Born in Ealing, London, England. He is the son of Ralph Thomas, who directed the farcical English "Doctor" series, and nephew of director Gerald Thomas, who helmed the "Carry On" comedies. Thomas served a brief stint as an editor (THE LOVE BAN, 1973) before producing his first film, Phillipe Mora's MAD DOG MORGAN (1976) / MAD DOG. Thomas has since worked with such directors as Jerzy Skolimowski, Nicolas Roeg, Nagisa Oshima and Stephen Frears, gaining his widest acclaim for producing Bernardo Bertolucci's epic, THE LAST EMPEROR (1987). Other notable producing credits include THE SHOUT (1978), BAD TIMING (1980), MERRY CHRISTMAS, MR. LAWRENCE (1983), EUREKA and THE HIT (both 1984), INSIGNIFICANCE (1985), GOOD TO GO (1986), THE SHELTERING SKY (1990), EVERYBODY WINS and THE SHELTERING SKY (both 1990), NAKED LUNCH (1991), LITTLE BUDDHA (1993), VICTORY (1995), STEALING BEAUTY and CRASH (exec. producer) (both 1996), THE BRAVE (1997), ALL THE LITTLE ANIMALS (1998, also director), SEXY BEAST (2000), THE TRIUMPH OF LOVE (2001, exec. producer), RABBIT-PROOF FENCE (2002, exec. producer), YOUNG ADAM and THE DREAMERS (both 2003), PROMISED LAND (2004, exec. prod.), TIDELAND (2005), FAST FOOD NATION (2006), and FRANKLYN and HIGH RISE (both scheduled for 2008 release). Thomas received the Raimondo Rezzonico Award at the 2005 Locarno Film Festival.  Best Picture of the Year 1987: THE LAST EMPEROR - Producer at Hemdale 1 nomination, 1 Award