Boyle is an Irish name - originating in Donegal. Father from New
Hampshire, mother from Nebraska; they met at Stanford. Newly married in
1960, the pair kept heading West to Hawaii (which had only become our
50th State the year before). James W. Boyle had secured a position with
the largest law firm in Hawaii. They lived on the beach in Hilo, until
a tsunami sent their home into the neighbor's property. Nancy Boyle was
two months along at the time - with Tom Boyle - a premonition of
trouble on the way?
Tom Boyle was born January 12th, 1961 in Hilo, Hawaii. The doctor took
him away from his mother directly after birth. This was, and is, highly
unconventional. The doctor put eye drops in Tom's eyes (which were soon
outlawed because some of the babies lost their sight). We are
confident, though, he was not switched at birth because Tom possesses
many traits of his amazing mother and late, great father.
Wrote, acted, produced and directed his first movie in sixth grade --
an anti-drug Super 8 film for extra credit. First photograph published
in Surfer Magazine in December, 1978 when Boyle was 17 years-old, and
still a senior at Punahou. Boyle built an international following
through innovative water shots and gritty yet humorous articles. Boyle
co-founded Bodyboarding Magazine in 1985 with the staff at Surfing
Magazine. A professional competitor, Boyle had to drop his sponsors to
avoid conflict of interest while serving as a staff photographer and
senior editor. He still finished 3rd in the world at the Pipeline
Championships in 1987. This year also marked the release of Shock Waves
-- a surf film Boyle worked on for three and a half years with Bob and
Ron Condon (also the last year and a half with Don King).
Boyle founded his own production company in 1988, Eye Spy Productions,
offering up the Tribal Trials (1988), the 1st Edition of Bodyboarders
Video Magazine. The series would span a decade, and be distributed in
Australia, Japan, Europe, South America, etc. Boyle would create Launch
(1995), the 1st commercial television series about bodyboarding. This
followed up to Boyle's 1st TV series, Bu Lai'a: The Hawaiian Superman
(1993), involving surfing, political commentary and comedy by Kaui
Hill. Boyle co-created, produced, wrote, shot and edited the series --
before being squeezed out of the picture by Hill once it became
financially successful.
Boyle moved from Hawaii to California in June of 2000, for a position
as a producer for Bluetorch TV. An hour-long daily action sports
program for Fox Sports Net. He has written several feature-length
screenplays, and plans to produce and direct them. He is currently
attending Art Center College Of Design in Pasadena (Film Degree -
Director's Track) 2005.
