After a few years on the stand-up comedy circuit (the toughest training there is), Tom saw the realization of his little dream with his televised appearance on a 1987 Showtime Special. Fortunately for audiences around the world, once was not enough (either for Arnold or the hometown critics), and he next won the Twin Cities Comedy Competition, earning an invitation to appear on Roseanne Barr’s Live on HBO special in 1988. His writing and performing talents quickly brought him to Los Angeles and secured him a writer's job on ABC’s top-rated sitcom, Roseanne.

During the next six years, Tom worked on Roseanne as a writer, an actor (playing Arnie, Dan’s friend), and as an Executive Producer. In short order he was the proud recipient of a Peabody, a Golden Globe and a Humanitas award for his many contributions to the show. Capping the sensational success of those early years, Tom and Roseanne Barr (who he married in 1990) received GLAAD’s “Coolest Straight People” award for producing a particularly controversial episode involving a lesbian kiss.

To this day, however, Tom’s favorite memory from his days on TV’s #1 show was an episode about the death of Roseanne’s father. Tom wrote the speech Roseanne read at the funeral, which was the same one he delivered at his own mother's memorial. That performance earned Roseanne her first and only Emmy.

Despite his multiple responsibilities to the show and his high-profile marriage to an American cultural icon, Tom threw himself into a variety of other feature film and TV acting roles, writing projects, producing gigs and a host of charitable and professional obligations that would have killed a lesser man.  His incredible schedule of work and philanthropy continues to this day.

Tom started his work in feature films in 1991 and has since starred in over thirty films, including such box office hits and critically acclaimed projects as True Lies, Nine Months, Austin Powers, Hero, Exit Wounds and Animal Factory.  In 2002 alone, Tom has three more films scheduled for release including Cradle 2 The Grave with Jet Li and DMX, Children On Their Birthdays and After School Special. 

Tom’s film and television work has garnered him numerous nominations for such awards as The MTV Movie Awards and American Comedy Awards, and has won him several acting awards including Great Britain’s People’s Choice Award and 3 Cable Ace Awards.

Sensing the public's demand for more Tom, from 1991-93 he wrote, starred in and produced three Cable Ace Award-winning installments of “Tom Arnold, The Naked Truth” for HBO. During the 1992-93 season, he created, produced and starred in his own sitcom The Jackie Thomas Show. Critically acclaimed, Jackie Thomas was ABC’s highest rated new show. In the 1993-94 season, Tom moved to CBS with another new show called, interestingly, Tom. His fourth sitcom, The Tom Show debuted in 1997 on The WB Network.

Besides directing the HBO special, Roseanne Live, Tom has produced and starred in three movies of the week including ABC’s Backfield in Motion, The Woman Who Loved Elvis and an animated series, The Rosie and Buddy Show. Other MOW's featuring Tom, include E! Entertainment Television’s Romantic Comedy 101 and Showtime’s Body Bags.

While working on Roseanne, and later, his own projects, Tom compiled an impressive roster of television appearances, including The Larry Sanders Show, Comic Relief, The Ben Stiller Show, The Andy Dick Show, The Simpsons, King of the Hill, A Different World, LA Doctors, The Naked Truth, Brotherly Love, Veronica’s Closet, The Norm Show, Road Rules, Baywatch, Movie Stars, The Outer Limits, VIP, Arliss, High Society, The Groundlings, Disney’s Prince Charming and two of Bob Hope’s specials, to mention but a few.

Since exploding on the scene in the late 1980's, Tom has been a mainstay of both talk-show and variety programming. Whether it's The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson or  Late Show with David Letterman (Tom has appeared 25 times, and also filled in for Dave when he was recovering from heart surgery), The Tonight Show with Jay Leno (15 times), Late Night with Conan O’Brien, Larry King Live, The Oprah Winfrey Show, The View, The Late Late Show with Craig Kilborn, Donahue, Live with Regis & Kathy Lee, Charlie Rose, CNN’s Crossfire, or Howard Stern, Tom always has something interesting and usually hilarious to say.

