Five-time Emmy® Award winning actress Heather Tom currently stars as “Katie Logan” on CBS’s The Bold and the Beautiful.
Prior to joining The Bold and the Beautiful, Heather spent three years starring as “Kelly Cramer Buchanan” on ABC’s One Life to Live, and 13 years starring as the tempestuous “Victoria Newman” on CBS’s The Young and the Restless.
In 2012, Heather Tom set a record as the only actor in television history to win an Emmy® in all three Performer categories: Younger, Supporting and Lead Actress, according to the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences. Heather also holds the record for being the most Emmy® Award Nominated Actress under the age of 40.
OUTSTANDING YOUNGER ACTRESS IN A DRAMA SERIES
OUTSTANDING YOUNGER ACTRESS IN A DRAMA SERIES
OUTSTANDING SUPPORTING ACTRESS IN A DRAMA SERIES
Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series
Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series
In 2013, Heather reached another career milestone with Variety's announcement of the “Daytime TV Impact Honorees” listing the innovators from daytime TV. From the impressive list of 30 nominees (representing all genres including network executives, producers and news anchors), Heather was the only actor listed.
Only 15 years old when she booked the coveted role on The Young and the Restless, Heather won her first Emmy® Award at 16 for “Outstanding Young Actress in a Drama Series” (1993), and her second Emmy® in 1999 in the same category. In 2011, she won the Emmy® Award for “Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Drama Series”, and in 2012 & 2013 she won the Emmy® Award for “Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series”, winning three in a row for her role as “Katie Logan” on The Bold and the Beautiful.
To date, Heather has received 16 Emmy® Award nominations; nine for her role as Victoria Newman (eight of them consecutively from 1993-2000 and again in 2004), two for her role as “Kelly Cramer Buchanan” (2005 and 2007), and five for her role as “Katie Logan” (2008, and four consecutive 2011-2014). Heather also won the 1997 “Outstanding Younger Lead Actress Award” on The 13th Annual Soap Opera Awards.
In 2000, Heather and her brother, David (Pleasantville, Veronica Mars, The Young and the Restless), made Hollywood history as the first brother and sister to be simultaneously nominated for Emmy® Awards in the same year. In March 2004, David Tom joined the cast of One Life to Live playing brother “Paul Cramer” to Heather’s “Kelly Cramer Buchanan”, making them daytime’s only siblings both on and off screen.
In addition to her extensive television work since 1996, Heather stars as “Mary” in J. Cast Productions’ national tour of the long-running off-Broadway smash hit comedy, Vanities, performing throughout the USA and Canada to rave reviews and sold-out houses. Now touring for the 18th year, she currently performs with co-stars Sonia Satra (Guiding Light and One Life to Live) and her sister, Nicholle Tom (The Nanny, Beethoven films, and Masters of Sex) whenever her shooting schedule allows.
In 2004, Heather made her Broadway debut in the Mark Medoff (Children of a Lesser God) play, Prymate, playing “Allison”, a role for which she became fluent in sign language. In the Los Angeles production, she received a Robbie Theatre LA Award Nomination for Best Actress. Other New York theatre credits include: “Jenn” in Happy Hour; “Chrysothemis” in Electra with Marissa Tomei, Kathleen Chalfont, David Strathairn and Laila Robins, “Barbara Northrup”/”Marjorie Cameron” in Moonchild, and “Polyxen” in Hecuba.
Regional and west coast credits include “Catherine” in The Heiress, with Richard Chamberlain and Julia Duffy at Pasadena Playhouse, “Marilyn Monroe” in The Secret Letters of Jackie and Marilyn, “Betsy” in Lemonade, co-starring with Maxwell Caulfield, “Laura” in The Glass Menagerie, with Barbara Babcock, The Class of 1990, A Midsummer’s Night Dream, Out of Gas On Lovers Leap with Chad Allen, Women and Wallace, “Juliet” in Romeo and Juliet, and The Greatest Christmas.
