Dietz Thomas

ABOUT ME

Hello, and welcome to my page!

I’m Dietz Thomas, I was born and raised in Upstate New York where I discovered a love for acting at a very young age. By 12 years old, I had already performed in a national commercial, which earned me my SAG/AFTRA membership.

I had a fairly successful career as a young actor over the next 6 years, performing in such things as:

A lead role character in an episode of Law & Order SVU

A bit part in the film American Gangster

A lead role in the film Harold

A lead role character in an episode of As the World Turns

A named bit part in an episode of Law & Order

A named day player role in the film Every Day

A day player role in the film Coach

A bit part in the film Choose

A voiceover part in the film We Need to Talk About Kevin

A bit part in an episode of Mysteries of Laura

As I became older, I found a new exciting prospect in life……. Law Enforcement! I stepped away from acting and spent the next few years, as most do, attending college, gaining the credits needed, and ultimately entered the Police Academy.

When I graduated, I found a full time position as a Police Officer in my local police department where I served for 7 years.

During that time, and because I still loved acting, I performed at my local community theater where I met the woman that would eventually become my wife. We got married, and a short time later, decided that we wanted to have a child.

My beautiful daughter was born on September 5, 2022 and as people who have had children will say from time to time, my life was changed forever….. Unfortunately in this circumstance, it was changed in a very different way.

My daughter was born and we immediately knew that something was wrong, eventually discovering that our daughter had Hypoxic Ischemic Encephalopathy, also known as HIE.

In order to save you a Google search, HIE is just a very complicated way of saying that during her birth, my daughter did not receive enough oxygen, resulting in partial brain damage. HIE can effect each person individually in a myriad of ways, and in my daughter’s case, it effected her ability to swallow, proper breathing, neurological and physical development. So the night we believed we were going to take our precious girl home, became the first night of a 7 week stay in our local hospital’s NICU wing.

Fast forwarding through those intense weeks, we found ourselves at, in many ways, an even scarier precipice…..coming home! But as many families with members that have complex needs have discovered, it was the leap that was the scariest part. I came home with my new family and eventually found my rhythm of caring for our child, working a job that almost NEVER is a normal 9-5, and somewhere in there trying to retain who I am and what I care about as far as hobbies and desires go……..Cards on the table, I expertly failed in that last part, and I didn’t even realize it.

My wife, child and I, after several months, finally took a family vacation to Florida, our first trip as a trifecta since my daughter’s birth. We were about 3 days into the trip when my amazing wife turns to me and says “There you are!”

I was funnier, I was more energetic, I was sillier…. Dietz was back! It was tough to hear at first, but my wife is a patient woman, and slowly showed me that maybe I wasn’t doing what TRULY made me happy, and because I wasn’t, I had become a robot that just did his duties as a family man, as an Officer, and lost a good portion of what made me…. me.

So after a little while, my wife eventually asked me what truly made me happy? What could I do in life that would keep Dietz around. Without thinking, I found myself saying “acting…. I love acting!” And again, in her most patient and wonderfully understanding tone, my wife said “Then get off your ass, quit police, and get back to acting”……. So here I am!

Leaving police was not an easy decision. The stability, the reliable paycheck (which let’s be honest, always has to be factored in), and the drive to want to make a difference in the world were hard to walk away from.

But when you have a passion, and when, even after being away from it for years, it still calls your name…. You ignore a part of who you are if you ignore it as well.

So here goes not ignoring who you are, and here goes following a passion that’s been with me my whole life…… Let’s get to work!

CONTACT ME

danieldietzthomas@gmail.com

Look at that guy……..that’s a happy guy right there!