Tommy A. Savas (born December 20, 1984) is an American actor and producer. He is known for Roger Dodger (2002), Seven Days (2007) and Extra Butter, Please (2011).

Tommy A. Savas
Born (1984-12-20) December 20, 1984 (age 39)
Harlem, New York, United States
OccupationActor
Years active2001–present

Early life

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Savas was born in Harlem, New York, United States. He was raised in Cresskill, New Jersey,[1] the youngest of four children where, as a child, he showed a strong interest in acting and theatre.[2] His grandfather fought in World War II.[3]

By the age of six, he had studied improvisation and acting with Susan Dias Karnovsky and appeared in commercials and HBO and PBS children's productions. Between school work and soccer games, Savas studied privately with Joseph Daly, and at HB Studios in New York under Trudi Stible.[citation needed]

He spent time between New York and Los Angeles where he studied with Robert Lyons and Lynette McNeil, and had comedy training with Shari Shaw. Savas continued to hone his acting skills appearing in local theatre productions and in sketch comedy at the HA! Comedy Club in New York.[citation needed]

Career

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His big break came at age 15 when he was selected from 15,000 actors to play the role of Xavier, AJ Soprano’s high school friend in the HBO series, The Sopranos.[2] After The Sopranos, Savas had a guest starring role in Law and Order: Special Victims Unit and a part in the Tribeca Film Festival award-winning film, Roger Dodger.[4]

After graduating from high school, Savas moved out to Los Angeles[2] to pursue his already burgeoning career and was quickly chosen to appear in Cold Case, Without a Trace, Shark, The New Adventures of Old Christine, General Hospital and many others.[5] He can also be seen in many national commercials such as Gillette, Nesquik, Guitar Hero, Pizza Hut[6] and Subway.[7]

Savas formed Reckless Tortuga with a small group of friends in 2009 as a means of continually creating things and working even if they were not booking work professionally. Reckless Tortuga became a popular YouTube web-based comedy channel, where he has a recurring role as Damian in the webseries, The Online Gamer.[8]

In 2014, Savas played Cossetti in Michael Bay's post-apocalyptic TV series The Last Ship.[9] He also played the series regular Dashiell Greer in Katherine Heigl's NBC drama, State of Affairs, which was premiered in November 2014.[10]

In 2015, Savas co-wrote and starred in the dark comedy Bad Roomies with Patrick Renna.[2] The movie was partially funded through Kickstarter ($75,000 was raised).[4]

In 2016, Savas was cast as Reggie in the ABC comedy pilot The Fluffy Shop, co-written by and starring Gabriel Iglesias.[11]

Savas jokingly said that Shia LaBeouf stole his career after they screen tested against each other for the role of a young Robert Downey Jr. in the movie A Guide to Recognizing your Saints and Lebouf was given the part.[12]

Personal life

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Savas occasionally works as a substitute teacher and has said that if acting fell through, he would love to be a teacher.[3]

Gary Oldman is an actor who Savas admires for his ability to play many different characters.[3]

Filmography

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Film

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Year Title Role Notes
2007 Seven Days Max Short movie
2009 Poolside Doug Short movie
2015 Bad Roomies Ray (Raymond) Movie
2017 It Happened One Valentine's Matty Sellers Direct-to-video film
2021 Luv U Cuz
  • Producer
  • Animated short movie
2022 Mother of the Dawn
  • Producer
  • Documentary

Television

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Year Title Role Notes
2001 The Sopranos Xavier 2 episodes
2002 Law & Order: Special Victims Unit Sanjeev Episode: "Deception"
2004 Arrested Development Bully Episode: "Beef Consomme"
2006 Cold Case Tommy Dicenzio Episode:"Frank’s Best"
2006 The New Adventures of Old Christine Mark Episode: "Open Water"
2007 Shark Kenny Leary Episode: "Backfire"
2008 General Hospital Young Sonny 2 episodes
2009 Raising the Bar Owen Clark Episode: "The Curious Case of Kellerman's Button"
2010 CSI: NY Rick Contoursi Episode: "Tales from the Undercard"
2010 Justified Ronson Episode: "Fathers and Sons"
2011 House Cruz Episode: "Last Temptation"
2011 Prime Suspect Bugsy Episode: "Shame"
2012 Castle Marcus Hiatt Episode: "An Embarrassment of Bitches"
2009-2012 Psycho Girlfriend Seth 21 episodes
2012 Hollywood Heights Ray 9 episodes
2011-2012 Extra Butter, Please Various 48 episodes
2013 The Online Gamer Damien/Tirion Fordring 16 episodes
2014-2018 The Last Ship Cossetti
2014-2015 State of Affairs Dashiell Greer
2017 Hell's Kitchen Himself Episode: "Fusion/Confusion"
2018 9-1-1 Daniel Episode: "Stuck"
2019 Dirty John Max Episode: "This Young Woman Fought Like Hell"
2022-2023 National Treasure Edge of History Dr. Zeke Hudson 5 episodes

References

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  1. ^ Yorio, Kara. "Cresskill native Tommy Savas in TNT's 'The Last Ship'". NorthJersey. North Jersey Media Group. Retrieved August 11, 2014.
  2. ^ a b c d Price, Jason (November 25, 2015). "BAD ROOMIES: Patrick Renna, Tommy Savas & Jason Schnell On Their New Film !". Icon Vs. Icon. Retrieved June 25, 2021.
  3. ^ a b c "Exclusive Online Feature: Tommy Savas". DA MAN. Retrieved June 18, 2021.
  4. ^ a b "Tommy Savas". TVSA. Retrieved June 25, 2021.
  5. ^ "Tommy Savas". IMDb. Retrieved June 25, 2021.
  6. ^ "Pizza Hut - The Natural". Retrieved June 25, 2021.
  7. ^ "Tommy Savas TV Commercials". iSpot. Retrieved June 25, 2021.
  8. ^ Allee, Manning (August 14, 2014). "Tommy Savas 5 Tips". Backstage.
  9. ^ "Dashiell Greer: State of Affairs Character". NBC. Retrieved June 25, 2021.
  10. ^ "NBC's State of Affairs". NBC. NBC Universal. Retrieved August 11, 2014.
  11. ^ Petski, Denise (March 17, 2016). "'Lethal Weapon' Pilot Casts Johnathan Fernandez; Tommy Savas In 'The Fluffy Shop'". Deadline. Retrieved June 25, 2021.
  12. ^ Longman, Haley (November 17, 2014). "State of Affairs' Tommy Savas on Co-Star Katherine Heigl: "She Was Nothing But a Pleasure to Work With"". OK!. Retrieved June 18, 2021.
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