In 1996, Heather began producing theatre with Dr. Quinn Medicine Woman’s Chad Allen. They successfully produced a revival of Neil Simon’s Biloxi Blues, with Heather appearing in the role of “Daisy”, alternating the role with her sister, Nicholle Tom. The revival won five Dramalogue Awards; an accomplishment for a first time producer. In the summer of 2003, she produced Talking With, starring eleven women from daytime television, with all proceeds benefiting Planned Parenthood.
Heather was born on November 4th in Hinsdale, Illinois and began acting in commercials at the age of two. When she was ten years old, she moved with her family to Seattle, and started dancing with the Seattle Pacific Ballet.
When she was 13, her mother made a temporary move with the young actress and her twin siblings, Nicholle and David, to try their luck in Hollywood. Heather and her siblings all found immediate success in this competitive industry and the three-week trial turned into a permanent move to the City of Angels.
Heather took acting classes at the Young Actor’s Space paying for each weekly session with the money she earned working at a cookie store. Even at a young age, acting gave her a euphoric feeling. “The feeling of losing the audience for a moment and truly becoming connected with the scene and the character is absolutely incredible,” explains Heather.
Heather’s additional television credits include recurring roles on Ugly Betty as “Holly Wright”, David E. Kelley’s The Wedding Bells as “Laurie Hill” and All My Children as “Kelly Cramer Buchanan”. She has guest-starred on Criminal Minds, Rizzoli & Isles, The Mentalist, Monk, Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, Diagnosis Murder, Who’s the Boss and Kids Incorporated. Her Movies-of-the-Week include, Lifetime’s Imaginary Friend, with Lacey Chabert, Paul Sorvino and Ted McGinley, Lifetime’s The Rival, with Tracy Nelson, CBS’s Deadly Whispers opposite Tony Danza, and the ABC’s She’ll Take Romance with Linda Evans and Tom Skerritt. Heather’s film credits include Mamitas, The Putt Putt Syndrome, Suicide Dolls, Stiffs, The Horror Vault Vol. 1, City Teacher, Undone, Lessie’s Rainbow, Looking Good and Ray’s X-vision. Her short films include When We’re Old and Love Means Nothing, Beyond the Ladies Room Door and Delusion. She has appeared on numerous award shows, talk shows and game shows, including The Talk, Hollywood Squares, SoapTalk, and with co-hosting twice on Barbara Walters’s The View.
In the summer of 2013, Heather starred in her own Reality-TV Mini-Series for the HGTV Network called Renovation Unscripted. She and her husband, James Achor, formed a company called Tight Rope Designs and have redecorated several homes in the Los Angeles area. Their work has also been featured in InStyle and Elle Decor magazines.
Recognizing how fortunate she is to be a working actress, Heather is devoted to helping others. In 2003, Heather created Daytime for Planned Parenthood, a committee which promotes a woman’s right to choose as well as access the latest in medical care. Her role as committee chairperson has given her the opportunity to lobby Congress on behalf of Planned Parenthood three years in a row.
Heather has a passion for politics and is very politically active. In 2008, she worked on both Hillary Clinton’s and Obama’s campaigns. In 2004, Heather was a featured speaker at the Democratic National Convention kick-off event sponsored by Planned Parenthood and the Feminist Majority. Heather has also worked with "She Votes" and “Rock the Vote” to get younger voters out to the polls on Election Day.
She has frequently appeared on political discussion shows, such as Politically Incorrect with Bill Maher and Scarborough Country. On Scarborough Country, she had a chance to interview Ben Affleck & Jennifer Lopez prior to the release of their infamous movie, Gigli. During the acclaimed run of Politically Incorrect, Heather appeared a record five times, sparring with such heavyweights as Lou Sheldon and Jerry Falwell.
Heather is also extremely active with charities such as Project Angel Food, Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS, AIDS Project Los Angeles and Tuesday’s Child. She has also enjoyed sharing her passion for acting with people across the country teaching young aspiring actors improvisation, scene study and on-camera work.
In her spare time, Heather has competed in triathlons across the country and spends hours reading plays, scripts and classical literature. She’s also an avid art collector and has amassed an impressive collection of sculpture, paintings and prints.
She currently resides in Los Angeles with her musician husband, James. In 2012, their best production ever was the birth of their son, Zane.