the benefit of being a ravenstahl was that opportunities were thrown at your feet the moment you were born. for thomas eli ravenstahl, this particular rule was no different. as the son of an ambitious real estate tycoon who owned numerous low-income apartment buildings in the city of boston, tom enjoyed a comfortable life in cambridge alongside his three siblings. could he have been groomed to take over his father’s empire? of course. while tom’s father had three sons to pick from, it would be ideal to have them all involved in the business. unfortunately for the parents, tom did not look up to loan sharks and slumlords. he much more favored the likes of robert deniro, harrison ford and jeff bridges. yes, the ravenstahls would lose their oldest son to hollywood. however, there was much hustling and networking to be had before tom would even be able to accomplish his goal.

at the age of eighteen, tom moved out to los angeles with the savings he had amassed from interning with his father. it was a better starter pack than what most people had, but the cost of living along with acting classes bled most of his funds. he wouldn’t get his first acting gig until three years later where he had a guest role in hbo’s monster hit “sex and the city”. the following year, his next big gig would be a recurring role in fox’s abruptly cancelled show “the $treet”. frustrated by the unpredictable climate that the television industry provided, he began fishing for film roles. he found his stride as a leading man after a few years of supporting roles in “munich” and “troy”, but what tom thought was finally his moment in establishing himself - he would learn very quickly that no one can guess how luck continues in hollywood.

unfortunately for tom ravenstahl, he took on several roles between 2006 and 2007 that were panned by critics and fans alike. “the black dahlia” failed to cover it’s film budget when it finished its run at theaters and was considered a disappointing follow up to “la confidential”. adding to the blow was that the all-star cast of 2007's "smokin' aces" could not save the poor direction and characterization of the film. completely flabbergasted by how his career took a turn for the worst, tom was ready to open his mind to projects that would rejuvenate it.

the world was introduced to iron man in 2008. however, not many realized that while tom ravenstahl was heralded as the best choice to play tony stark - he actually had to fight very hard for the role. tom begged for the ability to audition because he genuinely felt like “iron man” was going to be the start of something great, and he wanted to be a part of it. after numerous screen tests and conversations with the casting directors and producers, tom was given the titular role that would go on to be more pivotal than he had originally thought. as tom suspected, being iron man was the start of something great, and it was called the marvel cinematic universe.

while completely dedicated to marvel for rejuvenating his career, tom was still insistent on exploring options now made available to him. he played storied cia head j. edgar hoover in 2009’s “public enemies” and was recruited for “the town” the following year which gained him an oscar nomination for best supporting actor. a special high note was when tom starred in "mud" in 2012, which became a film festival favorite and further cemented tom as a star with real acting chops. "runner runner" may have been a huge misstep and flop in 2013, but whatever woes people gave about the poorly directed and acted film was ignored by the fact that "iron man 3" racked in 1.2 billion dollars domestic and worldwide. it may have been the weakest installment of the series, but no one could deny that tom had managed to dig out of dying career and come out relatively unscathed.

currently, tom is enjoying a small break while appearing in 2015 awards circuit for his work in hbo's "true detective". the appeal of the 2014 series was that it was an anthology, and tom would not be tied down for future seasons that would conflict with his very crowded filming schedule. still waiting in the queus is the highly anticipated "avengers: age of ultron" along with two terrence malick films which deviate from his past roles. to say the very least, tom is enjoying the freedom to surprise everyone with what he does next.