- Won a special election to the United States Senate in 1994 to fill the unexpired term of senator Al Gore, who had been elected vice president of the U.S. (Gore resigned from the Senate 2 January 1993); reelected for a full term in 1996. He did not run for reelection in 2002. A Republican, he represented his home state of Tennessee from 2 December 1994 - 3 January 2003.
- Was a lawyer/attorney before becoming an actor.
- Thompson can be seen in the archival footage of the Watergate hearings in Oliver Stone's Nixon (1995). He was one of the active lawyers on the Watergate committee during the hearings.
- When he joined the cast of Law & Order (1990) in the fall of 2002, Thompson (District Attorney Arthur Branch) became the first serving U.S. Senator to take a regular TV acting job. His term did not end until January 2003.
- Worked as a shoe salesman, truck driver, and even a factory worker prior to becoming a lawyer.
- Along with Jerry Orbach, Chris Noth and Dann Florek, he is one of four Law & Order (1990)_ cast members who later joined the regular cast of one of the spin-off series. He played District Attorney Arthur Branch on Law & Order: Trial by Jury (2005) from March to May 2005.
- For 17 years (1975 to 1992) Thompson worked as a lobbyist in Washington, D.C. representing such clients as Westinghouse, General Electric (which owns NBC Universal-NBC television network), and the Tennessee Savings and Loan League.
- Withdraws from Presidential race. "Today I have withdrawn my candidacy for President of the United States. I hope that my country and my party have benefited from our having made this effort. Jeri and I will always be grateful for the encouragement and friendship of so many wonderful people." January 22, 2008 (January 2008)
- Diagnosed with non-Hodgkins Lymphoma in April 11, 2007.
- After failing to win a single primary, Thompson ended his presidential campaign in January 2008 and later endorsed Senator John McCain.
- Although he maintained his membership in the Screen Actors Guild when he was a senator, Thompson generally took the opposite side of the unions in legislation.
- Along with Jerry Orbach, Jesse L. Martin, Carolyn McCormick and Leslie Hendrix, he is one of only five actors to play the same character (District Attorney Arthur Branch) in all of the first four New York City-based "Law & Order" series: Law & Order (1990), Law & Order: Special Victims Unit (1999), Law & Order: Criminal Intent (2001) and Law & Order: Trial by Jury (2005).
- June 2007. Filed papers to form an exploratory committee to run for President.
- Declared that he was a candidate for President of the United States on C.O.D. (2004), 5 September 2007.
- In 2002 he announced that he will not be seeking re-election for his seat in the U.S. Senate.
- Senator Thompson went to Memphis State University in 1964 and Vanderbilt University in 1967.
- He Is the only actor to be a regular on two different "Law & Order" series at the same time. From March to May 2005, he played District Attorney Arthur Branch on both Law & Order (1990) and Law & Order: Trial by Jury (2005). He also plays the same character as a recurring guest star in Law & Order: Special Victims Unit (1999). Richard Anderson, Marla Gibbs and David Hasselhoff are among the few other actors to have played the same regular character on two different series simultaneously.
- 2nd wife Jeri, 41, is a political media consultant at Verner Liipfert law firm in Washington, who once worked for Senate Republican Conference and Republican National Committee.
- He has played the same character (District Attorney Arthur Branch) in five different series: Law & Order (1990), Law & Order: Special Victims Unit (1999), Law & Order: Criminal Intent (2001), Law & Order: Trial by Jury (2005) and Conviction (2006).
- He and wife Jeri welcomed a daughter, Hayden Victoria, in October 2003.
- Also has two sons and five grandchildren.
- Helped introduce President George W. Bush at the Republican National Convention (2004) in New York.
- Over the course of two days in May 2005, he played the same character (D.A. Arthur Branch) on three different series: Night (2005) and Day (2005) on 3 May and Sport of Kings (2005) on 4 May.
- He is one of four cast members from Law & Order (1990) whose character became a regular on a "Law & Order" spin-off. He played District Attorney Arthur Branch in both Law & Order (1990) and Law & Order: Trial by Jury (2005).
- Brother of Ken Dale Thompson.
- Appeared as DA Arthur Branch in eleven episodes of Law & Order: Special Victims Unit (1999):- S4.E21, S5.E2, S5.E4, S5.E5, S5.E8, S5.E10, S6.E20, S6.E23, S7.E8, S7.E9, S7.E16. His final appearance in the series was in February 2006.
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