Biography And Filmography:

The captivating and powerful actor Tom Sizemore quickly made a name for himself in his many early Off-Broadway performances, and starred in numerous films during the 1990's, but was sidetracked by women problems, drug addiction, jail time, problems with the law, and repeated stints in drug rehab.

His first hit the Hollywood scene in 1989, with an appearance as an angry wheelchair bound veteran in Oliver Stone's "Born on the Fourth of July" (1989), starring Tom Cruise, and then took a small role in the comedy "Rude Awakening" (1989), where two hippies come back from 1969 to get the bad news - nobody wants to save the world anymore, they just want to buy it. He ended his year with a six episode run in the Golden Globe winning television war drama "China Beach" (1989), starring Dana Delany, a drama series set at an American base during the Vietnam War.

Sizemore was then cast in the romantic crime thriller "True Romance" (1993), starring Christian Slater, Patricia Arquette, Val Kilmer, Bronson Pinchot, Dennis Hopper and Brad Pitt, the story of young newlyweds who acquire an unexpected wedding present, and unknown to the delightfully happy couple, brutal gangsters are on their tail, resolute to reclaim their lost property. The actor then took a supporting role next to Robert Downey Jr. in the fantasy thriller "Heart And Souls" (1993), a clever story about a businessman who is reunited with the four lost souls who were his guardian angels during childhood, all with a particular purpose to joining the afterlife.

More action and thriller movies followed, beginning with a starring role opposite Wesley Snipes in the thriller "Passenger 57" (1992), where an airline security expert must take action when he finds himself trapped on a passenger jet when terrorists seize control of it. He got a needed boost to his career when he took a role in the western adventure "Wyatt Earp" (1994), and then a starring role with Woody Harrelson in the crime drama "Natural Born Killers" (1994), where two victims of traumatized childhoods become lovers and psychopathic serial murderers irresponsibly glorified by the mass media. He wrapped his year in the crime thriller "Striking Distance" (1993), with Bruce Willis and Sarah Jessica Parker, about a cop who ends up fighting his uncle after the murder of his father.

Tom had become a true Hollywood celebrity, but was concerned he was being typecast in cop and robber thrillers and would not be seen as leading man material by critics and movie producers. For now, the actor stayed with his skills and appeared in the thriller "Devil In A Blue Dress" (1995), starring with Denzel Washington, about an African American private detective who is hired to find a woman and gets mixed up in a murderous political scandal. Another crime thriller followed in the supporting role of Max Peltier in "Strange Days" (1995), about a former cop turned street-hustler who accidentally uncovers a police conspiracy in 1999 Los Angeles. A high-profile role was next in "Heat" (1995), starring Al Pacino, Robert De Niro and Val Kilmer, in the mysterious story that focuses on the lives of two men on opposite sides of the law - one a detective; the other a thief.

Next, he got the role of a lifetime, a starring role portraying something other then a cop or thug, in the role of Sergeant Mike Horvath in the Oscar winning Steven Spielberg directed war drama "Saving Private Ryan" (1998), starring Tom Hanks and Matt Damon, based on a World War II drama where U.S. soldiers try to save their comrade, paratrooper Private Ryan, who's stationed behind enemy lines. The film won five Academy Awards and was nominated for fifty-three other awards.  

Then things took a turn for the worse, as an addiction to drugs, and several brushes with the law put the actor front and center in the media tabloids. He has publicly credited Robert DeNiro for helping him overcome his drug habit. Following the completion of "Heat", DeNiro staged an intervention and Sizemore entered a rehab clinic, the first of many attempts to get clean. 

An actor personally and professionally acquainted with Robert De Niro, and one who has worked well with big time directors Steven Spielberg, Oliver Stone, Kathryn Bigelow and Michael Mann, he finally had the opportunity to work with renowned director Martin Scorsese, with a scene-stealing performance as a wild ambulance driver in "Bringing Out the Dead" (1999), starring Nicolas Cage and Patricia Arquette, in the story of Frank Pierce (Cage), a paramedic working Gotham's Hell's Kitchen, who has become burned out and haunted by visions of the people he's tried to save.