Due to his commanding presence and stand-up experience, Tom is a much sought-after host, working specials for MTV, VH1 and CMT, as well as The AFI’s Tribute to Arnold Schwarzenegger. In addition to hosting Saturday Night Live three times and being king of Mardi Gras in New Orleans, Tom is proud of having twice served as The Grand Marshall of The Hollywood Christmas Parade (including one year with now ex-wife Roseanne).

Tom has been a presenter at The Golden Globes, The MTV Movie Awards, The People’s Choice Awards, The Emmy’s, The American Comedy Awards, and the Cable Ace Awards.

In 2001, Tom signed a three-year contract to produce and host the Fox Sports Net’s The Best Damn Sports Show Period. The groundbreaking show, a combination of Politically Incorrect, Saturday Night Live and Sports Center, has been a huge hit with fans and advertisers alike. In less than a year, the Best Damn Sports Show Period has generated strong media attention from USA Today, The New York Times and The Hollywood Reporter for its hybrid talk/sports format, its rare crossover audience, and its ability to consistently attracts such sports guests as Jim Brown, Pete Rose, Carl Lewis, Shaquille O’Neal, Lawrence Taylor, Bob Knight, and such celebrities as Ben Affleck, Arnold Schwarzenegger, The Rock, Penny Marshall, Dennis Quaid and Tommy Hilfiger.

After his stint at Fox Sports ended, Tom filmed numerous independent films, including the festival honored, Gardens of the Night.  Tom also hosted CMT’s My Big Redneck Wedding the past several years.  Currently, Tom has a script development deal with NBC Universal.

More important to Tom, however, than the professional achievements and celebrity he has enjoyed, is the contribution he has been able to make to the communities and individuals who have supported his journey and enabled his success.  Indeed, given the extent and variety of his philanthropic endeavors, it’s a wonder that he’s found the time to amass such a significant body of work.  

As Tom says himself, apart from his fiancée and their life together, charity work is the most important thing in his life, and he is blessed to be able to donate not only time and money, but also his celebrity.  And though he has given millions of dollars to high-profile charities over the years, his most rewarding philanthropy has often been provided anonymously.

Beginning with a subject that is near to him, Tom, now 12 years sober, helps young people struggling with alcoholism and addiction on a daily basis (much as he himself was helped years ago). Over the years he has done interventions, located rehabilitation centers and placed patients, worked with families and sponsored weekly recovery meetings in his home.

Tom frequently speaks on the topic of recovery at schools and hospitals around the country, as well as on TV and radio PSA’s. Having performed at dozens of fundraisers including Yuckaholics, The Chris Farley Foundation and Comedians Come Home, Tom has been honored for his work by a number of recovery groups. Rejecting their accolades, Tom insists that his work with alcoholism is done for the most selfish of reasons: he wants to stay sober himself.

As a survivor of childhood sexual abuse, (a secret he shared with Oprah in a conversation that helped bring that once taboo subject into the light of day) Tom has played angel to The San Diego Center for Children (the country’s oldest child abuse center) for the past 11 years. Beyond his substantial financial contributions (The Tom Arnold Research Center is named in his honor), Tom spends time at the Center, talking to kids, playing basketball, hosting outings to Padres games and flying in Santa from the North Pole for an Annual Christmas Party.

Education is another focus of Tom's philanthropy.  For the last 12 years he has provided two fully funded writing scholarships to students at the Indian Hills Community College in his hometown of Ottumwa, Iowa. He also sponsors a weeklong Actor’s Workshop at the school every summer.  On campus, The Tom Arnold Net Center has proved to be a center of learning and a vital communications/technological resource, as well as a facility for the college’s volleyball and tennis teams. Because of his donations of money and time, Tom was honored as the National Community College Humanitarian of the Year in 1999. 

