[1] He spent his early years in Massachusetts, New Hampshire, and Maine, moving to Maryland as a junior high school student.

Thompson wrote and directed a television version based on the play, premiering on Thanksgiving night 1995, starring Shirley MacLaine, Liza Minnelli, Kathy Bates, and Jennifer Grey.

As an actor, Thompson's only Broadway appearance was as drifter Hal Carter in Summer Brave, William Inge's revised version of his play Picnic.

Other acting credits include roles in the Bob Fosse movie Star 80 and Next Stop Wonderland, directed by Brad Anderson.

Thompson wrote the screenplay for the feature film Sweet Hearts Dance, directed by Robert Greenwald and starring Susan Sarandon and Don Johnson.

He wrote, directed and starred in the company's first two movies, Heavenly Angle and Time and Charges, both of which were primarily filmed in the Granite State and offered by Whitebridge Farm Productions.