Tom Sizemore

Thomas Edward Sizemore Jr. (born November 29, 1961) is a Golden Globe-nominated American film and television actor. He is known for his supporting performances in several Hollywood films.

Biography

Early life

Sizemore was born in Detroit, Michigan to a philosophy professor father. He has a younger brother, Paul, who is also an actor. Sizemore attended Michigan State University for one year, as well as Wayne State University, and earned a Master's Degree in theater from Temple University in 1986. He subsequently moved to New York City to pursue an acting career.

Career

One of Sizemore's early film roles was in Oliver Stone's Born on the Fourth of July in 1989. He has also appeared in films such as Harley Davidson and the Marlboro Man (1991), True Romance (1993), and Natural Born Killers (1994). A succession of well-received supporting parts followed, the most well known being his portrayal of Michael Cheritto in Heat (1995). His first major leading role was as Vincent D'Agosta in 1997's The Relic.

Sizemore continued to play leading and character parts in many films, notably Saving Private Ryan, HBO's Witness Protection, Red Planet, Pearl Harbor, Devil in a Blue Dress, and Black Hawk Down. He also had a voice part as Sonny Forelli in the video game Grand Theft Auto: Vice City.

In 2002, Sizemore starred in the well-reviewed but short-lived television drama series Robbery Homicide Division. It was cancelled mid-way through its first season.

Sizemore also fronts the Hollywood rock band Day 8. Formed in 2002 the band has recorded a 4-song EP so far produced and recorded by former Snot/Soulfly guitarist Mikey Doling. The group includes Rod Castro, Tyrone Tomke and Michael Taylor.

In 2004, he starred in the movie Paparazzi. In 2006, Sizemore starred in The Genius Club, playing a terrorist who taunts 7 geniuses into solving the world's problems in 1 night.

The television station VH1 has aired a 6 episode reality TV series called Shooting Sizemore, which depicts the life of the actor through his struggles, both with his band and in court with former Hollywood madam Heidi Fleiss.^[1]

Personal life

Sizemore, who had long battled drug addiction, was convicted in 2003 of assault and battery against his girlfriend, the former "Hollywood Madam" Heidi Fleiss.^[2] Sizemore was then sentenced to 17 months in jail and four months in drug treatment for repeatedly failing drug tests while on probation on 25 March 2005.^[3] On 3 June 2005, Tom filed a writ of habeas corpus to appeal his conviction of domestic violence against Fleiss.

Sizemore accuses Fleiss of faking a picture of her bruises submitted as evidence during the April 2003 trial. Fleiss testified the photo was taken by a friend named Tara Dabrizzi who left the next day to visit her ailing mother in another country. Dabrizzi never took the stand and Sizemore's attorneys say they were unable to locate anyone with that name. Fleiss allegedly contradicted herself in a civil trial by saying she didn't know who took the photo, according to the Superior Court petition.

Sizemore had other infamous, well-publicized run-ins with the law. He was caught using a fake penis sewn into his boxer shorts and filled with a clean urine sample kept warm by a heating pack to manipulate his drug test results.^[4] The temperature of the urine sample proved too cool to have come from his body, and he was asked to remove his pants. Sizemore had been caught once before trying to use a similar device, sold over the Internet under the brand name the “Whizzinator”, and had failed drug tests on at least five occasions. Sizemore failed two drug tests on the days following the fake penis incident showing he had methamphetamine in his system.

On August 18, 2005, approximately eight hours of celebrity sex tape starring Sizemore were published on the Internet.^[5]

Footnotes

Wikipedia information about Tom Sizemore This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "Tom Sizemore". It may not have been reviewed by professional editors (see full disclaimer). Help contribute to Americola and edit this article.