Biography

Boyle is an Irish name - originating in Donegal. Father from New Hampshire, mother from Nebraska; they met at Stanford. Newly married in 1960, the pair kept heading West to Hawaii (which had only become our 50th State the year before). James W. Boyle had secured a position with the largest law firm in Hawaii. They lived on the beach in Hilo, until a tsunami sent their home into the neighbor's property. Nancy Boyle was two months along at the time - with Tom Boyle - a premonition of trouble on the way?

Tom Boyle was born January 12th, 1961 in Hilo, Hawaii. The doctor took him away from his mother directly after birth. This was, and is, highly unconventional. The doctor put eye drops in Tom's eyes (which were soon outlawed because some of the babies lost their sight). We are confident, though, he was not switched at birth because Tom possesses many traits of his amazing mother and late, great father.

Wrote, acted, produced and directed his first movie in sixth grade -- an anti-drug Super 8 film for extra credit. First photograph published in Surfer Magazine in December, 1978 when Boyle was 17 years-old, and still a senior at Punahou. Boyle built an international following through innovative water shots and gritty yet humorous articles. Boyle co-founded Bodyboarding Magazine in 1985 with the staff at Surfing Magazine. A professional competitor, Boyle had to drop his sponsors to avoid conflict of interest while serving as a staff photographer and senior editor. He still finished 3rd in the world at the Pipeline Championships in 1987. This year also marked the release of Shock Waves -- a surf film Boyle worked on for three and a half years with Bob and Ron Condon (also the last year and a half with Don King).

Boyle founded his own production company in 1988, Eye Spy Productions, offering up the Tribal Trials (1988), the 1st Edition of Bodyboarders Video Magazine. The series would span a decade, and be distributed in Australia, Japan, Europe, South America, etc. Boyle would create Launch (1995), the 1st commercial television series about bodyboarding. This followed up to Boyle's 1st TV series, Bu Lai'a: The Hawaiian Superman (1993), involving surfing, political commentary and comedy by Kaui Hill. Boyle co-created, produced, wrote, shot and edited the series -- before being squeezed out of the picture by Hill once it became financially successful.

Boyle moved from Hawaii to California in June of 2000, for a position as a producer for Bluetorch TV. An hour-long daily action sports program for Fox Sports Net. He has written several feature-length screenplays, and plans to produce and direct them. He is currently attending Art Center College Of Design in Pasadena (Film Degree - Director's Track) 2005.

- IMDb mini biography by: Tom Boyle