Tommy Walker, the oldest of three children, born to Mrs. Walker and the Right Reverend Bishop John T. Walker, the first African American Episcopal Bishop in Washington DC, graduated from the University of Virginia with a Bachelors of Arts in History.
Walker has worked in film and television for twenty-four years. He began his career in 1985 working in postproduction for National Geographic’s Explorer series. In 1991 Walker was the production manager for the PBS documentary “Mandela in America”, which followed Mandela on his first visit to the United States.. In 1998, Walker served as a segment producer on the PBS documentary “Tutu and Franklin-A Journey towards Peace,” which followed Arch Bishop Desmond Tutu, John Hope Franklin and 21 students to the 21st Century Summit on Race and Reconciliation.
Walker has produced and directed short films for Kaleidoscope Productions who’s clients include Toyota, Mercedes, Chrysler and Hewlett Packard. These films have been used to brand and introduce new directions and products for these companies. In addition some of these films have been cut into spots for national and international campaigns. Walker has also produced and directed several promotional films for multicultural non-profits such as the Robin Hood Foundation sponsored Kipp School and Norman Lear’s non-profit Declare Yourself a campaign to energize a new movement of young voters.
In 2005 Walker co- directed and produced the feature length theatrical documentary, God Grew Tired of Us. It ‘s a film about refugees from war torn Sudan, their subsequent immigration to America, and their experience in a Post 9/11 world. The film won Best Documentary as well as the Audience Award at the 2006 Sundance Film Festival. It was released in theaters in 2006. In 2004 Walker produced the acclaimed primetime Emmy nominated feature length documentary film With All Deliberate Speed for Discovery Communications Doc Series. The film is a moving portrayal of the brave souls who fought to integrate America before the civil rights movement began as we know it. To bring life to a historical subject, they included young people talking frankly and intelligently about racial relations in our country today. Acclaimed actors and musicians including: Alicia Keys, Mekhi Phifer, Larenz Tate, Jeffery Wright, Joe Morton and Terry Kinney, brought the words of historical figures to life on camera. The film opened successfully in 5 cities. Also in 2004 Walker produced A Southern Town it centers on the people of Jackson, Mississippi. It has been a mainstay of programming on Discovery Times Network and has been critically acclaimed.
Walker is currently a producer and partner with Freemind Ventures a production company that has produced The Blacklist, the Latino List, and The Out List an HBO documentary series that reveals the diverse experience of being black, Latino, or LGBT in America through portrait style interviews with leading African- American, Latino and LGBT figures. In the fall of 2014 Walker was the interviewer and producer of the PBS documentary The Boomer List about the Baby Boomer generation. In 2015, Walker produced The Women’s List for PBS’ American Masters, which highlights 15 women who have shaped contemporary culture. Walker is also an Executive Producer for the feature documentary film, About Face, which had its world premiere at the Sundance Film Festival and aired on HBO in the summer of 2012.