Success Stories

To many people, breaking into show business after going to business school might not seem like a logical next step. But for Tommy Lee Thomas (BBA '95), the jump from accounting classes to the big screen makes perfect sense. For about as long as he can remember, Thomas has been certain of two things: he would attend SMU and he would become a film star.

"My father was a career schoolteacher, principal, and counselor who earned his master's degree in counseling from SMU in 1969," Thomas noted. "Even though we moved around quite a bit when I was growing up, I knew a lot about SMU and always figured I'd go there."

Bouncing around from one small Texas town to another gave Thomas plenty of opportunity to exercise his imagination, fashioning characters and plots from the people and places he encountered along the way. By the time he was 14 years old, Thomas had decided on Sylvester Stallone as his inspiration.

"The thing I liked about Stallone was that he wrote, directed, and starred in Rocky," Thomas said. "I really respected the fact that he not only had a vision for the film, he also shaped and refined it as the director and finally brought it to life as the lead actor."

When Thomas' parents bought him and his older brother, Allen, a video camera in high school, they wasted no time putting it to good use. During their summer breaks, Thomas wrote scripts and the two brothers recruited cast members, directed, acted in, and edited full-length feature films.

As a senior at Desoto High School, Thomas expanded his acting repertoire to include television commercials. In his second audition, he landed the part of a pizza delivery boy in a national television commercial for Domino's Pizza – a role that earned him his Screen Actor's Guild (SAG) card.

After graduating from high school in 1991, Thomas enrolled in the Dallas County Community College (DCCC) while continuing to pursue his acting career. Over the next two years, he parlayed his Domino's debut into more than 50 commercials for such companies as Bennigan's, Dr. Pepper, Radio Shack, and Sonic. In 1993, amid a flourishing commercial career, he made the decision to focus on his formal education.

"While I was attending the DCCC," Thomas recollected, "I learned about an academic scholarship to SMU that was available to students with 50 transferable hours and a minimum grade point average of 3.5. I decided at that time I was going to earn a scholarship and go to SMU like my father had done."

Thomas applied for the scholarship and was accepted. He entered SMU in the fall of 1993 with the plan to earn a business degree from the Cox School.

"I'd learned through my experience in commercials that there was a business aspect to acting in and making films," he commented. "I'd seen a fair number of unemployed actors who were not successful because they didn't understand the business side of show business. I didn't want that to happen to me."

In the Cox BBA Program, Thomas benefited from the school's core business curriculum, which was augmented with courses on strategy and leadership and brought to life by a dedicated faculty. "In addition, to acquiring basic accounting skills," he recalled, "I learned how to analyze different business situations and develop strategies to take advantage of opportunities. In addition, Bob Rasberry taught me a lot about the importance of leadership and communications in any business venture."

Thomas also gained inspiration for his film career from of one of SMU's many extracurricular offerings. "Through the Tate Lecture Series," he commented, "I was able to see and hear people who were bigger than life to me, including Colin Powell and Margaret Thatcher. I even got to ask Larry King a question following his speech. Having the opportunity to meet and interact with some of the most influential people in the world really encouraged me to pursue my film career."

Since graduating from the Cox School, Thomas has diligently applied his business education to advance his show business career. In 1997, he formed a film production company called Soaring Eagle Productions with Carroll Melton, an economics professor he met while earning his MBA from Pepperdine University. Behind the scenes, Thomas and Melton develop and present business proposals to private investors to raise the money necessary to make films.

"To convince people to invest their own money in films," Thomas said, "you have to present a solid business plan with a compelling value proposition in a polished package. The skills and lessons I learned at the Cox School help me raise money as well as manage the overall production of the films."

Thus far, Soaring Eagle Productions has produced three feature films starring Thomas: More than Meets the Eye; Proverbial Justice; and Con Games – an action-thriller also featuring Eric Roberts that is scheduled to be released in DVD and VHA to Hollywood Video and other independent video stores throughout the United States this summer.

As he sets his sights on the future, Thomas is confident in his prospects: "It's not easy making movies. Each day is a struggle. But I love what I do. Fortunately, the Cox School taught me how to set goals and then – through hard work and smart business decisions – make those goals a reality."