Tony Thomas, a native of California and member of one of U.S. television's leading families (his  father was Danny Thomas), began his own TV career as an associate producer at Screen Gems, moving from that position to become a producer at Spelling/Goldberg Productions. These associations brought Thomas into early contact with his future partner, Paul Junger Witt, who also started his career at Screen Gems. Indeed, their first significant venture together was the award­ winning made-for-television movie Brian's Song, which Witt produced. The Academy of Television Arts and Sciences recognized Brian's Song with five Emmys, including one for Outstanding Single Program.

In 1975, Thomas and Witt founded their own company, Wit/Thomas Productions. and a year later the two men joined with the talented writer Susan Harris to form a second entity, Witt/Thomas/Harris. The three launched their first series in 1977, the highly acclaimed Soap. Brutally attacked by a reviewer for Newsweek, who had not even seen the show, Soap quickly drew fire from uninformed conservative reli­gious leaders who threatened to boycott the ABC com­edy. As Thomas recalls, it was very close to the time of the first broadcast before a full complement of spon­sors was assembled. Sponsorship of the series was a continuing difficulty for the network. The producers credit Fred Silverman of ABC for standing firmly behind their creation in spite of the attacks.  

There followed a string of successes, including Empty Nest, Benson, and The Golden Girls, for which Thomas, along with Witt and Harris, received Emmys in 1985-86 and 1986--87. Other series from the production company have included Blossom (1991-95), The John Larroquette Show (1993-96), Pearl (1996), Common Law (1996), and The Secret Lives of Men (1998). 

Through the company, Thomas also began produc­ing feature films with Witt. Working with Touchstone Pictures, they produced the Oscar-winning film Dead Poets' Society (1989). Their feature work also includes the 1992 release Final Analysis, and the 2002 film In­somnia starring Al Pacino and Robin Williams, co produced by Steven Soderbergh and George Clooney. Tony Thomas is active in fundraising efforts on behalf of St. Jude's Hospital, founded by his father in 1961. It is the world's largest childhood cancer research center.