I remember sitting on a loading truck in Queens, New York drinking a cup of coffee and watching the sun come up. I was playing the lead in an independent feature and we had just finished our day of filming. At that moment, all of the insanity that had been going on around me started running through my mind. The 7 PM to 7 AM all night shoots, the chaos of making a film with no budget, the strange and eccentric cast and crew I was surrounded by everyday, and the darkness of the character I was playing - a man downward spiraling into madness and murder after the tragic loss of a loved one.

I took a deep breath as a smile slowly grew on my face. I knew I was exactly where I was meant to be.

Nowadays I live in the Mission District of San Francisco and am finishing a BFA in Acting at the Academy of Art University. For my work, I’ve been nominated three times for best actor - in 2020, 2021 and 2022 - at the NXT UP Fest, AAU’s annual celebration of the best student work. I’m a multi-faceted artist - I act, direct films, write for the screen and stage, create music and paint.

As a filmmaker, two of my short films - Infinite Color and Devil in the Dark - were named finalists in the Lift Off Online Film Festival in 2018 and 2019. I’ve had four public showings of my paintings in San Francisco - one at the Redstone Creative Space in 2020 and the other three at Gallery 3630 at the Balboa Theater between 2021 and 2022.

My film work as an actor can be found on my website: www.tommyharkness.net with my credits at imdb.me/tommyharkness.