Thomas Duane Arnold (born March 6, 1959) is an American actor and comedian. He is best known for playing Arnie Thomas on Roseanne, which starred his ex-wife Roseanne Barr.
He has appeared in several films, including True Lies (1994), Nine Months (1995), Big Bully, Carpool, The Stupids (all 1996), McHale's Navy (1997), Animal Factory (2000), Cradle 2 the Grave (2003), Mr. 3000 (2004), Happy Endings (2005), Pride (2007), The Great Buck Howard (2008), and Madea's Witness Protection (2012). He was also the host of The Best Damn Sports Show Period for four years, and appeared on Sons of Anarchy.
Early life Arnold was born in Ottumwa, Iowa, the son of Linda Kay () and Jack Arnold. His mother was Jewish. He had 2 siblings: a sister Lori and a brother Scott. As a child, Arnold was diagnosed with autism. His mother abandoned the family when he was a child, and he and his siblings were raised by their father:
In their teens, Arnold and his sister moved back in with their mother. With her mother's consent, Lori was married at age 14 to a man who was 23 years old. Soon Lori was a heavy drug user and dealer running one of the largest meth operations in the Midwest until her arrest in 1989.Porter, Sierra A. (May 10, 2021) thecinemaholic.com
Arnold escaped his sister's fate, and worked at a meatpacking plant. He attended Ottumwa High School, Indian Hills Community College, and from 1981 to 1983, the University of Iowa, where he studied business administration and writing.
Career
In the early 1980s, Arnold had a prop-based comedy routine called "Tom Arnold and the Goldfish Review."I Killed: True Stories of the Road from America's Top Comics By Ritch Shydner, Mark Schiff. Retrieved March 5, 2016. 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". 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 18 episodes.
In 1993, Arnold and Barr bought a house together in the town of Eldon, Iowa and opened a restaurant, 'Roseanne and Tom's Big Food Diner' nearby. 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. In 1994, Arnold appeared as the sidekick to Arnold Schwarzenegger's character in James Cameron's action blockbuster film True Lies. Arnold and Barr divorced in 1994 due to irreconcilable differences. Their restaurant closed in 1995.
After Arnold's divorce from Barr, he narrated and starred in several Craftmatic Adjustable Bed commercials that aired throughout 1995. The last commercial that he filmed culminated in Arnold lying in a bed that caught on fire and melted a strand of his underarm hair during the taping; the footage was never released. Arnold commented on Twitter in 2014: "Me and Mike (he was one of my best friends) used to laugh about how [I] had a Pepsi commercial of my own".
In November 2000, Arnold played the role of Al Raymond in the second-season Baywatch Hawaii episode, "The Cage".
In a late 1990s interview on radio's The 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. From 2001 through 2005, he was one of the hosts of The Best Damn Sports Show Period. From 2003 to 2005, Arnold was the voice of Arby's "Oven Mitt" commercials.
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 to 2011, 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.CMT's Biggest Redneck Wedding Ever: About the Special, Country Music Television. Retrieved August 31, 2014. CMT also made three series of "My Big Redneck Vacation" presented by Arnold and featuring the Clampet Family from Shreveport, Louisiana.
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."Tom Arnold Says He Was Sexually Abused", TV Guide. November 6, 2008. Retrieved November 7, 2008.
In January 2017, Tom Arnold was revealed as a celebrity contestant on the Australian edition of I'm A Celebrity...Get Me Out of Here!. He was the first evictee from the jungle, after 17 days, and stated he was paid between $US600,000 and $US700,000 for his participation in the program. In June 2017, Arnold filed a lawsuit against companies Network Ten and 'A List Entertainment' for defrauding him for being on I'm a Celebrity...Get Me Out of Here!. Arnold claims that he was promised a payment of $425,000 and a comedy tour in Australia. However, he was missing $140,000 in payment and Network Ten backed out of the comedy tour.
In 2018, Arnold's Viceland show The Hunt for the Trump Tapes premiered to low ratings and mainly negative reviews. The show was canceled after one season.
Personal life
Arnold met comedian Roseanne Barr when she saw his act in 1983. Their relationship was complicated by his alcoholism and drug addiction, but eventually he became sober. The two married in 1990 and divorced in 1994. 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.Dr. Drew Live, September 4, 2008.
Over Thanksgiving weekend 2009, Arnold married his fourth wife, Ashley Groussman, in Maui before 75 guests. Dax Shepard served as Arnold's best man. He appeared December 10, 2009 on the late night talk show Asia Uncut. The couple have two children and four dogs. The divorce was finalized in July 2020.
Arnold was raised a Methodist. Some sources say he converted to Judaism upon marrying Roseanne Barr in 1990, but Arnold discovered he was of Jewish descent through his mother and did not need to convert in order to become a practicing Jew. He still practices Judaism and met his fourth wife at a Passover event.
Arnold has given much of his time to charities including giving out toys during the holidays to those in need through the Miracle on 1st Street Toy Giveaway, an annual tradition of his.
