Shawn Thomas(XXXII)
- Actor
- Writer
Born in Massachusetts, Shawn grew up between the suburbs of Boston and small towns of Cape Cod. He attended Wesleyan University in Middletown, Connecticut where he played varsity football and earned a BA in Economics.
After helping one of his teammates with their film thesis, Shawn began taking every acting, movement, poetry, and theater class he could. He stopped applying for summer internships on Wall Street and gave up a semester abroad and instead began auditioning for student films and faculty theater productions on campus. His first lead role came in a production of Henrik Ibsen's Peer Gynt, with cast member Halley Feiffer.
Shortly after graduation in 2007, Shawn moved to North Hollywood and began studying with Mr. Robert Carnegie of Playhouse West. Here he began developing his craft and appeared in his first professional play, Welcome Home Soldier. The play about Vietnam veterans was frequented by real-life veterans who were thankful to hear their stories told.
His first television credit would come in 2008 when Shawn was cast as the lead New Englander in a short promo that aired during the Super Bowl XLII pregame show. In 2009, Shawn was cast in a theater production of Clifford Odets' Waiting for Lefty, which included many members of the hit HBO show True Blood. The following year brought his first professional dance credit when he was invited to dance with Beyoncé at the 53rd annual Grammy Awards.
While bartending in 2013, Shawn was headhunted by the Esquire Network to host an online series created after the iconic magazines' cocktail segment. After one season, he went on to host Local Flight; a travel series for Tastemade Studios; which took him all across the US and abroad - from rooftop bee keeping in Portland and urban foraging in Miami, to cliff diving in Croatia, kitesurfing in Greece, and racing rally cars in Monaco. The series ran three seasons, garnered millions of views online, and earned an Academy of Web Television nomination for best host alongside Larry King and Will Wheaton.
During this time, Shawn also achieved some commercial success with concurrent national VO campaigns for Ford, Blue Cross, and Universal.
In 2016, Shawn packed up his car and drove from LA to Brooklyn, NY to get back to his east coast roots and try his hand in NYC. After several Off-Off-Broadway shows, a few independent films, and many valuable life lessons, Shawn returned to LA in 2020.
After helping one of his teammates with their film thesis, Shawn began taking every acting, movement, poetry, and theater class he could. He stopped applying for summer internships on Wall Street and gave up a semester abroad and instead began auditioning for student films and faculty theater productions on campus. His first lead role came in a production of Henrik Ibsen's Peer Gynt, with cast member Halley Feiffer.
Shortly after graduation in 2007, Shawn moved to North Hollywood and began studying with Mr. Robert Carnegie of Playhouse West. Here he began developing his craft and appeared in his first professional play, Welcome Home Soldier. The play about Vietnam veterans was frequented by real-life veterans who were thankful to hear their stories told.
His first television credit would come in 2008 when Shawn was cast as the lead New Englander in a short promo that aired during the Super Bowl XLII pregame show. In 2009, Shawn was cast in a theater production of Clifford Odets' Waiting for Lefty, which included many members of the hit HBO show True Blood. The following year brought his first professional dance credit when he was invited to dance with Beyoncé at the 53rd annual Grammy Awards.
While bartending in 2013, Shawn was headhunted by the Esquire Network to host an online series created after the iconic magazines' cocktail segment. After one season, he went on to host Local Flight; a travel series for Tastemade Studios; which took him all across the US and abroad - from rooftop bee keeping in Portland and urban foraging in Miami, to cliff diving in Croatia, kitesurfing in Greece, and racing rally cars in Monaco. The series ran three seasons, garnered millions of views online, and earned an Academy of Web Television nomination for best host alongside Larry King and Will Wheaton.
During this time, Shawn also achieved some commercial success with concurrent national VO campaigns for Ford, Blue Cross, and Universal.
In 2016, Shawn packed up his car and drove from LA to Brooklyn, NY to get back to his east coast roots and try his hand in NYC. After several Off-Off-Broadway shows, a few independent films, and many valuable life lessons, Shawn returned to LA in 2020.
