Thomas Gibson Movies
Versatile as well as tall, dark, and handsome, Thomas Gibson has moved easily between TV stardom and a varied movie career working with some of the industry's major names.Born and raised in Charleston, Gibson found his calling as a child, making his acting debut at age ten in children's theater productions. Though he attended the College of Charleston, Gibson relocated when he won a scholarship to New York's prestigious Juilliard School. After earning his B.F.A., Gibson made his professional New York theater debut in 1985. Gibson spent the rest of the 1980s doing theater, as well as branching out into television with two seasons on the daytime drama Another World and the TV movie Gore Vidal's Lincoln (1988).
Gibson made the transition to films in style with a co-starring role opposite Tom Cruise and Nicole Kidman in Ron Howard's glossy Irish-American epic Far and Away (1992). Along with playing a bit part in Martin Scorsese's lush The Age of Innocence (1993), Gibson further distinguished himself that year with larger roles in the critically praised PBS miniseries Armistead Maupin's Tales of the City and French-Canadian director Denys Arcand's first English-language film, the contemporary drama Love and Human Remains (1993).
Gibson subsequently appeared in the second part of Whit Stillman's preppy trilogy, Barcelona (1994), and in the indie Sleep With Me (1994), but he became better-known to TV audiences that year on the CBS hospital drama Chicago Hope. After three seasons on the show, Gibson became an even more prominent TV presence in 1997 when he was cast as the straight-laced husband Greg to Jenna Elfman's hippie Dharma on the ABC sitcom Dharma and Greg. Though he also appeared in the TV miniseries A Will of Their Own (1998) and Armistead Maupin's More Tales of the City (1998) during Dharma's first seasons, Gibson's sitcom fame was such that a few critics wondered what it was about the show that prompted Stanley Kubrick to cast Gibson (and reunite him with Cruise) in Eyes Wide Shut (1999). Gibson continued to balance Hollywood with outside projects during his hiatuses with a small part in the ill-fated sequel The Flintstones in Viva Rock Vegas, a starring role in Arcand's celebrity culture satire Stardom, and a supporting turn as the slick surfer Kanaka in the campy '60s teen-film parody Psycho Beach Party. Gibson is married and has one son. ~ Lucia Bozzola, All Movie Guide
Originally a two-part, five-hour NBC miniseries, this turn-of-the-20th-century tale follows the adventures of a headstrong American woman who sets forth to fulfill her dreams of becoming a professional photographer. Along the way, she makes many sacrifices. The story also chronicles the lives of this woman's daughter and grandaughter, both of whom come to draw strength and inspiration from the extraordinary life of their matriarch. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Lea Thompson, Ellen Burstyn, (more)
The second film from writer/director Whit Stillman, Barcelona is a smart, urbane comedy of manners set in Spain at the tail end of the Cold War. Taylor Nichols stars as Ted, an American salesman living in Barcelona. Out of the blue, he is visited by his acidic cousin Fred (Chris Eigeman), a U.S. Navy officer sent abroad to work damage control on rising anti-American sentiment. The textbook "Ugly American," Fred travels through the city in full military regalia, impervious to the constant taunts of "Fascist!" Like the similarly self-absorbed Ted, who has become involved with political activist Monsterrat (Tushka Bergen), Fred also finds romance, with a party girl played by Mira Sorvino. A brittle fish-out-of-water comedy, Barcelona is literate and sophisticated, a knowing essay on cultural identity and perception. ~ Jason Ankeny, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Taylor Nichols, Christopher Eigeman, (more)
Susan Vreeland's novel The Girl in Hyacinthn Blue was the source for this made-for-TV drama. Utilizing a complex flashback-within-flashback structure, the film chronicles the 300-year history of a lost painting said to have been created by Dutch artist Johannes Vermeer. The story is framed by the present day narrative of an eccentric history teacher (Glenn Close) who has the inside track on the number of lives profoundly altered, for both good and ill, by the elusive painting. The teacher's tale interconnects individual stories of tragedy, romance, success, failure and even the Holocaust. Even the narrator herself has a personal and emotional stake in the supposed Vermeer. Advertised as the most expensive and ambitious project ever undertaken during the 52-year history of television's Hallmark Hall of Fame anthology series, Brush With Fate debuted February 2, 2003, on CBS. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Glenn Close, Thomas Gibson, (more)
