The Biography

Tom Irwin (born Thomas Edward Irwin, June 1, 1956, in Peoria, Illinois, USA) graduated from Illinois State University and joined the Steppenwolf Theatre Company in 1979 as a founding member, performing alongside Laurie Metcalf, John Malkovich, and Gary Sinise in over 50 productions. He won a Joseph Jefferson Award for The Glass Menagerie and made his Broadway debut in 1990 in The Grapes of Wrath. He is a class instructor at Steppenwolf Theater West School of Drama in Los Angeles, where he lives. His notable film credits include Light of Day (1987, with Michael J. Fox and Susan Sarandon), Midnight Run (1988, with Robert De Niro), Deceived (1991, with Goldie Hawn), Mr. Jones (1993, with Rupert Everett), The Haunting (1999, with Lili Taylor), 21 Grams (2003, with Sean Penn and Benicio del Toro), Marley & Me (2008, with Owen Wilson and Jennifer Aniston), The Bling Ring (2011, dir. Sofia Coppola, with Katie Holmes), On the Basis of Sex (2018, with Felicity Jones and Armie Hammer), and Amsterdam (2022, dir. David O. Russell, with Christian Bale and Margot Robbie). His notable television roles include My So-Called Life (1994), Devious Maids (2013), and The Morning Show (2019).