Tom Riis Farrell was born in Oceanside, New York. He attended Union College in Schenectady, New York, earning a BA in Theatre in 1981. His first film was Regarding Henry (1991), but he was edited out. Most recently, he appeared off-Broadway in The Resistible Rise of Arturo Ui, starring Al Pacino, Charles Durning, Tony Randall, John Goodman, Steve Buscemi, and Paul Giamatti. Prior to that, he was in the Broadway, San Francisco, Pasadena, and touring productions of Claudia Shear's play "Dirty Blonde," receiving a Helen Hayes Award and a Joseph Jefferson Award nomination for that performance. Other Broadway and Off-Broadway credits include "1776" (Roundabout and Gershwin Theatres); "Wrong Mountain" (Eugene O'Neill Theatre); "Li'l Abner" (Encores! at City Center); and "View of the Dome" (NY Theatre Workshop). Tom shows up in the movies Trust the Man (2005), Marie and Bruce (2004), The Stepford Wives (2004), Almost Famous (2000), Bringing Out the Dead (1999), The Out-of-Towners (1999), The Devil's Advocate (1997) and Sleepless in Seattle (1993). Television work includes Ed (2000), NYPD Blue (1993), Spin City (1996), four episodes of Law & Order (1990) and one of Law & Order: Criminal Intent (2001), as well as the television movies The Love Letter (1998) with Campbell Scott and Jennifer Jason Leigh, and The Deliverance of Elaine (1996) with Mare Winningham, Chris Cooper, and Lloyd Bridges.

1990