Of all of the ways humankind can destroy the planet, none can hold a candle to the awe-inspiring and earth-shattering power of Mother Nature. As chief meteorologist for the National Weather Service's Storm Prediction Center, Andy Goodman (Brian Dennehy) has seen his share of storms. Now, just days shy of his eagerly anticipated retirement, Goodman is disturbed to discover three separate storm fronts approaching Chicago: a cluster of tornados from the west, a warm storm front from the south, and an Arctic system from the north. As Goodman enlists the aid of his longtime storm-chasing friend "Tornado Tommy" (Randy Quaid) in tracking the storms, ambitious Chicago television reporter Amy Harkin (Nancy McKeon) is busy researching the mysterious drought and record heat wave that has plagued the city for nearly six weeks. Though the citizens of Chicago are warned to reduce their energy consumption by secretary of energy Shirley Abbott (Dianne Wiest) the Windy City is thrust into darkness when severe thunderstorms destroy the city's main power-generating plant. With no means to warn the outside world of the dangers fast approaching, Harkin and Midwest Electric chief of operations Mitch Benson (Thomas Gibson) must race against time to get the word out to citizens and emergency workers before the snowballing blackout causes a complete collapse of the entire North American power grid. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Thomas Gibson, Nancy McKeon, (more)
- 2003
After his wife is murdered by sadistic serial killer William Charles Lee (Simon Bossell), police detective Mark Ryan (Thomas Gibson) goes into so profound an emotional slump that he is forced to quit his job and sign on as a college security guard. Soon afterward, several vicious murders occur, all bearing the modus operandi of Lee. This, argues the authorities, is impossible, inasmuch as Lee has been executed. But the obsessed Ryan is certain that his wife's murderer is back in business, and, together with female cop Eve (Katherine Heigl), he is determined to stop the "revived" Lee once and for all. A contemporary twist on the Frankenstein legend, the made-for-cable Evil Never Dies was first broadcast June 1, 2003, on TBS. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Thomas Gibson, Katherine Heigl, (more)
The final work of legendary director Stanley Kubrick, who died within a week of completing the edit, stars Tom Cruise and Nicole Kidman, at the time Hollywood's most bankable celebrity couple, and was shot on a open-ended schedule (finally totaling over 400 days), with closed sets in London standing in for New York City. Cruise and Kidman play William and Alice Harford, a physician and a gallery manager who are wealthy, successful, and travel in a sophisticated social circle; however, a certain amount of decadence crosses their paths on occasion, and a visit to a formal-dress party leads them into sexual temptation when William is drafted into helping a beautiful girl who has overdosed on drugs while Alice is charmed by a man bent on seduction. While neither William and Alice act on their adulterous impulses, once the issue has been brought into the open, it begins a dangerous season of erotic gamesmanship for the couple, with William in particular openly confronting his desire for new sexual experiences. What didn't make the final cut of Eyes Wide Shut may have been as fascinating as what finally appeared on screen: Harvey Keitel was replaced almost immediately by Sydney Pollack, while Jennifer Jason Leigh was replaced by Marie Richardson after she had shot all her scenes and left town. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Tom Cruise, Nicole Kidman, (more)
