning his BA in Drama. Thomas grew up in the Village of Babylon on Long Island. From an early age it was clear that Thomas was a natural performer, from figuring out melodies to Billy Joel songs on his Casio Keyboard at age 7, to teaching himself the Guitar and the Drums in Jr. High.

Thomas and classmates backstage working on Midsummer Night’s Dream

But it wasn’t until High School where, under the direction of Mrs. Lisa Drance, he was first introduced to Shakespeare. Thomas often likes to joke that he decided to be an actor when he realized, after ER was taken off the air by NBC, that he no longer wanted to be a doctor, but wanted to play one on TV; however, the realization actually came backstage at a Shakespeare Festival at Hofstra University for high school students where Thomas and a few of his Theatre II classmates were to perform a scene from A Midsummer Night’s Dream.

Thomas as Gregory in Romeo and Juliet at CUA, 2007

After graduating from High School in 2004, Thomas ended up at the Catholic University of America in Washington, DC, where he studied everything from lighting design to Producing for theatre, and, of course, Acting. The school offered him classes heavily influenced by Stanislavsky, Meisner, and Uta Hagen as well as offering him opportunities to study acting with dialects, Alexander Technique for movement, and Stage Combat with Rapier and Dagger, Sword and Shield and Small Sword; as well as a full season of main stage productions and even more laboratory student productions to work on. Needless to say, Thomas kept himself quite busy in his four years at CUA, where along with an overloaded class schedule he was usually working on a main stage production and two lab productions at any given time. He credits those experiences with giving him his massive drive and work ethic.

Thomas as Bobby in Small Craft Warnings at WSC, 2009

CUA offered Thomas a massive amount of opportunity to learn. The school brought him to Paris to see the works of the French Absurdists in their own language and to London where he saw everything from Shakespeare to Stoppard; and through the school he was also able to spend a summer studying with Shakespearian scholars Drs. John McNair and Roland Reed and members of the Royal Shakespeare Company in Stratford-Upon-Avon, UK. Connections with faculty members and alumni from the program led Thomas to the Washington Shakespeare Company (now WSC Avant Bard) where he worked as a House Manager, and after graduation as an actor. Thomas spent five years in DC during and after college, after which he decided to move back home in 2009 with aspirations of moving in to TV and Film in NYC. He now lives in Manhattan. Aside from being an actor, Thomas is an avid writer. He writes short stories, plays, screenplays, essays, poetry, and terribly self-indulgent “About Me” pages for his blog. He still plays the Guitar and Drums when he can, as well as the Piano and he is trying to learn the Harmonica. He likes to go hiking and rafting and skydiving (though not the same time… That would be a long day!).

Thomas as Tim in Shankman’s, 2012

You can also check Thomas out at his Facebook and his Twitter. A complete resume is available on the main website.