In 2001, he appeared in two smash hit war films, first in "Pearl Harbor", with Ben Affleck, Josh Hartnett, Kate Beckinsale and Cuba Gooding Jr., about two best friends, Rafe and Danny, and their love lives as they go off to join the war. Next was "Black Hawk Down", starring Josh Hartnett and Ewan McGregor, where 126 elite U.S. soldiers drop into Somalia to capture two top lieutenants of a renegade warlord and find themselves in a desperate battle with a large force of heavily-armed Somalis. The following year, he got his chance to show his comedic skills in the comedy "Big Trouble" (2002), starring Tim Allen and Rene Russo, about the lives of several Miami citizens, from advertising agents to gunrunners to street thugs to law enforcement to school-children, who intersect with humorous and dangerous results.

The actor was then hired and cast in a supporting role in the sci-fi thriller "Dreamcatcher" (2003), where a group of friends on a camping trip discover that the town they're vacationing in is being plagued in an unusual fashion by parasitic aliens from outer space. Next, he moved to the small screen for the starring role of Lt. Sam Cole in the hit television series "Robbery Homicide Division", a drama that centers on a cop, and his team of officers in the elite robbery homicide division of the Los Angeles Police Department. The series only ran for thirteen episodes before going on permanent hiatus. The actor then made several guest appearances on the short-lived television crime drama "Dr. Vegas" starring Rob Lowe.

Once again. his personal life began to resemble some of his more troubled movie characters. The actor, who had openly battled drug abuse and alcoholism, was accused by ex-wife Maeve Quinlan of spousal abuse in 1997, and suddenly made tabloid headlines when he was arrested for assaulting an ex-girlfriend. 

In 2003 Tom was forced to enter a drug rehabilitation program during his trial, and was convicted of six counts and one lesser offense, and sentenced to six months in jail and three years probation for abusing his former fiance, Hollywood madam Heidi Fleiss. That same year he was also sued for sexual harassment by a former personal assistant, and in 2005 was sentenced to 17 months in prison and four months in rehabilitation for violating his parole conditions. 

Soon, he was back in court again for trying to fake a drug test, not reporting to his probation officer, missing counseling sessions and not advising authorities of his new address. In early 2006 he violated his probation a second time by testing positive for drugs and getting thrown out of a drug-treatment program for fighting, and was sentenced to three years' probation and 90 days in lock-down rehab.

In 2006, he slowly crawled out from under what had been a nightmare couple of years, and worked his way back into the graces of Hollywood. He took the role of Armand in the thriller "The Genius Club" (2006), a smart story about seven geniuses, all with IQs over 200, who are taken from their lives on Christmas Eve to try to solve the world's problems in one night. He then took the starring role in the dramatic, and ironic film "A Broken Life" (2008), about a man tortured by his own weakness, Max, and decides to commit suicide and recruits his only friend Bud, a struggling filmmaker, to record his last day on earth.

The reinvented actor was showing Hollywood, and the world, that he had recovered from his personal problems and was back in the game. He continued his climb back with a supporting role in the dramatic "American Son" (2008), the story of a young Marine, fresh from Camp Pendleton, who is forced to confront the complexities of adulthood and a volatile home life during a four-day Thanksgiving leave. Another thriller followed with "Red" (2008), about a reclusive man who sets out for justice and redemption when three troublesome teens kill his dog for no good reason. He then took the starring role in the mystery "The Last Lullaby" (2008), where his character, Price, a former hitman, is struggling to cope with retirement after leaving the assassination business to live the "easy life."

He was back and in true form. His next role was as Van Sant in the thriller "Toxic" (2008), about the lives of a nightclub owner, a crime boss, a stripper, a bartender, two hit men, a prostitute and a psychic who take a turn for the worse when they are trapped in an escaped mental patient's sinister path of madness and destruction. Another starring role followed in the crime drama "Corrado" (2008), where a ruthless mafia hit man, is transformed when he rescues a woman who takes the fall for one of his hits. The actor then starred as Col. Bunker in the action film "Shadows In Paradise" (2008), before taking the role of Craig in the comedy "Double Duty" (2008), a funny, action-packed coming of age story about an ex-marine trying to adjust to civilian life and discovering her feminine side, with help from her best friend. 

Tom wrapped his year in the sci-fi comedy "Super Capers" (2008), about would-be superhero, Ed Gruberman, who possesses no super powers and must join a team of misfit heroes-in-training known as The Super Capers. Having only faith, Gruberman must travel through time to uncover an evil plot involving some gold bullion, a fiery femme fatale, and a criminal mastermind with a dark secret about Ed's past. 

Watch Tom Sizemore In His Jail Interview After Being Arrested For Drugs

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