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Tony
Thomopoulos
Vice Chairman
Thomopoulos Productions
Los Angeles, CA
Anthony D.
(Tony) Thomopoulos is well known in the motion picture and
television industries for his innovation and achievements.
Thomopoulos spent 12 years of his career at ABC, moving progressively
from Vice President of Prime Time Programs, to President of
ABC Entertainment, to President of ABC Broadcast Group.
In 1986, he was named Chairman of United Artists Pictures
and supervised the production of such files as: RAIN MAN,
BETRAYED, CHILD'S PLAY, BABY BOOM, and JAMES BOND XV.
In 1989, Thomopoulos formed Thomopoulos Productions, an independent
production company of both motion pictures and television
programs.
From late 1991 to early 1995, he was President of Amblin Television,
a division of Amblin Entertainment. He was responsible for
the original placement of NBC's highly acclaimed program,
ER, in addition to several other successful series on network
television.
In 1995, Thomopoulos joined International Family Entertainment,
Inc. (IFE). His responsibilities included all aspects of programming
for The Family Channel. He was named CEO of MTM Entertainment,
Inc., a subsidiary of IFE, and was also responsible for all
aspects of MTM Television and MTM Distribution.
Mr.Thomopoulos was Chairman and CEO of Media Arts Group a
NYSE company from June 2001 to January 2004. He was responsible
for reorganizing and putting the company in a sound fiscal
position and helped engineered the company going private.
Mr. Thomopoulos is currently founder and partner in Morning
Light Productions.
Thomopoulos holds a degree in Foreign Service from Georgetown
University. He and his wife, Cristina, live in California
with their two young children. He also has three adult children
who reside in Los Angeles.
For almost
20 years, Tony Thomopoulos and his wife Cristina Ferrare have
been generous supporters and volunteers of the Los Angeles
Mission. Tony joined our Board of Directors in May 2001
and has contributed a great amount of time and energy to the
Mission through his strong faith commitment, insightful leadership
and genuine heart for the homeless, especially women and children
on the streets.
Tony and
Cristina share the importance of experiencing
the diversity of Los Angeles with their family. “We were
inspired to become involved with the Los Angeles Mission because
we live in a city of many wonders, and if we were going to live
in the city, we wanted to live in the entire city,” Tony
states. His family has seen the unfortunate side of life in the
city while serving meals to the homeless at the Mission. Yet,
they’ve experienced the restoration of people by being
in an environment of kind, loving and caring people who are giving
of themselves to help meet the needs of the homeless.
Motivated
and challenged by what they saw, Tony and Cristina’s two
teenaged daughters, Alexandra and Arianna, have grown up knowing
that they were blessed, but also knowing the importance of giving
of themselves. Tony speaks of pride about his daughters, “They
have truly developed a servants’ heart and I’m proud
to see the great core they have to work from.”
Tony is committed
to being a part of ensuring the efficiency of the
Mission and making sure that we are helping as many people
as we can with
every dollar being maximized to its fullest potential. “Homelessness
is a big problem, but it’s like a building block, taking
one day at a time, one foot in front of the other, and reaching
one person at a time…it’s the right thing to do.”“
We
all know people with cancer or AIDS, but few actually
know a homeless person. Most people are willing to give dollars
to support
cancer or AIDS research, but not so much for the
homeless -- not until they can put a face to homelessness,” Tony states, “It’s
critical to remember that it can happen to any of us.”
Tony
concludes by saying, “The Los Angeles Mission is a
center of Hope, and it’s not just for the homeless -- it’s
for our communities, our families, our neighborhoods,
and most importantly for our nation.“
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