Quick Facts
Biography
Gary Scott Thompson (born October 7, 1959) is a screenwriter, television producer, and director. Thompson is most notable for his work on The Fast and the Furious starring Vin Diesel, the sequel 2 Fast 2 Furious, Hollow Man with Kevin Bacon, Split Second, 88 Minutes, starring Al Pacino, and K-911 and K-9: P.I..
As creator, showrunner, writer, and executive producer of NBC's hit series Las Vegas, Thompson also directed 4 episodes and made a brief appearance as a psychotherapy patient. Recently, Thompson wrote, co-developed, and executive produced NBC and TF1's Taxi Brooklyn.
Life and career
Born in Ukiah, California, but spending much of his childhood in American Samoa, Thompson first gained exposure to the world of entertainment as an actor, studying the craft from such actors as Powers Boothe. To pay for his education and support himself, Thompson worked in a junkyard, operated heavy equipment, delivered mail, built sets for a theatre company, tutored college students in English, taught high school in New York City, worked in a gym, was a stagehand at the Metropolitan Opera House NYC, was a reader and assistant dramaturgy at Circle Rep Theatre, and did story notes and development for a Hollywood film studio and distributor.
Eventually settling on writing, he received a Master of Fine Arts degree from New York University and went to work as a playwright. Thompson's theater credits include "Small Town Syndrome," "Cowboys Don't Cry" and "Private Hells."
Thompson resides in Los Angeles with his wife and two children.
Awards
For Las Vegas, Thompson received the honor of Best Drama Series at the WIN Awards, an awards show dedicated to highlighting positive and multi-dimensional portrayals of women in media. Additionally, Thompson received the first-ever Visionary Award from spinal cord injury advocacy organization Life Rolls On for the first-ever portrayal of a featured character with a SCI on national television.
Filmography
- The Underachievers (1987) (Writer)
- White Ghost (1988) (Writer)
- Split Second (1992) (Writer/Associate Producer)
- K-911 (1999) (Writer)
- Hollow Man (2000) (Story)
- The Fast and the Furious (2001) (Story/Screenplay)
- K-9: P.I. (2002) (Story/Teleplay)
- 2 Fast 2 Furious (2003) (Characters/Story)
- Timecop 2: The Berlin Decision (2003) (Writer/Co-Producer)
- Las Vegas (2003) (Writer/Creator/Showrunner/Executive Producer/Director/Cast)
- Intimate Portrait (2003) (Cast)
- The WIN Awards (2005) (Award Recipient)
- Hollow Man 2 (2006) (Characters/Story)
- 88 Minutes (2007) (Writer/Producer)
- Protect and Serve (2007) (Executive Producer)
- TV Land Confidential (2007) (Cast)
- Knight Rider (2008) (Executive Producer/Director/Writer)
- Fast & Furious (2009) (Characters)
- Fast Five (2011) (Characters)
- Fast & Furious 6 (2013) (Characters)
- Taxi Brooklyn (2014) (Writer/Co-Developer/Executive Producer)
- Furious 7 (2015) (Characters)
- The Fate of the Furious (2017) (Characters)