Paul William "Tom" Santschi (October 24, 1880 – April 9, 1931) was an American leading man and character actor of the silent film era.

Santschi was born in Missouri to Paul Santschi, a Swiss immigrant, and Margaret Kern, a native of Louisville, Kentucky.

[1] The family later moved to Kokomo, Indiana.

[2][3] Paul left home to pursue a career in moviemaking (as Tom Santschi), and at the time he registered for the draft in 1918, he was working for the Goldwyn Motion Picture Corporation in Fort Lee, New Jersey.

A 1915 two-reeler, In the King's Service, in which he starred with Marion Warner, surfaced at a yard sale in Maine, and was shown along with The Spoilers (1914) at a Northeast Historic Film Festival at Bucksport, Maine in 2002.