Tom Holland was born on July 11, 1943 in Poughkeepsie, New York. His father's name was also Tom, his mother's name was Lee. He attended Ossining High School, then Worcester Academy (graduated in 1962) and UCLA School of Law.

He studied at the famous acting studio of Lee Strasberg. In the 1960s and 1970s he appeared in more than 200 commercials.

Co-founder (with David Chuckler) of the horror film studio Dead Rabbit Films.

Holland made his directorial debut in 1985 with the vampire horror film Fright Night. Holland first conceived the idea while writing Cloak and Dagger, about a horror fan who discovers his neighbor is a vampire. He decided to direct the film himself after being disappointed with Michael Winner's direction in his script for A Cry for Help. The film was a financial and critical success, receiving rave reviews from Roger Ebert, who wrote, "Fright Night isn't a great movie, but it's a lot of fun to be unremarkable." In 1988, Holland directed Child's Play, which received positive reviews from Ebert and Leonard Maltin, spawned a long-running franchise of six sequels, and helped elevate its antagonist Chucky to a pop culture icon. He directed three episodes of the horror anthology series Tales from the Crypt and the television film Another Life. In 1996, he wrote and directed the ABC miniseries based on Stephen King's The Langoliers, and the following year he adapted King's novel Thinner into a film of the same name.

Wife - Katie Holland, son - little-known actor Josh Holland (born 1974).