A portly, light-haired actor, Tom McGowan first garnered attention in 1991 when he was chosen to replace Ron Silver in Boston as the lead of "La Bete", a stage play written in verse. He made his entrance and delivered a twenty-five minute soliloquy in rhyming couplets that made critics and audiences pay attention. While the show failed to run, McGowan earned a Tony Award nomination as Best Actor. Having trained at the prestigious Yale School of Drama, appeared with the Yale Rep and landed work with the New York Shakespeare Festival, the actor appeared to be poised to have a successful stage career. Instead, he turned to TV where he made his mark in low- brow sitcoms. After making his debut on the syndicated 1981 soap opera "Another Life", McGowan appeared as Joey Lawrence's father in the 1986 syndicated children's special "Umbrella Jack". But, it was not until the 90s when McGowan found steady work in TV sitcoms. He was Eddie, the virginal and always dateless roommate, in "Down the Shore" (Fox, 1991-93) and then played the sidekick to talk-show host "Monty" (Fox, 1994), played by Henry Winkler. McGowan didn't have much luck with his third try, the short-lived and somewhat condescending "The Show" (Fox, 1996).
McGowan's feature work has also included some small parts, beginning with playing a TV interviewer in "Reuben, Reuben" (1983) and a reporter in "Searching for Bobby Fischer" (1993). He was a dead-on Alexander Woolcott of the Algonquin Roundtable in Alan Rudolph's "Mrs. Parker and Her Vicious Circle" (1994) and portrayed the predator tabloid reporter in "The Birdcage" (1996). He returned to the Broadway stage
Profession(s):
Actor
Sometimes Credited As:
OBIE Award Performance "The Food Chain" 1995 - 1996
Outer Critics Circle Award Outstanding Debut of an Actor "La Bete" 1990
2006 Cast in Michael Cuesta's sophomore feature "Twelve and Holding"
2003 Once again worked with director in Terry Zwigoff's "Bad Santa"
2001 Cast in Terry Zwigoff's "Ghost World"
2000 Cast in "The Family Man" directed by Brett Ratner and starring Nicolas Cage
1998 - 2004 Had recurring role as station manager on the hit NBC sitcom "Frasier"
1998 Joined cast of the Broadway musical "Chicago" as Amos Hart
1996 - 2004 Had recurring role on the hit CBS sitcom "Everybody Loves Raymond"
1995 Played featured role off-Broadway in "The Food Chain"
1994 Portrayed Alexander Woolcott in "Mrs. Parker and Her Vicious Circle"
1994 Had regular role on short-lived Fox sitcom "Monty"
1991 Made Broadway debut replacing Ron Silver in the leading role of "La Bete"; earned Tony nomination as Best Actor
1983 Made feature film debut in small role, "Reuben, Reuben"
1981 Made TV series debut in "Another Life", syndicated soap opera
Performed in numerous plays with Yale Repertory Theatre and New York Shakespeare Festival
Was regular cast member on sitcom "Down the Shore" (Fox)
