Thomas Gibson Biography

Thomas Ellis Gibson (born 3 July 1962) is an American actor and director. His best known roles include Daniel Nyland on CBS's Chicago Hope, Greg Montgomery on ABC's Dharma & Greg, and Aaron Hotchner on CBS's Criminal Minds.

Early life and education

Gibson was born in Charleston, South Carolina, the youngest of four children of Beth and Charles M. "Mac" Gibson. His mother was a social worker, and his father was a lawyer and liberal Democrat who served in the South Carolina state Senate and House. He is of Irish Catholic background. Gibson's interest in the performing arts began at a young age. Gibson was fascinated with Louis Armstrong. He and his sister were on a swim team together and they frequented a pizza parlor after their swim meets. It was at this pizza parlor that Gibson would then sing along with a Dixieland band, complete with his attempt at a Louis Armstrong voice.

As a child, Gibson enrolled in Little Theater School and later graduated from Bishop England High School. He then attended the College of Charleston (1979"1981) and became an intern at the Alabama Shakespeare Festival, where he was encouraged to apply to the prestigious Juilliard School. After a year and a half at Charleston, Gibson won a scholarship to Juilliard's Drama Division (Group 14: 1981"1985), where he graduated with a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in 1985.

Career

Gibson's career in acting had an early start, beginning at just nine years of age in children's theater. He appeared in Julian Wiles' Seize the Street: the Skateboard Musical, a Young Charleston Theater Company (now Charleston Stage) production. As a teenager, he began his classical theater training by becoming a member of the Young Charleston Theater Company and the Footlight Players, often performing at the historic Dock Street Theatre. During his time at College of Charleston, Gibson was an intern at the Alabama Shakespeare Festival. Gibson made his stage debut in David Hare's A Map of the World in the New York Shakespeare Festival. He subsequently did many more plays for producer Joe Papp, both in Public Theater and in Central Park. He worked on and off Broadway for the next 10 years in a diverse selection of plays by Shakespeare, Marlowe, Molière, Tennessee Williams, Howard Brenton, Romulus Linney, Noël Coward, Alan Ball and many others before turning to the small screen. Gibson also waited tables at Tavern on the Green, though it is not known what years this occurred.

Gibson broke onto the small screen in 1987 by landing a guest role on CBS' legal drama Leg Work, followed by stints on the daytime dramas As the World Turns (CBS) and Another World (NBC). In 1992, Gibson made his big screen debut in Ron Howard's Far and Away, in which he portrayed Stephen Chase. Chase was the villainous rival of Joseph Donnelly (Tom Cruise) for Shannon Christie's (Nicole Kidman) affections. His next lead role in a film came the following year (1993) in Denys Arcand's Love and Human Remains, in which he portrayed David, a homosexual waiter. Gibson later re-united with Arcand in Stardom (2000). Also in 1993, he played the slimy misanthrope Beauchamp Day in the Tales of the City miniseries (1993). Gibson then turned his attention back to the small screen and portrayed Dr. Danny Nyland in the CBS medical drama Chicago Hope from 1994 to 1998, starring alongside future Criminal Minds costar Mandy Patinkin. Then, in a comic turn, and in what is perhaps his best known work, Gibson portrayed "Greg Montgomery" in the ABC sitcom Dharma & Greg from 1997 to 2002, for which he was twice nominated for a Golden Globe Award.

After Dharma & Greg, Thomas did a string of TV movies. Then, in 2005, he landed the role as Supervisory Special Agent Aaron "Hotch" Hotchner, the Unit Chief of the Behavioral Analysis Unit (BAU) team, on the critically acclaimed TV drama series, Criminal Minds, airing on Wednesday nights at 9pm on CBS.

Personal life

Gibson and his wife Christine have three children: James Parker, Travis Carter and Agatha Marie. He and his family reside in San Antonio, Texas. Gibson loves golf. He plays at the AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am every year, as well as other golfing events, and is friends with golfer Corey Pavin. He served as part of the 2010 Host Committee for the Inaugural SAG Foundation Golf Classic, and co-hosted the 2nd Annual SAG Foundation Golf Classic with Criminal Minds castmate Joe Mantegna.

