Early life

Arnold was born in Ottumwa, Iowa, the son of Linda Kay (née Graham) and Jack Arnold. He has six siblings. His mother abandoned the family when he was a child, and he and his siblings were raised by their father.

During his youth, he worked at a meatpacking plant. Arnold attended Ottumwa High School, Indian Hills Community College, and the University of Iowa (from 1981-83), where he studied business administration and writing. He began doing stand-up comedy when he was 23.

Career

In the early 1980s, Arnold had a prop-based comedy routine called "Tom Arnold and the Goldfish Review." Roseanne Barr brought him in as a writer for her television sitcom, Roseanne. He married her in 1990, after she divorced her first husband. Arnold wrote himself into the show as the character "Arnie Thomas" (a play on his name). The couple's marriage attracted media and especially tabloid attention due to their sometimes outrageous behavior. In 1992, Arnold starred in his own sitcom, The Jackie Thomas Show. Airing after Roseanne on ABC, the show lasted only 18 episodes.

In 1993, Arnold and Barr bought a house together in Arnold's hometown of Eldon and opened a restaurant, Roseanne and Tom's Big Food Diner, in nearby Eldon, Iowa. (The diner served loosemeat sandwiches similar to the specialty of the fictional Lanford Lunch Box on Roseanne, which in turn was based on the real-life Canteen Lunch in the Alley in Ottumwa.) Both appeared in the 1993 movie The Woman Who Loved Elvis, filmed in Ottumwa. Arnold and Barr divorced in 1994, and their restaurant closed in 1995.

In a late-1990s interview on radio's Howard Stern Show, Arnold admitted that his share of his and Barr's estate amounted to "over $20,000,000", including a percentage of the Roseanne ABC-TV series, but would not elaborate, citing a confidentiality clause. In 1994, Arnold appeared as the sidekick to Arnold Schwarzenegger's character in the James Cameron feature film True Lies. He was a host of The Best Damn Sports Show Period. He provided the voice for the Arby's "Oven Mitt" character in television commercials for the fast-food chain.

Arnold had his first romantic leading man part in the 2005 movie Happy Endings. That same year, Arnold starred in The Kid & I. From 2008-11, he hosted the CMT show My Big Redneck Wedding. He hosted CMT's The Biggest Redneck Wedding Ever in 2008, in which he served as the wedding planner, created a wedding that exceeded the dreams of a couple who wanted to be married in a mud bog, and performed the actual ceremony.

Arnold's role as a child molester in Gardens of the Night sparked revelations that he had been a victim of sexual abuse in his childhood. He decided to take on the role to shed more light on the issue.

Personal life

Arnold met comedian Roseanne Barr when she saw his act in 1983. Their relationship was complicated by his drug and alcohol addiction, but eventually he became sober. The two married in 1990 and divorced in 1994. In an April 2009 interview on Anytime with Bob Kushell, Arnold discussed how when he divorced Barr, he did not take any alimony. During the next ten years, Arnold married two subsequent times. Both marriages ended in divorce. In August 2008, Arnold broke his scapula in a motorcycle accident on the Pacific Coast Highway.

Over Thanksgiving weekend 2009, Arnold married his fourth wife, Ashley Groussman, in an intimate ceremony in Maui before 75 guests. Dax Shepard served as Arnold's best man. During their honeymoon, Arnold and Ashley stopped in Shanghai, China. He appeared December 10, 2009 on the late night talk show Asia Uncut. The couple has two children.

Arnold was raised a Methodist. He converted to Judaism upon marrying Roseanne Barr in 1990 and claims to still practice Judaism.

Selected filmography

• Roseanne (1989-1993; TV)
• Freddy's Dead: The Final Nightmare (1991)
• Hero (1992)
• The Jackie Thomas Show (1992-1993; TV)
• The Woman Who Loved Elvis (1993; TV film)
• Coneheads (1993)
• Body Bags (1993; TV film)
• Undercover Blues (1993)
• Tom (1994; TV series)
• True Lies (1994)
• Nine Months (1995)
• Big Bully (1996)
• Carpool (1996)
• The Stupids (1996)
• Touch (1997)
• McHale's Navy (1997)
• Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery (1997)
• Hacks (1997)
• The Tom Show (1997-1998; TV)
• Space Ghost Coast to Coast (1998; TV)
• National Lampoon's Golf Punks (1998)
• Buster & Chauncey's Silent Night (1998; voice only - direct-to-video)
• Jackie's Back (1999; TV film)
• The Simpsons (1999) (TV; voice only)
• Bar Hopping (2000; TV film)
• Animal Factory (2000)
• We Married Margo (2000; cameo)
• Shriek If You Know What I Did Last Friday the Thirteenth (2000)
• Welcome to Hollywood (2000; cameo)
• Exit Wounds (2001)
• Lloyd (2001)
• Hansel & Gretel (2002)
• Children on Their Birthdays (2002)
• Manhood (2003)
• Cradle 2 the Grave (2003)
• National Lampoon's Barely Legal (2003)
• Dickie Roberts: Former Child Star (2003)
• Just for Kicks (2003)
• Soul Plane (2004)
• Mr. 3000 (2004; cameo)
• Happy Endings (2005)
• Kicking & Screaming (2005; cameo)
• Rebound (2005; cameo)
• The Kid & I (2005)
• Chasing Christmas (2005; TV film)
• Three Wise Guys (2005; TV film)
• Homo Erectus (2007)
• Pride (2007)
• Palo Alto (2007)
• The Final Season (2007)
• Gardens of the Night (2008)
• Good Dick (2008)
• This Is Not a Test (2008)
• Remarkable Power (2008)
• Moonlight and Mistletoe (2008; TV film)
• Unstable Fables: The Goldilocks and 3 Bears Show (2008; voice)
• My Big Redneck Wedding (2008-2009; TV series)
• Oranges (2009)
• The Skeptic (2009)
• American Summer (2009)
• April Showers (2009)
• The 1 Second Film (2009; producer)
• Sons of Anarchy (2009, 2011; TV series)
• Group Sex (2010)
• Franklin & Bash (2011)
• Fred 3: Camp Fred (2012; TV film)
• Madea's Witness Protection (2012)
• Jewtopia (2012)
• Hit and Run (2012)
• Dumbbells (2014)
• Jungle Shuffle (2015)
• Underdog Kids (2015)
• A Mouse Tale (2015)
• I Am Chris Farley (2015)
• The Curse of Downers Grove (2015)
• Trailer Park Boys (season 10) (2016; as himself)

[ Source: Wikipedia ]