Politics Arnold is a gun owner and a supporter of the Second Amendment. However, he expressed support for universal background checks and has said some people should not be allowed to own guns such as people who are on the terrorist watch lists, domestic abusers, and violent felons.
Arnold is a critic of Donald Trump and has accused him of being a racist. He also starred in a show called The Hunt for the Trump Tapes in which Arnold searches for damaging information on Trump. In 2019, Arnold tape-recorded a phone call with Trump's lawyer Michael Cohen where Cohen divulged his involvement in the cover-up of a scandal involving Jerry Falwell Jr., his wife, and a pool boy.
Family reunion On October 8, 2020, Tom Arnold, his brother Scottie, and sister Lori reunited for the first time in 28 years, back together again in their hometown of Ottumwa, Iowa. During this time, Lori was filming a 3-part docu-series called Queen of Meth, which her brother Tom helped to produce. It recounts her time as the "queen-pin" of a huge drug business that she ran from Iowa to California. Queen of Meth was originally released on Discovery+ in May 2021.
Filmography Film Year Title Role Notes1991 Freddy's Dead: The Final Nightmare Childless Man Backfield in Motion Howard Peterman 1992 Hero Chick 1993 The Woman Who Loved Elvis Jack Jackson Television film Coneheads Golfer Uncredited Body Bags Morgue Worker No. 1 Television film Undercover Blues Vern Newman 1994 True Lies Albert "Gib" Gibson 1995 Nine Months Marty Dwyer 1996 Big Bully Roscoe "Fang" Bigger Carpool Franklin Laszlo The Stupids Stanley Stupid 1997 Touch August Murray McHale's Navy Lt. Commander Quinton McHale, Jr. Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery Texan Uncredited Hacks Danny1998 National Lampoon's Golf Punks Al Oliver Buster & Chauncey's Silent Night Fritz (voice) Direct-to-video1999 Jackie's Back Martin Pritz Television film Dancing Outlaw II: Jesco Goes to Hollywood Himself Documentary2000 Bar Hopping Eddie Animal Factory Buck Rowan We Married Margo Himself Cameo Shriek If You Know What I Did Last Friday the Thirteenth Doughy Primesuspect / Hardy (The Killer) Direct-to-video Just Sue Me Barbuto Welcome to Hollywood Himself Cameo2001 Exit Wounds Henry Wayne Lloyd Tom 2002 Hansel & Gretel Boogeyman Romantic Comedy 101 James Ford Television film Children on Their Birthdays Lionel Quince 2003 Manhood Dr. Levanthal Cradle 2 the Grave Archie National Lampoon's Barely Legal Mr. Lewis Dickie Roberts: Former Child Star Himself Cameo Just for Kicks Coach Martin Direct-to-video2004 Soul Plane Elvis Hunkee Mr. 3000 Himself Cameo2005 Happy Endings Frank McKee Kicking & ScreamingHimselfCameo Rebound The Kid & I Bill Williams Also producer and writer Chasing Christmas Jack Cameron Television film Three Wise Guys Murray Crown2007 Homo Erectus Gay Caveman Pride Richard Binkowski Game of Life Richard Originally known as Oranges Palo Alto Morgan The Final Season Burt Akers 2008 Gardens of the Night Alex Good Dick Dad This Is Not a Test Himself Remarkable Power Van Hagen Moonlight and Mistletoe Nick Crosby Television film Unstable Fables: The Goldilocks and 3 Bears Show Mac Bear (voice) Direct-to-DVD film2009 The Skeptic Sully American Summer Himself April Showers Martin Blackwell The 1 Second Film Producer 2010 Group Sex Herman 2011 Walk a Mile in My Pradas Joe The Jerk Theory Father Bailey 2012 Fred 3: Camp Fred Floyd Spunkmeyer Television film Madea's Witness Protection Walter Hit and Run U.S. Marshal Randy Anderson Chilly Christmas Quarterman Direct-to-video 2013 Jewtopia Bruce Daniels Pulling Strings Art 2014 Dumbbells Daddy Shelby Doug - the dog catcher 2015 Jungle Shuffle Coati King (voice) Underdog Kids Gene "Geno" Burman Sex School Principal Hyman A Mouse Tale Dalliwog the Wizard (voice) I Am Chris Farley Himself The Curse of Downers Grove Chuck's father 2017 Dead Ant Danny Maximum Impact Barnes 2018 Bigger Roy Hawkins Saving Flora Runyon 2019 Christmas Scavenger Hunt Carl Hallmark MoviePegasus: Pony With a Broken Wing Daniel Warren2021 Hollywood.Con El Jade Christmas Thieves Frank Queen of Meth Himself High Holiday Greg Corske 2022 Good Mourning Famous Director2023 Alien Storm Mayor Harrison Ape vs. Mecha Ape Hamilton 2024DragpiresBob 2025Airplane 2025Senator RufusMermaidTodd 2026 New Toy Story A mockbuster film by The AsylumTBAThe Gun on Second StreetDick Steinberger
Television