Tom Sizemore Biography
Born: November 29, 1961
Date of Birth: November 29, 1961
The son of a philosophy professor from Detroit, Michigan, Sizemore was educated at Wayne State and Temple University. His big break came when he landed the recurring role of Vinnie Ventresca on the short-lived TV series China Beach. His film debut came a year later in 1989 with Rude Awakening, Penn and Teller Get Killed, Lock-Up, and Born on the Fourth of July. He went on to do memorable movie roles in True Romance (1993) Hearts and Souls (1993), and Wyatt Earp (1994). His latest credits include roles in films such as Mark Felt: The Man Who Brought Down the White House (2017) and Radical (2017).
Playing tough guys on film brought him prominence, but playing the same role offscreen has given him nothing but trouble. Married to Maeve Quinlan in 1996, they separated in 1999 after she called police, saying she'd been physically injured by him. He went to drug rehab when his mother and Robert DeNiro showed up on his doorstep one day and told him he was going to jail or rehab—his choice.
In 2001, he began dating former Hollywood madam Heidi Fleiss and she moved in to his Beverly Hills home. Later that year, they were engaged, but Fleiss called it off in 2002. In December 2002, he was arrested on misdemeanor battery charges following an argument with an unidentified woman at his home. Just one month later, he reportedly wept when arrested after being accused of punching a 20-year-old woman at a party. Sizemore made more headlines in May 2003 when he was arrested again, for allegedly making death threats to Fleiss. He was also charged with domestic violence, battery, threat of bodily injury, dissuading a witness, violation of a probation order and inducing false testimony. He was further served with a court order to stay away from six different people and ordered to turn over any firearms in his possession.
Although he pled innocent, in April 2004 he was found guilty of seven counts and sentenced to six months in jail and three years probation. The judge said he would cut the jail time in half if Sizemore kept his nose clean, but the actor was again arrested in August 2004 when probation officers found drugs during a random visit to his mansion.
He has continued to work through all of this, appearing in films such as Dreamcatcher (2003), Paparazzi (2004) and also landed a regular role on the new 2004 WB series Dr. Vegas, starring Rob Lowe.