Tom Kalin was born in 1962, in Chicago. He studied at the University of Illinois, the Art Institute of Chicago, and participated in the Whitney Museum's Independent Study Program. Before his studies he had already worked as a filmaker, screenwriter and producer. His work in film and video traverses different genres and forms, includign independent feature films, activist television spots, and resonant video poems. Kalin has received international recognition as a prominent figure in the New Queer Cinema. Much of Kalin's work touches on issues of homosexuality and AIDS. Kalin continues to work on a smaller scale with videos where he merges text, music, and poetic images to create short experimental pieces that fuse the personal with the political.