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- Thomas "Thom" Fitzgerald (born July 8, 1968) is an American-Canadian film director. Fitzgerald was born and raised in New Rochelle, New York. His parents divorced when he was five years old. He moved with his mother and brother, Timothy Jr. , to Bergenfield, New Jersey, where he was raised and graduated Bergenfield High School. While pursuing his university degree in Manhattan at the Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and Art, he spent a semester as an exchange student at the Nova Scotia College of Art and Design, and permanently moved to Halifax after completing his studies. In Canada, he worked extensively as a trio with performance artists Renee Penney and Michael Weir for several years, before he launched his career in film, releasing his debut feature, The Hanging Garden, in 1997 starring Troy Veinotte, Chris Leavins and Kerry Fox. That film won several Genie Awards, including acting nods for Peter MacNeill and Seana McKenna, and a screenplay trophy for Fitzgerald. It also garnered Fitzgerald the Claude Jutra Award for best feature film by a first-time director, the FIPRESCI European Critics Prize, Best Canadian Film Prize at the Atlantic Film Festival, Best Canadian Film at the Vancouver Film Festival, Best Screenplay at the Mar del Plata Festival, and a number of other high-profile awards. His second project, which was actually in progress prior to The Hanging Garden, was the muscle magazine docu-comedy Beefcake (1999). The story of fitness photographer Bob Mizer and the wave of fitness magazines in the 1950s, it was commissioned for television by Channel 4 in the UK and Arte in France and Germany. But the movie was too racy for North American television in 1999, and was released theatrically by Strand instead. The film debuted at Sundance and garnered four Genie Award nominations. Jonathan Torrens won the Best Supporting Actor Award from ACTRA, the Canadian equivalent of SAG. Beefcake' enjoys a long-running cult status on DVD. Fitzgerald's father, Timothy Fitzgerald Sr. , had purchased tickets to see Beefcake at its commercial opening in New York City, but died as a result of a minor road accident. Thom reportedly retreated into a depression as a result for most of the following year, backing out of a pending film project and declining all other offers. Wolf Girl (2001) was a Halloween special for the USA Network starring Tim Curry, Victoria Sanchez, Lesley Ann Warren, Darlene Cates, Grace Jones, Shelby Fenner and Shawn Ashmore. Penned by acclaimed novelist Lori Lansens, the story spins the werewolf genre in reverse, as cosmetic treatments render a furry side-show performer (Sanchez) progressively more psychotic. The Wild Dogs (2002) is a digital video-shot ensemble drama set in contemporary Bucharest. The stories involve a reluctant dogcatcher, a diplomat with prostate cancer, and a touring pornographer (played by Thom Fitzgerald). Rachel Blanchard and Alberta Watson co-star. The Wild Dogs debuted at the Toronto Film Festival. Along with three Genie nominations including Best Supporting Actor for Hayman, The Wild Dogs won the Best Canadian Film Award at the Atlantic Film Festival and the Emerging Master Award at the Seattle International Film Festival. The Event (2003), tells the story of Matt, a New Yorker with AIDS who has died mysteriously. Parker Posey plays an attorney who takes her investigation personally, pushing his family and friends into stark confessions about the reality of Matt's demise. The low-budget film debuted at Sundance Film Festival, opening to praise. It received numerous awards, including the Siegessäule Reader's Award, the Teddy Award at the Berlin International Film Festival, an ACTRA Supporting Actor Award for Rejean Cournoyer, the Outfest Jury Prize for Best Actress for Dukakis, a Best Supporting Actress Genie nomination for Dukakis, and Atlantic Film Festival Awards for Fitzgerald, writers Tim Marback and Steven Hillyer, and veteran actress Joan Orenstein. 3 Needles (2005) tells three short stories about the global HIV pandemic. In the first, Lucy Liu stars as a Chinese blood smuggler who unleashes havoc on a farmer's family. In the second story, a second rate porn actor in Montreal, hides his HIV status from his mother. In the third story, three Christian missionaries barter with a South African plantation owner to help a family of orphans. The film has won awards for cinematographer Tom Harting as well as Fitzgerald's Direction at the Atlantic Film Festival, and garnered Fitzgerald a Director's Guild nomination for Best Direction of a Feature Film. The director received promotional support from the United Nations' Global Media AIDS initiative, and the film was released on December 1, 2006, in selected theaters and on Showtime Network. Fitzgerald continues to reside in Nova Scotia. He has described himself as a "struggling Catholic".
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