Tom Waller (full name Thomas de Warrenne Waller) was born in Bangkok to a Thai Buddhist mother and Irish Catholic father. He spent his formative years at a Benedictine monastery school in Yorkshire, England, before pursuing a career in film and television. After attending the Northern Film School in Leeds, England in 1995, he embarked on producing and directing his first feature film project Monk Dawson (1998) aka Passion for the Priest (US video title), based on the award-winning novel by Piers Paul Read. The film was theatrically released in 1998 to critical acclaim.