In this epic Ron Howard film, Joseph Donelly (Tom Cruise) is an impoverished 19th-century Irish tenant farmer who has recently lost both his father and his home to the agents of his unscrupulous landlord. On a mission to avenge his family's injustice at the hands of the ruthless land baron Joseph meets the landlord's daughter and the two run off to America together where the girl expects to claim a piece of land for herself in the Oklahoma Land Rush. After she is robbed on the boat that carries them to America, they arrive with nary a penny and struggle just to keep their heads above water in the slums of Boston. After a series of serious set-backs they do eventually work their way out West, where Joseph must fight to realize his dream and claim a piece of the American Dream for himself -- and where they finally acknowledge their love for each other. Shot in wide-screen Panavision, the movie was filmed on-location in Ireland and Montana. ~ Iotis Erlewine, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Tom Cruise, Nicole Kidman, (more)
Originally telecast in two parts on March 27 and 28 of 1988, Lincoln was adapted from the bestselling "factual fiction" by Gore Vidal. Sam Waterston stars as Abraham Lincoln, with Mary Tyler Moore frighteningly convincing as the tragic Mary Todd Lincoln. Predictably, Part One of Lincoln deals with the inauguration, the outbreak of War, and the president's tiltings with his cabinet, while Part Two includes the Emancipation Proclamation, the appointment of General Grant (James Gammon), and the assassination. The throughline of the script is the deteriorating mental condition of Mary Lincoln, not to mention her injurious impulsiveness: at one point, Honest Abe must cover up the fact that Mary has stolen a copy of his inaugural speech and sold it. Evidently, the name of Gore Vidal was not considered enough of a drawing card by the NBC publicists, who insisted upon advertising Lincoln as the second coming of Gone With the Wind, adding the teaser tagline "The Untold Story." ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
David Alan Basche (Carry Me Home, crazylove) stars in I'll Believe You, as Dale Sweeney, the radio host of an immensely unpopular late-night talk program on the AM dial. The only listeners whom Sweeney ever manages to drum up are nutty, half-zonked small-town denizens who want to discuss UFO sightings on the airwaves. Just prior to the final broadcast, with the program in arm's length of cancellation, Sweeney receives a strange phone call from an individual who speaks anxiously in an unintelligible language. The next morning, two federal agents turn up to question Sweeney, demonstrating heightened interest in one of the latest UFO sightings. Dale thus concludes that the caller was in fact an extraterrestrial, lost in his small town. He decides to report on the happenings during his broadcasts (which quadruples his audience size) and then bandies the locals into a collective search for the alien. Paul Francis Sullivan directs.
~ Nathan Southern, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- David Alan Basche, Patrick Warburton, (more)
One man's insatiable appetite for sex begins upending his life in this biting independent comedy. Jack (Nestor Carbonell) is a photographer known to his friends as "Jack the Dog," thanks to his compulsive womanizing; Jack seems incapable of staying with one partner for long before he finds himself attracted to someone else, and given his good looks and easy charm, Jack doesn't have much trouble convincing the women he meets to spend the night with him. Deep inside, Jack wants to change, and he tries to put himself on the straight and narrow by marrying Faith (Barbara Williams). Jack and Faith soon have a son, Sam (Andrew J. Ferchland), whom Jack dotes upon, but Faith turns out to be a poor advertisement for long-term monogamy; she's not especially warm or forgiving, and she's started to show her age, which only intensifies Jack's taste for younger women. Jack soon slides into chronic infidelity, and Faith leaves him, relocating to London and leaving Sam behind. This is good news as far as Jack's concerned, but as he tries to watch over his son, while also seducing an endless parade of beautiful women, Jack finds himself increasingly puzzled by the opposite sex, and he wonders if he might have a problem he hasn't learned to deal with. Jack the Dog received its world premiere at the 2001 Sundance Film Festival. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Nestor Carbonell, Barbara Williams, (more)
- 2009
- Add Kiss and Tail: The Hollywood Jump-Off to QueueAdd Kiss and Tail: The Hollywood Jump-Off to top of Queue
This documentary about the seedy side of the hip-hop industry investigates the rarely seen side of the backstage rap culture. Infamous party-girl Karrine Steffans leads viewers through an intimate look at the world where sex is a means of control - though it can sometimes be a source of power - and offers her insights on how the groupie lifestyle routinely leaves unsuspecting women in shambles. Some media personalities featured in the program include Tyson Beckford, Twista and Akon. ~ Cammila Albertson, All Movie Guide
