Thomas G. Waites, the the actor who survived The Warriors, The Thing, and a Levittown upbringing, is coming home, writes Kristen Hunt for PhillyVoice.
On June 7, the Bucks County-raised actor and musician returns to the region where it all began, headlining a concert at New Hope Winery with his band, Heartbreak Waites.
Waites grew up in Lower Bucks County, attending Immaculate Conception School in Levittown and Bishop Egan High School in Fairless Hills before landing a scholarship to the Juilliard School.
That scrappy, street-level upbringing turned out to be the perfect audition for his breakout role in The Warriors, the 1979 cult classic.
“It was way different than it is now,” Waites said when connecting his childhood to his Warriors role. “There was scuffing, and we did have gangs. We would get into rumbles, that’s what we called them then.”
From there, his career took on a life of its own. Waites appeared in The Thing and …And Justice For All, in addition to extensive television and stage work.
Waites eventually founded his own acting studio in Manhattan, where he built a second reputation as a sought-after teacher.
As for his music career, Heartbreak Waites blends original songs with the kind of raw, lived-in storytelling that defined Waites’s acting.
The June 7 show at New Hope Winery isn’t just a show. For Waites, it’s a full-circle moment.
Learn more about Thomas G. Waites and the Bucks County actor’s upcoming return to his hometown in PhillyVoice.
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