On January 6, 2013, Gibson drove through a Los Angeles area closed for a half marathon despite being told to stop by police. Gibson declined to take a breathalyzer test at the scene and was arrested on suspicion of DUI. He paid a $15,000 bail and was released on January 7.

In August 2013, gossip website TMZ reported and showed a clip from a video made by Gibson in a Utah hot tub Christmas of 2012 for a North Dakota woman who used pictures that were of another woman from a public pornography website to entice him. He and his wife separated some time in 2011.

Filmography

Film

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1992	Far and Away	Stephen Chase
1993	Love and Human Remains	David
1993	'	Stage Actor
1994	Barcelona	Dickie Taylor
1994	Men of War	Warren
1994	Sleep with Me	Nigel
1997	'	Bartender
1999	Eyes Wide Shut	Carl
2000	Psycho Beach Party	Kanaka
2000	'	Chip Rockefeller (voice)
2000	Stardom	Renny Ohayon
2001	Jack the Dog	Faith's Attorney
2003	Manhood	Faith's Attorney
2005	Come Away Home	Gary
2005	Berkeley	Thomas the Valet
2007	I'll Believe You	Kyle Sweeney

Television

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1987	Leg Work	Robbie	Episode: "All This and a Gold Card Too"
1987	Guiding Light	Peter Latham	Recurring role
1988	Lincoln	William Sprague	TV Film
1988"1990	As the World Turns	Derek Mason	Recurring role
1990	'	Peter Fitzwilliam	TV miniseries
1990	Another World	Sam Fowler	Recurring role
1993	Tales of the City	Beauchamp Day	TV miniseries
1994"1998	Chicago Hope	Daniel Nyland	Recurring role (70 episodes)
1995	Secrets	Hailus Tuckman	TV film
1996	Night Visitors	Ross Williams	TV film
1996	Caroline in the City	Willard Stevens	Episode: "Caroline and the Nice Jewish Boy"
1996	To Love, Honor and Deceive	Matthew Carpenter / Stuart Buchanan	TV film
1996	'	Paul Mornay (voice)	Episode: "Ghost Quest"
1997	'	James Percy	TV film
1997	'	Alexander Rotha	TV film
1997"2002	Dharma & Greg	Greg Montgomery	Main role (119 episodes)
1998	Nightmare Street	Dr. Matt Westbrook / Joe Barnes	TV film
1998	More Tales of the City	Beauchamp Talbot Day	TV miniseries
1998	Sin City Spectacular		Episode: "1.6"
1998	'	James Maclaren	Episode: "1.1"
2001	'	Nicholas Orton	TV film
2003	Brush with Fate	Richard	TV film
2003	Evil Never Dies	Det. Mark Ryan	TV film
2004	Raising Waylon	Reg	TV film
2004	Category 6: Day of Destruction	Mitch Benson	TV Film
2005"present	Criminal Minds	Aaron Hotchner	Main role (185 episodes)
2006	In from the Night	Aiden Byrnes	TV film
2011	Two and a Half Men	Greg	Episode: "Nice to Meet You, Walden Schmidt"

Awards and nominations

Year	Award	Category	Production	Result
1995	Screen Actors Guild Award	Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Drama Series	Chicago Hope
1996	Screen Actors Guild Award	Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Drama Series	Chicago Hope
1997	Screen Actors Guild Award	Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Drama Series	Chicago Hope
1998	Q Awards	Best Actor in a Quality Comedy Series	Dharma & Greg
1999	Golden Globe	Best Performance by an Actor in a TV Series - Comedy/Musical	Dharma & Greg
2000	Satellite Award	Best Performance by an Actor in a Series, Comedy or Musical	Dharma & Greg
2000	Golden Globe	Best Performance by an Actor in a TV Series - Comedy/Musical	Dharma & Greg
2010	EW.com Online Poll	Under-appreciated Entertainer of the Year	Criminal Minds