Biography
Among the hills, lakes, and streams of Northeastern Oklahoma, where the lands of the Cherokee and Osage meet, Tommy Partain learned early that life's best stories are lived, not scripted. Tommy grew up with his feet in multiple worlds - raising livestock, playing sports, and clutching a stage script in church and school plays.
The Army enticed him with the romanticism of being a Cavalry Scout, like the western heroes he watched and idolized on weekend movie marathons. When training junior soldiers or briefing senior officers, Tommy always found some way to add a little flair and entertainment in all he did. It was there, amid the rigid choreography of military life, that he met his wife - a supporting character turned lifelong co-star.
But even the excitement and challenges of Army life couldn't dull his desire for acting. Civilian life beckoned and Tommy traded barracks for boardrooms, crunching numbers as a CPA by day while moonlighting in TV ads and independent short films.
Then came 2015's Too Many Crocketts - a ghostly Davy Crockett role that flickered to life like a campfire tale. By 2017, he was Dr. Castor in Echo, twisting time in diabolical experiments, and Senator Bennet in The Palace, shaking hands while manipulating lives. By 2018 and beyond, Tommy became a chameleon of characters: a lawyer in Vindication, Chief of Staff in First Lady, an unscrupulous banker in Walking Papers, a coach in A Teacher, a husband in Better Call Saul, his face and athletic frame as familiar in a period costume as it is in modern suits.
Through every reinvention - student, athlete, farmer, soldier, accountant, actor - Tommy carries the same truth: every role is just another chapter in the great American story.