Documentary filmmaker Thomas Gibson directed this investigation into the rise of the Republican right wing in America, and how this has impacted the African-American community. Letter to the President explores the different way in which the policies Reagan and Bush administrations have damaged the lives of black youth, from the government-approved distribution of crack cocaine in inner-city neighborhoods to economic policies that have widened the divide between the rich and the poor. Gibson's film also parallels this phenomenon with the rise of rap and hip-hop music, and how these styles have provided a voice for disenfranchised youth. Letter to the President includes interviews with KRS-One, 50 Cent, Damon Dash, Ghostface Killah, Dick Gregory, Amiri Baraka, and many more; Snoop Dogg narrates. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- 1993
- R
Based upon a play by screenwriter Brad Fraser, Unidentified Human Remains and the True Nature of Love, Denys Arcand's dark-humored drama Love and Human Remains follows the lives of a group of young Canadians, with a particular focus on their romantic and sexual experiences. The central characters are two roommates, David and Candy. The cynical, witty David is a former television actor turned waiter, the lonely, dissatisfied Candy a book critic; the two were formerly lovers, before David proclaimed his homosexuality. Candy is also questioning her sexuality, having begun a lesbian affair after wondering if her failures with men indicates she might be happier with a woman; meanwhile, David is becoming acquainted with Kane, a handsome, young busboy of uncertain sexuality who idolizes the older David. The other members of the ensemble are also somehow connected to the roommates, through friendship or romance, including Benita, a young dominatrix and part-time psychic, and Bernie, a boastful but insecure young businessman. The couplings and shifting relationships of these characters are intercut with the rather more severe story of a serial murderer who has been terrorizing the city's women, allowing Arcand to place the film's melodramatic elements in an edgier context. ~ Judd Blaise, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Thomas Gibson, Ruth Marshall, (more)
Seemingly content living the life of a derelict, former mercenary Nick (Dolph Lundgren) agrees -- reluctantly and only after he is offered a large fortune from two mining company executives -- to gather up a unit of fellow soldiers of fortune and fly to the island of Jakarta in order to convince local peasants to give up their land. Once he arrives, Nick sees soldiers burn a peasant village. When he learns that the bloodshed is not for the control of such riches as uranium or jade, but for an ancient deposit of bat guano, he changes his alliance and begins fighting for the natives. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Dolph Lundgren, Charlotte Lewis, (more)
- 1998
Armistead Maupin calls the three-story wooden house at 28 Barbary Lane in San Francisco "my homestead, my Tara." He began his portrait of Barbary Lane life during the '70s in a daily newspaper serial, expanding the material into a series of six novels. PBS aired the original TV miniseries in 1994, but threats and pressures prompted PBS to drop their plans for a follow-up, leaving an unresolved cliffhanger for four years. Several members of the original PBS cast were reunited for this six-part Showtime sequel (adapted from Maupin's second novel in the series), set in San Francisco of 1977. It picks up the threads of the story six weeks after the point where the PBS miniseries ended. When Mary Ann Singleton (Laura Linney), hoping for romance, and her cynical gay friend Michael (Paul Hopkins) take a Mexican cruise, Mary Ann meets amnesia victim Burke Andrew (Colin Ferguson) and Michael runs into his former lover, Dr. Jon Fielding (William Campbell). Michael's roommate Mona Ramsey (Nina Siemaszko), in a purple haze of pot and angel dust, answers phones at a Reno brothel owned by Mother Mucca (Jackie Burroughs). Mona learns about her lineage and also about Anna Madrigal (Olympia Dukakis), the former Mr. Madrigal. Rich widow Frannie (Diana LeBlanc) finds a cure for her depression at the rural resort Pinus, where society ladies celebrate their 60th birthdays with youthful houseboys. Beauchamp Day (Thomas Gibson) is married to Frannie's pregnant daughter DeDe (Barbara Garrick), but Beauchamp isn't the father. Locations include San Francisco, Montreal (substituting for some areas of San Francisco), and Zihuatanejo, Mexico. Premiered June 7, 1998 on Showtime. ~ Bhob Stewart, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Laura Linney, Olympia Dukakis, (more)
