Thomas F. Duffy
Thomas Francis Duffy is an American character actor, writer, musician, and athlete. He has appeared as the sadistic rapist Charles Wilson in Death Wish II, the paleontologist Dr. Robert Burke in , and as the football-loving dad in Varsity Blues.
Early life
Thomas was born in Newark, New Jersey and was raised in Woodbridge, New Jersey. While attending Woodbridge High School, he played football, ice hockey, tennis and track and was active in drama and vocal music. He was originally a pre-law student at Ohio University, where he also played football and ice hockey. Duffy auditioned for an opera, was cast, and finally graduated with a BFA in acting. He was a member of Ohio's 1979 MCHL championship hockey team. He also was selected for the 1979 summer company of the Monomoy Theater, in Chatham, MA on Cape Cod.1980s
Thomas arrived in Hollywood in 1980, and was cast in an episode of CHiPs, which he never filmed, because next day he was set to co-star as Dave Christian, a member on the 1980 gold medal Olympic hockey team in Miracle on Ice, a mini-series. While at Ohio, the head of the theater department, Robert Winters, had sat Duffy down and told him he couldn't be a hockey player and an actor. They both had a good laugh after MOI aired. Duffy made his feature film debut as Nirvana, Charles Bronson's chief nemesis in Death Wish II. He went on to appear in such films as To Live and Die in L.A., The Abyss, Crossroads and State of Grace and guest starred on Night Court, The Fall Guy, The Twilight Zone, MacGyver, and recurred on A Year in the Life on television.Career
Duffy appeared in the 1992 film The Waterdance, an acclaimed but oft overlooked feature that won the 1992 Sundance Festival Audience award and the 1993 Independent Spirit Best Picture award, with good friend, William Forsythe.Duffy played Dr. Robert Burke in Steven Spielberg's 1997 blockbuster, . He prepared for the role by watching Dr. Robert Bakker and traveled to Wyoming to work on a dig with Bakker.
In 1999, Duffy played Sam Moxon in Varsity Blues, a film about Texas high school football. Duffy was almost killed when his car was struck by a hit-and-run driver, while filming in Austin, Texas.
Other films Duffy completed in the 1990s were Independence Day, Mercury Rising, Poodle Springs, The Fan, The River Wild, Wolf, Out for Justice, The Mambo Kings and Let the Devil Wear Black.
He guest starred on The X-Files as Jeffrey Cahn in episode "Alpha", Tales From the Crypt, NYPD Blue, High Incident, The Magnificent Seven, Chicago Hope, Matlock, Chicken Soup for the Soul, TV movies, If Looks Could Kill, Nothing Lasts Forever and White Dwarf and recurring roles on Picket Fences, Days of Our Lives, and In Living Color.
Personal life
His father, Peter T. Duffy, was killed by a drunk driver in his hometown of Woodbridge, New Jersey, in 1992. Thomas was filming The Mambo Kings at the time, and the producers cut a scene so he could return home. His youngest sister, Patricia, was also killed by a drunk driver in Woodbridge, in 1990.Thomas was filming Wagons East! in 1994 with John Candy in Durango, Mexico, when John died from a heart attack.
2000s
Thomas appeared in the features Scorcher, The Standard, and World Trade Center for Oliver Stone. Thomas appeared in two roles in WTC, as the Command Center cop, and as the Ground Zero fireman who pulls John McLoughlin from the rubble.Guest starring television appearances included Without a Trace, ER and G vs E, recurring roles on , The Agency, and Family Law.
2010s
Thomas appears in the film Rubber, which opened in the US in 2011 from Magnet Releasing. Rubber is a 2010 French horror comedy film about a tire that comes to life and kills people with its psychic powers. It was directed and written by Quentin Dupieux. The film premiered at the 2010 Cannes Film Festival.Duffy was seen in the Paramount feature Super 8, directed by filmmaker J. J. Abrams, produced by Steven Spielberg, and released on June 10, 2011, in both conventional and IMAX 3D theatres.
On television, Thomas is recurring on the hit ABC comedy series The Middle as Jack Meenahan, the Hecks neighbor. He also guest starred on , and the Showtime pilot Shameless.
In 2010, Thomas plays the role of executive Whitman Hayes in the film The Candidate, to be released in 2011.
Filmography
- Miracle on Ice as Dave Christian
- CHiPs as Nick
- Today's FBI as Bob Tenner
- Death Wish II as Charles 'Nirvana' Wilson
- The Fall Guy as Pump Jockey
- T.J. Hooker as Morgan
- Baby Sister as Michael Fancher
- Whiz Kids as Carter
- Getting Physical as Killer
- Space as Brad
- Command 5 as Lew
- To Live and Die in L.A. as Credit Card Counterfeiter
- The Twilight Zone as Businessman
- The Last Precinct as Harvey
- Casebusters
- Divorce Court
- Outlaws as Gil
- MacGyver as Corey
- A Year in the Life as Ross
- Night Court as Dale Coderko
- Danger Zone II as Dumptser
- The Abyss as Construction Worker
- Nasty Boys
- State of Grace as Frankie's Man
- Almost an Angel
- Out for Justice as O'Kelly
- My Life and Times as Josh Kincaid
- Guilty as Charged as Evans
- Matlock as Bartender
- The Waterdance as Dr. Harrison
- Two-Fisted Tales as Scorby
- The Mambo Kings as Mulligan
- Tales from the Crypt as Deputy Wilson
- To Protect and Serve as Stewart
- In Living Color as Officer Murphy / Senator Watson
- Eye of the Stranger as Ballack
- Picket Fences as Deputy Tully
- Wolf as Tom
- Wagons East! as Clayton Ferguson
- The River Wild as Ranger
- White Dwarf as Fisherman with Parasite
- Chicago Hope as Ralph King
- Nothing Lasts Forever as Bill Lomax
- If Looks Could Kill as Officer Bryant
- Independence Day as Lieutenant
- The Fan as Figgy
- High Incident as Billy
- ' as Dr. Robert Burke
- Mercury Rising as Audey
- Poodle Springs as Fat Cop
- Let the Devil Wear Black as Bartender
- NYPD Blue as Vic's Killer
- Varsity Blues as Sam Moxon
- The X-Files as Jeffrey Cahn
- The Magnificent Seven as Johnson
- Chicken Soup for the Soul as Paul
- Runaway Virus as Coyote
- G vs E as Mr. Burly
- Cover Me: Based on the True Life of an FBI Family as FBI Superintendent Coswell
- Family Law as Carl Layton
- Scorcher as Anderson
- ER as Detective Henderson
- The Agency as Chief of Station Cruz
- The Drone Virus as Russell Wheeler
- Gone But Not Forgotten as Chief O'Malley
- Without a Trace as Bob
- The Standard as Dylan's Father
- World Trade Center as NYC Command Centre Operator
- Funniest Commercials of the Year:2008 as Chainsaw Man
- The Middle as Jack Meenahan
- Rubber as Cop Xavier
- ' as Mel Wilcox
- The Candidate as Whitman Hayes
- Shameless as Tommy
- Super 8 as Rooney
- Supremacy as Deputy Lansing