Tom Noonan(I)
- Actor
- Writer
- Director
Offbeat character actor Tom Noonan, born in Connecticut on April 12, 1951, started off his career in various
theater troupes that utilized his skills as a guitarist and composer. A
graduate from Yale's acting school, he founded the Paradise Theatre in
1983, which was instrumental later in his growth as an artist.
Gravitating toward film and TV in the 80s, he began appearing regularly
in edgy, unsympathetic roles, most notably as the "Tooth Fairy" serial
killer in Manhunter (1986) which was the first feature length film to introduce
the infamous Hannibal Lector character. Most of his other work at this
time was solid but unrewarding, including such looming parts in
Easy Money (1983), Best Defense (1984), The Monster Squad (1987) and RoboCop 2 (1990), so he began to take classes in
writing and directing in order to extend himself.
In the mid-90s, by appearing in a number of mainstream parts, he was
able to finance his own first play-turned-art house film project
What Happened Was... (1994), which became the darling of the Sundance Film Festival that
year and won the Grand Jury Prize, not to mention an Independent Spirit
nomination. He filmed it in eleven days at a cost of $300,000, and
managed to edit it only hours before the Sundance deadline. The success
of the two character film, which starred Tom and Karen Sillas as an awkward
couple on their first date, induced Tom to finance another film,
The Wife (1995), based on his Obie-winning (for writing) play "Wifey", which
co-starred Tom with Julie Hagerty, Wallace Shawn and his one-time wife Karen Young.
This film, which was warmly received at the Sundance Festival as well,
was barely released theatrically, however, as was his third hands-on
feature Wang Dang (1999).
Notable 90s TV work included roles in The X-Files (1993) and the miniseries North & South: Book 3, Heaven & Hell (1994), in which he also composed the score. Into the millennium, Tom was seen in such films as The Egoists (2003), Madness and Genius (2003), Seraphim Falls (2006), The Alphabet Killer (2008), The House of the Devil (2009), Night of the Wolf (2014), The Shape of Something Squashed (2014) and Wonderstruck (2017). TV offerings included "CSI," "Law & Order: Criminal Intent," "Law & Order: Special Victims Unit," and recurring roles on Damages (2007) (as Detective Huntley), Hell on Wheels (2011) (as Reverend Cole) and 12 Monkeys (2015) (as Pallid Man).
The New York-based actor continues to perform as well as teach acting at the
Paradise Theatre, where many of his plays-turned-films got off the
ground. He has also written short works of fiction.
theater troupes that utilized his skills as a guitarist and composer. A
graduate from Yale's acting school, he founded the Paradise Theatre in
1983, which was instrumental later in his growth as an artist.
Gravitating toward film and TV in the 80s, he began appearing regularly
in edgy, unsympathetic roles, most notably as the "Tooth Fairy" serial
killer in Manhunter (1986) which was the first feature length film to introduce
the infamous Hannibal Lector character. Most of his other work at this
time was solid but unrewarding, including such looming parts in
Easy Money (1983), Best Defense (1984), The Monster Squad (1987) and RoboCop 2 (1990), so he began to take classes in
writing and directing in order to extend himself.
In the mid-90s, by appearing in a number of mainstream parts, he was
able to finance his own first play-turned-art house film project
What Happened Was... (1994), which became the darling of the Sundance Film Festival that
year and won the Grand Jury Prize, not to mention an Independent Spirit
nomination. He filmed it in eleven days at a cost of $300,000, and
managed to edit it only hours before the Sundance deadline. The success
of the two character film, which starred Tom and Karen Sillas as an awkward
couple on their first date, induced Tom to finance another film,
The Wife (1995), based on his Obie-winning (for writing) play "Wifey", which
co-starred Tom with Julie Hagerty, Wallace Shawn and his one-time wife Karen Young.
This film, which was warmly received at the Sundance Festival as well,
was barely released theatrically, however, as was his third hands-on
feature Wang Dang (1999).
Notable 90s TV work included roles in The X-Files (1993) and the miniseries North & South: Book 3, Heaven & Hell (1994), in which he also composed the score. Into the millennium, Tom was seen in such films as The Egoists (2003), Madness and Genius (2003), Seraphim Falls (2006), The Alphabet Killer (2008), The House of the Devil (2009), Night of the Wolf (2014), The Shape of Something Squashed (2014) and Wonderstruck (2017). TV offerings included "CSI," "Law & Order: Criminal Intent," "Law & Order: Special Victims Unit," and recurring roles on Damages (2007) (as Detective Huntley), Hell on Wheels (2011) (as Reverend Cole) and 12 Monkeys (2015) (as Pallid Man).
The New York-based actor continues to perform as well as teach acting at the
Paradise Theatre, where many of his plays-turned-films got off the
ground. He has also written short works of fiction.