Thomas Ian Griffith

Thomas Ian Griffith
Born	(1962-03-18) March 18, 1962 Hartford, Connecticut, U.S.
Occupation	Actor, writer, martial artist
Years active	1964–2007
Spouse(s)	Mary Page Keller (m. 1991)
Children	2

Thomas Ian Griffith (born March 18, 1962) is an American actor, writer and martial artist who has starred in films and on television.

Early life

Griffith was born in Hartford, Connecticut, the son of Mary Ann (née O'Neil), who worked at a dance studio, and Thomas Joseph Griffith. He attended the College of the Holy Cross in Worcester, Massachusetts.

Career

Griffith's first feature film was the 1989 sequel The Karate Kid, Part III, in which he played Terry Silver, a rival martial arts expert who influences Daniel LaRusso against his friend and mentor, Mr. Miyagi. In 1996, Griffith starred in the film Hollow Point alongside Tia Carrere, as DEA agent Max Parish and FBI agent Diane Norwood respectively. In the film, they try to find a money launderer who hired a hitman (Donald Sutherland) to kill Diane's FBI partner in revenge for a wedding gone wrong, which resulted in the death of a Russian mobster's son. He also appeared in the 1998 John Carpenter film Vampires as head vampire Jan Valek, and in the 2002 film xXx, in which he portrayed Agent Jim McGrath.

His first TV role was on the soap opera Another World, as Catlin Ewing, whom he played from 1984 to 1987. In 1999, he starred in the TV movie Secret of Giving with Reba McEntire; earlier in 1999, he had appeared in Reba's video for the song "What Do You Say". He also starred as Rock Hudson in a 1990 TV movie about Hudson's life for which he received critical acclaim. He has made guest appearances on a number of television shows, including In the Heat of the Night, Wiseguy, and One Tree Hill.

Since 2013, Griffith has periodically written for the NBC television series Grimm.

Superman The New Movie

In 1990 Christopher Reeve worked closely with Superman Movie Producer Ilya Salkind to find an Actor to whom he could pass the torch to and coach in getting the right physique and practice on the high wires. Reeve was mightily impressed by Thomas's performance in the Rock Hudson TV Movie Biopic - and so Griffith was offered the role which he accepted - this was big news in the UK & Europe but very little interest was raised in the US. Eventually The Salkind's lost their rights to the character which slipped back to Warner Brothers in 1993.

Personal life

Griffith is married to his former Another World costar Mary Page Keller since 1991, and they have two children together. He holds black belts in kenpo karate and tae kwon do.

Filmography

Year	Film	Role	Notes
1989	The Karate Kid, Part III	Terry Silver
1990	Rock Hudson	Rock Hudson	TV Movie
1992	Ulterior Motives	Jack Blaylock
1993	Excessive Force	Terry McCain
1994	Crackerjack	Jack Wild
1994	Blood of the Innocent	Frank Wusharsky
1996	Hollow Point	Max Parrish
1997	Behind Enemy Lines	Mike Weston
1997	Kull the Conqueror	General Taligaro
1997	The Guardian	"The Guardian"	TV Movie
1998	John Carpenter's Vampires	Jan Valek
1999	The Unexpected Mrs. Pollifax	Jack Farrell	TV Movie
1999	Avalanche	Neal Meekin
1999	The Secret of Giving	Harry Withers	TV Movie
2000	A Vision of Murder: The Story of Donielle	Doug Brister	TV Movie
2000	For the Cause	Evans
2001	High Adventure	Chris Quatermain
2001	Black Point	Gus Travis
2002	Beyond the Prairie: The True Story of Laura Ingalls Wilder	Cornelius Loudermilk	TV Movie
2002	xXx	Jim McGrath
2003	Timecop 2: The Berlin Decision	Brandon Miller
2005	The Pirate's Curse	Jeffrey Thorpe
2007	The Kidnapping	Cash

Television

Year	Show	Role	Notes
1984	Another World	Catlin Ewing	1984-1987
1988	In the Heat of the Night	Luke Potter	2 episodes
1989	Wiseguy	Roger Totland	2 episodes
2004	One Tree Hill	Larry Sawyer	5 episodes
2005	The Closer	Thomas Yates	1 episode
2006	Cold Case	Mitch	1 episode
2013-present	Grimm		writer, 8 episodes

External links

• Thomas Ian Griffith at the Internet Movie Database
• Thomas Ian Griffith at AllMovie