A native Philadelphian, he entered the MFA program at Temple in 2009, and is currently living and working in Philadelphia and New York City. He is interested in and influenced by horror cinema, teen films, the French New Wave, the occult, and punk/metal/DIY subcultures. His work has been shown at the Institute of Contemporary Art Philadelphia and the Athens Institute of Contemporary Art. After shooting his short film, Lucy, 4:57 PM, in 2011, his next project will be his thesis film, a class-based satire set amid the New York art and poetry scenes. Michael Tom frequently collaborates with his sister, Nadine Vassallo, as a writing partner.