Tom Holmes
Tom Holmes (1957-) is a marketing consultant and actor.
Biography
Born in Belfast, Northern Ireland he spent a large part of his early life in Africa and the Middle East, where his father worked as a doctor. His parents eventually ended up in Swaziland, and having finished his schooling in Reading, he went to Rhodes University, Grahamstown, to complete a B.A. Degree with majors in Psychology and Drama.
From December 1978 to April 1981 Tom regularly worked as an actor for the Cape Performing Arts Board in Cape Town appearing in: Die Plaasvervangers directed by Pieter Fourie at Nico Malan Theatre, Romeo & Juliet with Lynsey Baxter directed by Leslie French and Roy Sargeant at Maynardville Open-Air Theatre, The Shadow Box directed by Roy Sargeant at the Nico Malan, The Government Inspector with Henry Goodman directed by Mavis Taylor at the Nico Malan, Faust directed by Dieter Reible at the Nico Malan, A Midsummer Night’s Dream directed by Philip Grout at Maynardville, Macbeth directed by Philip Grout at the Nico Malan and numerous lunch time plays directed by Mavis Taylor at the Nico Malan.
While in South Africa Tom appeared in a two plays that were banned by the Government authorities, including Die Plaasvervangers by Pieter Fourie at the Nico Malan in 1978 and Hitting Town directed by Andrew Buckland at the National Arts Festival in Grahamstown, 1979.
Tom Holmes is now Founder & Chairman of creativebrief.com, the leading provider of agency intelligence to brand marketers. Prior to creativebrief and after leaving the theatre, Tom spent over 20 years working with some of the world’s leading agencies and brands in UK and internationally, including Account Management roles at WCRS and Saatchi & Saatchi, Board Director of The Lowe Group and Executive Vice President of Grey Worldwide.
He was previously a Trustee of Rhodes University UK Trust and Co-Founder and Director of the Edinburgh International Marketing Festival (EIMF).
Performed in Die Plaasvervangers, Romeo and Juliet (as “Paris”), The Shadow Box (as “Steve”). (SACD 1980/81)
Sources
E-mail correspondence with Tom Holmes, 19 December 2015.
Derryn Deavin, "Actor for the moment" in The Argus Tonight, May 29 1980: p.7.
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