Tom Dugan

Tom Dugan (Playwright/Actor) Tom Dugan was the youngest of a family of six. He grew up in the small N.J. town of Winfield Park, surrounded by a large extended Irish Catholic family. He first caught the acting bug playing the role Mr. Wimple in The 1975 WINFIELD ELEMENTARY SCHOOL CHRISTMAS SPECTACULAR. At Rahway High School, Tom enjoyed starring roles in MAME, FIDDLER ON THE ROOF, and THE SOUND OF MUSIC. Receiving a federal grant championed by the Carter Administration, he attended Montclair State College (Now University) as a BFA acting major.

In 1982 at the age of 20, Tom packed his life into a 1969 Ford Econo Van he’d bought for $300, left his home, Mom and Dad, three siblings, his dog Elmo, and eighteen aunts and uncles, and thirty-six first cousins, to drove across the U.S. with a roommate and his three small yappy dogs and a 19-year-old Siamese cat named Leo, to become a movie star in Hollywood. However, greatness is rarely achieved overnight. After two years of rejection, Mr. Dugan finally landed his first acting job appearing on a new cable station called MTV in the now classic Z.Z. Top video LEGS. The popularity of that video was Tom’s springboard to many other T.V. and film appearances including: LOIS & CLARK (where after shooting Superman he got to say “The bullets just bounce off!”), CHICAGO HOPE (where he delivered a baby), SUNSET BEACH (Where he kidnaped a baby), BONES (Where he played an arrogant school principal), FRIENDS (Where he played an arrogant mater de), CURB YOUR ENTHUSIASM (arrogant cop), THE PRACTICE (arrogant doctor), JUST SHOOT ME (Goofy waiter), PARTY OF FIVE (Goofy teacher), MARKED FOR DEATH (Goofy bad guy), BILL AND TED’S EXCELLENT ADVENTURE (Cave man #2), THE NAKED GUN (I shot OJ Simpson), HELLRAISER IV (Eaten by a dog from hell), LEPRECHAUN III (Beaten to death with a shalalie), STUART SMALLEY SAVES THE FAMILY (Game show host), SANTA BARBARA (more kidnapping), and ALIEN NATION (Murderous alien), After playing a variety of characters on THE TRACEY ULLMAN SHOW, Mr. Dugan caught the attention of director Ivan Reitman who cast him in five of his most popular feature films: GHOSTBUSTERS II, KINDERGARTEN COP, DAVE, BEETHOVEN II, and JUNIOR.

Somewhere during the late 90s Tom began writing one person plays. His first was an autobiographical comedy entitled OSCAR TO OSCAR which included the true stories of his sneaking into the 1983 ACADEMY AWARDS and managing to talk his way onto the stage itself while pretending to be a technician, and in 1994 having attended the Academy Awards slipping into the Governor’s Ball and eating Paul Newman’s’ dinner (The lamb chops were excellent.). While crisscrossing the U.S. and Canada during a tour of ON GOLDEN POND starring Jack Klugman (ODD COUPLE, QUINCEY), Mr. Dugan wrote his first, extraordinarily popular historical play THE TRIAL OF ROBERT E. LEE. He followed with FREDERICK DOUGLASS – IN THE SHADOW OF SLAVERY (Starring Broadway’s Mel Johnson Jr.), WIESENTHAL, THE GHOSTS OF MARY LINCOLN, and TELL HIM IT’S JACKIE. Tom continues to tour the country acting in his own plays. While performing in Georgia, he took a trip to Plains GA and was honored to meet former president Jimmy Carter thanking him for providing that federal grant so many years ago that put me on track to a life in the theater. Although Tom Dugan’s plays have been produced all over the world, WIESENTHAL is the very first time he’s been published (Yay!).

Tom still lives in Los Angeles with his wife Amy and their sons Eli, Miles, and their dog Lucy (There’s always a dog.)