Tom Stratford was born in New York City and raised in the Hudson valley of upstate New York. This is where he began his studies as an actor in theater. At age 17, he told his mother that he was going to leave high school and go into the acting world like "John Travolta" in his television prime. With the help of Tom's aunt who had her own radio show in the Hudson Valley, she convinced him to try live theater so he could avoid any family mayhem. The Historic "Elmwood Playhouse in Nyack New York is where Tom began training to determine if he was good enough to be cast in one of their seasons upcoming plays.The first role Tom landed was Ed in "You Can't Take It With You" after that Tom landed two more back to back roles, Marcel in "The Boyfriend" and Joe in "Philadelphia Here I Come" all at Elmwood. Soon after Tom met his first acting coach Selma Tiktan who introduced Tom to improvisation and burlesque with traveling stage shows in the New York area. Not long after Tom met 1930s screen actress "Zita Johan" and she became his second and most effective acting coach. She had a great history with Hollywood and her methods are still used by Tom to this day. During his work on stage, it was suggested that Tom join The American Federation of Radio and Television Artists- AFTRA and Screen Actors Guild- SAG, he did not know much about the unions, but joined just the same, and soon figured it out and was on his way to becoming a working actor. By the age of 21 after joining the union he had bit parts on the USA network working with comedian Gilbert Gottfried on USAs "Up All Night' along with a few cable network appearances he also had bit parts on soaps "Loving' and "One Life to Live". The film industry was the next step Tom ventured into by paying a visit to "Central Casting" and began to work as a background actor. Learning as much as a twelve hour day could provide while on set, there was a lot to learn and Tom continued to take classes he was definitely going to find his way in the biz and that was that. After a few years of part time work in the industry Tom created a line of cosmetics "Tommy Cosmetics" that did well for a shot time and then he returned to television and began full time work on ABCs "Life on Mars" after one season the work continued on a series of hits from every network. Soon "Stratford on Hudson Productions" was born, and producing and assistant directorial work in live theater began to keep Tom busy. The list of credits in film, television and stage keep coming. Show less «