tom welling

Okemos High School, Salesianum School

model, actor

basketball, soccer, skiing, baseball

mutiny on the bounty

seinfeld

Taurus

i was born in Putnam Valley, NY. I spent my early boyhood in Wisconsin before moving to Delaware in 3rd grade. My family moved again, this time to Okemos, Michigan, just after my freshman year in high school. There, I lived with my father, mother, two elder sisters, and younger brother.

During elementary school in Delaware, I appeared in several school plays and pageants until the 6th grade. At Okemos High School in Michigan, I was considered a jock; I played basketball, baseball, and soccer (I was third-string goalkeeper for the varsity school team during senior year). I was never particularly studious, however, despite an enjoyment of subjects such as history, I graduated on 4 June 1995 with "fair" marks. Afterwards, due to my grades, I decided that a university education was not for me. Instead, I worked as a construction worker at a warehouse. I continued to live at home and hung out with friends in my spare time.

While on vacation with friends in Nantucket in the spring of 1997, I was approched by an Abercrombie & Fitch shoot scout working for world-famous photographer Bruce Weber. I returned home to Michigan to consider the offer, then headed to Lake George, NY for the shoot. It was the start of a modeling career, and my photos were published in the 1997 Abercrombie & Fitch Christmas Quarterly.

I soon moved out of my parents' home and to Manhattan, where I modeled sporadically for the next two years. I also modeled for the Louisa Modeling Agency, taking jobs from their offices and modeling for them in Europe. While working in Miami in 1998, I met my future wife, Jamie A. White, a fellow model and two years my senior. We had previously met each other a couple of times during each of our careers.

While I was very successful as a model, I ultimately decided that modeling wasn't my career. With encouragement from family and friends, and with the help of contacts I made during my time as a model, I headed west to LA in January to start an acting career.