The Grandson of a RI Supreme Court Justice Has a New Legal "Comedy"

The Grandson of a RI Supreme Court Justice Has a New Legal "Comedy"

Actor Tom Paolino comes from a storied Rhode Island legal and political family.

The grandson of the late Supreme Court Judge Thomas Paolino and cousin of former Providence Mayor Joe Paolino, Tom Paolino’s new movie “One of the Good Ones” is launching on Prime Video this week.

The film focuses on an honest lawyer in Buffalo who has made it his life’s mission to hold his peers accountable.

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According to Paolino, who stars in the film, it's really a "comedy about legal drama."

The audience-award-winning feature film is inspired by actual events of the Lawyers Discipline Office in Buffalo, New York, and the film is based on Vincent Scarsella’s four-book series Lawyers Gone Bad.

For Paolino, who grew up in Rhode Island, moved away, and then returned to pursue his passion for hockey at Brown University - before acting came calling -  it’s been a long, winding journey.

 

 

Rhode Island and Back Again

“I’m a Rhode Islander who left at 7; I went off to The Hill School,” said Paolino, of attending the hockey powerhouse in Pottstown, Pennsylvania.

But Paolino never left Rhode Island fully behind. There, he played under Tom Eccleston III - from the “Rhode Island Hall of Fame” family.”

So when it came time for college, Paolino passed up West Point and Dartmouth to return home and play for Brown.

It was an injury his freshman year that changed everything.

“I had a bad knee injury, because I was out drinking the night before (a game) and that’s not a wise choice,” said Paolino. “That’s what alcohol does; we call it the rapacious creditor; meaning it takes everything you love.”

“So it took my enthusiasm, my passion for hockey - and what seemed like a disaster at first turned out to be a great blessing, because I started taking acting classes at Brown,” said Paolino, who said he “fell in love with acting immediately.”

And he was on to his next chapter.

“I did get sober in 2006, and that really is where the movie comes in…because it’s not that unrelatable in terms of gaining clarity, which for me looked like a passion for justice,” said Paolino.

“This runs in my family - my paternal grandfather was a Supreme Court judge, who I'm named after, my cousin Joe was the Mayor [of Providence], and so I have a passion for justice that runs in my blood,” said Paolino.

“And once I got sober, I made a connection with my authentic self, and next thing I knew I was doing a bunch of procedural crime dramas - Blue Bloods, FBI, and Law & Order: SVU among them," he said.

And then Paolino got a Facebook message from Scarsella.

“He said I understand you were on Law and Order; will you read my script?” said Paolino.

And the rest is history.

“It’s getting phenomenal reviews,” said Paolino, of "One of the Good Ones," which is the first of a four-part book series.

“I had to make it funny, because these days we're having a crisis of hope…and particularly painful is the fractured contract between the public and our civil service. So in One of the Good Ones, the district attorney is violating that contract,” said Paolino.

“And I knew I had to add comedy to it because these are deeply personal, deeply emotional things that, in order for it to be accessible to the audience, there had to be some comedy.”