Born in Burbank, California, Tom O'Brien began his acting career in 1983 at San Francisco's American Conservatory Theatre, as a student of the conservatory and member of the acting company. His stage debut was Marsha Norman's "The Holdup." Other stage credits include "Mass Appeal"; "A Midsummer Night's Dream", as Puck; "The Sleeping Prince" with 'Annette Bening'; "1918"; "The Lower Depths"; and "Da Carravaggio", with Manhattan Class Company, in New York. Feature credits include The Astronaut's Wife (1999), The Big Easy (1986), The Accused (1988), Flashback (1990/I), Facade (1999), and Physical Evidence (1989). Television credits include The Beltway (2005) for USA Network, with Charles S. Dutton, and a recurring role on WB's "Smallville" (2001), as Journalist Roger Nixon. Guest Star turns include "Stargate SG-1" (1997), "The Dead Zone" (2002), "CSI: Crime Scene Investigation" (2000), "The X Files" (1993), "JAG" (1995), "Men" (1989), Strange World (1999) (TV), "NYPD Blue" (1993), "Philly" (2001), "Dark Skies" (1996), "Early Edition" (1996), "L.A. Law" (1986), "Timecop" (1997), "The Strip" (1999), and "thirtysomething" (1987). TV films include the ABC mini-series Son of the Morning Star (1991) (TV); NBC's Baby Brokers (1994) (TV); CBS's Love and Lies (1990) (TV), and Lifetime's Storm and Sorrow (1990) (TV).As a producer, O'Brien founded both Irreverent Media Ltd. (IML) in Vancouver, British Columbia, and Fractious Tribes Productions (FTP). IML's feature projects include the magical romantic comedy "Best Restaurant"; FTP's projects include the thriller "Sleeptalkers". Projects in development include the sci-fi fantasy feature, "Gone Green" and the television mini-series "Coordinates". In 2007 O'Brien co-founded Lasting Footprint Arts Foundation (LFAF), which develops arts related strategic initiatives; in 2008 O'Brien co-founded Whole World Fund (w2f), a non-profit corporation which finances feature film entertainment and directs a portion of profits to benevolent organizations associated with the central themes of the stories.