Born in 1965, native New Englander Tom Dey earned a degree in religion and philosophy from Brown University before jetting off to Paris to study film at the Centre des Études Critiques. In 1990, he moved to Los Angeles, where he attended the American Film Institute, receiving his master's degree in 1993.

Dey spent the next few years helming commercials for Ridley Scott Associates before transitioning to the big screen with Shanghai Noon (2000), which featured the unlikely pairing of Owen Wilson and Jackie Chan as buddy outlaws. On the heels of that success, Dey made Showtime (2002), another offbeat buddy flick, this one starring Eddie Murphy and Robert De Niro as a pair of Los Angeles gumshoes.

In 2006, Dey directed his biggest movie to date, the screwball comedy Failure to Launch starring Matthew McConaughey and Sarah Jessica Parker.