The one-time Arlingtonian says he moved there on something of a whim after graduating from the University of Texas, to avoid moving back in with his parents. Thompson was working for an investment firm, in fact, when he received a fateful phone call a while back, asking him to audition for a new movie about baseball. Fast forward to present day and Thompson now has a supporting role in a blockbuster movie — Moneyball, which opens in theaters today — playing the younger version of one of the biggest stars in the world, Brad Pitt.
The path from Arlington’s Country Club Hills neighborhood to the big screen might never have happened, Thompson says, if it wasn’t for one simple request from a friend that he almost turned down.