Also in Ottumwa, the annual Tom Arnold Golf Tournament raises money to benefit NIE, Newspapers in Education. And, at his old high school and grade school, Tom is well known for his standing-room-only lectures on the subjects of drug and alcohol abuse, and life in Hollywood.

Closer to home, Tom holds an annual fundraiser at The Kayne Eras Center, a high school for at-risk children in LA that has served over 100,000 kids to date.  He has also supported New Roads School, Free Arts for Abused Children and the Beth Shuva Synagogue and Rehab Center. A dedicated campaigner for educational causes, Tom is a member of the Creative Coalition, which supports funding arts education in schools.

Tom joins his good friend Arnold Schwarzenegger yearly to support the Inner City Games, traveling the country together to attend events and raise money. The Hollygrove group home is another area school to which Tom donates his time, whether that means judging spelling bees, reading to kids, speaking at graduation, MC’ing the talent show or “adopting” a friend.

Other charities that are close to his heart and to which he has made significant contributions are Best Buddies, a charity started by Anthony Shriver that pairs mentally challenged people with college kids and jobs, the Boys and Girls Clubs of California, The American Red Cross, and Kelly and Sharon Stone’s Planet Hope, which provides assistance to homeless mothers and their children.

Some of Tom’s pass volunteer work includes supporting Shaquille O'Neal’s Shaqtacular fundraiser, benefiting inner-city kids, emceeing N’Sync’s Challenge for the Children in Las Vegas, and he his involvement with the David Wells Foundation, which raises money for research into juvenile diabetes.

Tom has been fundraising and helping with the silent auction of Barbara Davis’ Carousel of Hope event for the past 12 years. For the Elizabeth Glaser Pediatric AIDS Foundation, Tom mans a booth at the yearly carnival (a major fundraiser), engaging attendees while raising funds. Tom also captained a team and emceed past Microsoft Hockey Challenges in Seattle, whose proceeds benefited the Ronald McDonald House, where he has been a frequent visitor.

The Race to Erase MS is another of Tom’s favorite charities. From his position on the Board of Directors and the entertainment committee, Tom not only helps plan but also contributes to the auction. (In the past Tom’s items have raised over $100,000.)

Out of town, Tom organized a fundraiser for the Detroit Children’s Home, emceed a major March of Dimes event in Chicago this year, and supported Jim Cameron’s Save the Coral Reef Foundation, as well as Bobby Kennedy’s Waterkeeper Alliance and Heal The Bay Foundation. Other charities and foundations that look to Tom for moral, physical and financial support include The Wellness Community, Cedar Sinai Breast Cancer Research, The HollyRod Foundation, Elton John’s AIDS Benefit and The Twin Towers Fund.  He is especially honored by having been the answer to “a wish” for a number of Make-a-Wish Foundation kids.

A sought-after speaker, Tom lectures every year at USC’s Annenberg School on the subject of the entertainment community, and has spoken at the Barbara Sinatra Children’s Center, The Young Hollywood Network’s breakfast, and The Battered Women’s Shelter in his hometown, of which he is a supporter.

His philanthropic work extends to several Los Angeles based Jewish organizations including The Museum of Tolerance and The University Synagogue, in addition to literally hundreds of others charities and individuals.  Given the incredible good fortune that he has enjoyed, Tom considers it a privilege to give back to others. 

Recently, Tom has been a key contributor for a local charity, Camp del Corazon, a non-profit, providing year-round resources and support and a free-of-charge summer camp for children with heart disease.  In 2007, Tom was the Honoree at the annual Camp del Corazon fundraiser.

He has also spoken at three Hollywood Walk of Fame star ceremonies for Steve Tisch, Stan Winston and Roseanne Barr, Chris Farley and Jerry Buss.

In 2002, Tom's humorous autobiography, tentatively titled How I Lost 5 Pounds In 6 Years, from St. Martins Press.