- 1996
Following her brother's death, a graduate student looks into his demise and finds that he had stolen a box filled with alien remains. Now she too is in terrible danger as the government is determined to keep the secret. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Faith Ford, Thomas Gibson, (more)
Dashing into the street to prevent her daughter from being hit by truck, widow Joanna Burke (Sherilyn Fenn) is herself struck down an rendered unconscious. She awakens to find herself in a parallel world, where she has no daughter, someone else is living in her house, and there is no "Joanna Burke." Instead, everyone refers to Joanna as Sarah Randolph -- the same Sarah Randolph who has been accused of murdering her own son. Not surprisingly, no one believes Joanna/Sarah when she protests her innocence, except for Dr. Matt Westbrook (Thomas Gibson)...who may himself be trapped in a world he never made. Adapted from the paranormal novel by Margaret Tabor, the made-for-TV Nightmare Street was first telecast by ABC on January 18, 1998. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Sherilyn Fenn, Rena Sofer, (more)
Robert Lee King directs this wacky, campy fusion of teenaged surfer flicks and slasher sagas. Impossibly perky Florence (Lauren Ambrose) doesn't quite fit in at her thoroughly square high school in her seaside Southern California town -- that is, until she happens upon a band of ultra-hip surfer dudes. Renaming herself "Chicklet," she tries her gosh-darnedest to be the sole girl riding the waves with the group led by suave Kanaka (Thomas Gibson). While adopting her surfer alter ego, Florence soon discovers that other less pleasant personalities emerge when confronted with the sight of polka dots. One called Anne Bowman is a tough, "experienced" older lady, while the other, Tylene, is a stereotypical sassy black woman. Blacking out whenever these other personalities take over, Florence becomes increasingly worried that she is responsible for a series of grizzly murders. Of course, she is far from the only suspicious character in her oceanside community -- there's B-movie star Bettina Barnes (Kimberly Davies), Swedish exchange student Lars (Matt Keeslar), and Florence's own unnervingly-perfect mom (Beth Broderick). This film was adapted from a popular off-Broadway play written by Charles Busch. ~ Jonathan Crow, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Lauren Ambrose, Thomas Gibson, (more)
- 2004
Before synopsizing the made-for-TV romantic comedy Raising Waylon, it is essential to point out that hero Reg (Thomas Gibson) is a blue-collar bar owner who prefers to date models; that heroine Julia (Poppy Montgomery) is a globetrotting photographer who likes to go out with rock stars; and that, except for only one blind date, Red and Julia are not now and never have been "a couple." All this changes when the parents of 9-year-old Waylon (Jeremy Bergman) are killed in a car accident. It seems that Waylon's parents had arranged that blind date for Reg and Julia, had assumed that the two were "made for each other",and had arranged for them to be Waylon's godparents. According to the terms of the deceased couple's will, Waylon is to be raised by Reg and Julia, with the boy's elderly but peppery Great Aunt Marie (Doris Roberts) allowed to drop in from time to time to dispense advice. Since Reg and Julia don't get along too well, they do their best to alternate looking after Waylon, even though it forces them to reluctantly rearrange their busy schedules. Soooooo. . ..how long will it be before hero and heroine finally realize what Waylon's parents knew all along: That they were, indeed, Made For Each Other? Raising Waylon premiered February 22, 2004 on CBS. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1995
- PG13
In this made-for-television domestic drama, a young adolescent girl is shocked to discover that the woman she calls "Mother" may not be related to her at all. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Veronica Hamel, Richard Kiley, (more)
