Just a Guy Next Door

Thomas F. Wilson calls himself an “American Everyman.”

“I remind everyone of someone they used to know,” says the 31-year-old actor. “I remind women of guys they used to date. I just look like an American guy.”

Out of character, Wilson does come across as the nice young man next door. But, on the job, playing up to seven permutations of bully Biff Tannen in the “Back to the Future” trilogy, he’s anything but. In his latest incarnation of Biff, Wilson stars in “Back to the Future Part III” as a brutish Tannen ancestor who growls threats at Michael J. Fox from under layers of mud and black hair.

“I’m completely unrecognizable,” Wilson says. “It’s a lot of fun that way. It’s what acting is all about--being a different person.”

By Wilson’s own definition, his role(s) in the three “Back to the Futures” might be the ultimate acting challenge--not bad for his first big Hollywood job. After coming to the West Coast in 1981, Wilson worked as a stand-up comedian and landed a few small parts before getting cast--big-break style--in the original “Back to the Future.”

“It was a scary process,” he says. “I just auditioned my way all the way up the food chain, until there I was auditioning for (Robert) Zemeckis and (Steven) Spielberg.

“At that stage, it’s certainly not a matter of being a better actor. When they were writing the movie and saw these characters in their heads, fortunately I was the guy they saw.”

Wilson also feels fortunate that he’s rarely recognized off the set.

“Once a day, my face will register with somebody,” he says. “It’s a comfortable celebrity right now.”

Married to a Hughes Aircraft engineer and father of two girls, Wilson still leads a low-key life--the boy next door with a twist. “I walk a fine line between two crowds,” he says. “Our barbecues are an eclectic mix of really famous people and scientists.”