Tom Arnold mini-bio: In 1983 Tom Arnold got his first taste of stand-up comedy when he performed at open microphone nights at the University of Iowa. Tom's comedy career had its ups and downs over the next several years until 1988, when he entered the Minneapolis Comedy Competition and won first place.
With this victory in hand he decided to move to Los Angeles to pursue a stand-up comedy career. Once he hit Los Angeles, things happened fast. That same year he was hired as a staff writer for Roseanne's TV sitcom "Roseanne" (1988) and began to appear regularly on the show as "Arnie Thomas".
He and Roseanne were married in 1990, with Arnold converting to Judaism prior to the marriage. They formed Rapello County Productions to develop projects for themselves. The couple's marriage, together with their sometimes outrageous behavior, attracted media attention - and especially that of the tabloids - like a magnet. In 1994 conditions between the two deterioriated and they went through a very public, and acrimonious, divorce.
Industry pundits predicted that Tom Arnold was washed up, but he confounded his enemies with a well-received performance as a gregarious secret agent in the blockbuster Arnold Schwarzenegger vehicle True Lies (1994). He then did a memorable turn in the Hugh Grant vehicle Nine Months (1995). Subsequently, Arnold has steadily worked in a number of decidedly mediocre films including the roundly panned McHales Navy (1997) in which he played the role created by Ernest Borgnine for his mid-1960s television series of the same name.
Over the next several years, Arnold's film roles primarily consisted of straight-to-video comedies like National Lampoon's Golf Punks and Shriek If You Know What I Did Last Friday The 13th, but in 2001 he became one of the hosts of Fox Sports' The Best Damn Sports Show Period. The talk-show became one of the network's most popular series with Arnold remaining on full-time for four years and continuing to make guest appearances thereafter.
After leaving The Best Damn Sports Show, Arnold tried his hand at screen-writing with the 2005 comedy The Kid & I, which he also produced and starred in. The film failed to excite critics or audiences, but that same year, Arnold turned in an impressive and rare dramatic performance in the indie dramedy Happy Endings. In 2007, Arnold could be seen in supporting roles in two sports dramas, Pride and The Final Season.