Tom Xiao

Limits are Perceived.

Award-winning Film Director, Writer, Producer, Editor, and Founder of Skyline Pictures. FAA Certified Private Pilot & sUAS Drone Pilot. Globetrotter/Backpacker who has traveled to every U.S. state, with a lifelong goal of visiting every continent and every UN-recognized country. Published Author in China, Former American Red Cross Certified Lifeguard and Varsity Cross Country Captain, and lifelong creative with interests spanning visual arts and music.

---

Filmography & Background

Based in Boston, born in Beijing, and grew up in Providence, Rhode Island. Tom has lived in London England, Athens Georgia, and Orlando Florida, while trained in film, theater, and music from both the British and the American ways at Tufts University (B.A.), Queen Mary University of London, and Full Sail University. As an award-winning filmmaker, Tom has been making movies since he was 11 years old. He is best known for short films such as Man with a Movie Camera at Tufts with Tequila (2023), Tom Xiao’s How Things Work (2024), Rotten Tomatoes (2025), Future Days (2026).

His film Future Days (2026) has been selected by 21 festivals worldwide, and won 10 awards, including best director, best actor, best actress, best drama, and best thriller; recognized from across 9 countries in North America, Europe, Asia, and Australia.

Personal Achievements

Beyond filmmaking, Tom is known for an adventurous lifestyle and an extensive list of personal qualifications. Tom’s biggest hobby is travel as he sets out to complete his life-long dream to visit every U.S. state, every continent, and every country in the world. He has currently been to 50/50 U.S. states, 6/7 continents, and 42/195 UN-recognized countries.

Tom also holds a FAA Private Pilot License (PPL) and a remote drone (sUAS) pilot rating. He published his first narrative fiction novel in 2023; while in high school, he was the senior editor of the yearbook and the captain of the Varsity Cross Country team, as well as a 4x Mariner Award recipient. Outside campus, Tom’s also a former American Red Cross Certified Lifeguard. Beyond athletics, Tom enjoys pencil sketching and plays table tennis, tennis, and basketball. His passion for adventure includes sailing, skiing, and skydiving. He is proficient in English and Mandarin and is currently learning Spanish and American Sign Language (ASL). He also enjoys studying chess. In his free time, Tom loves driving, cooking, and playing the guitar and ukulele, especially while backpacking and exploring the world.

“At 2:12pm on May 28th, 2026, CST, I have officially crossed the state line of North Dakota and became the first & youngest person in my family ever to properly visit every U.S. state 🇺🇸50/50🦅, at the age of 23 years 238 days old. After a few days of reflection and now completed the Lower 48 for the second time, I would like to take this moment to share some insights on completing this life-changing journey, which required tons of sacrifices, planning, time, money, energy, courage, efforts, patience, and most importantly – grit (one’s passion to persevere).

Leading up to this moment, my journey began long before my accomplishments today, as I went through one of the hardest periods of my life while experiencing heartbreak from someone I deeply loved and the sudden death of one of my closest friend. It was a time that loss and rejection felt permanent. When something mattered that much and disappeared, it was difficult to imagine what could possibly come next. That period eventually led me to a belief that would change the direction of my life: ‘Limits are Perceived.’

Through this belief, I was able to make my mark and became a XC team captain, a certified lifeguard, a published author, a film director, a licensed pilot, and now the first in my family to visit every state. I began to understand that losing something did not mean losing everything. Rejection did not determine my worth. Pain did not have to define the limits of what my life could become. I couldn’t change what had happened, but I could decide what happened next. In years, I challenged myself to push beyond what’s possible and flying had represented one of the biggest limits I wanted to break. No one in my family had ever become a pilot, and it was my way of remembering the girl who changed my life.

Then I failed. I failed my first Private Pilot checkride and perhaps the sky really was my limit. For a while, that failure affected me more than I wanted to admit. I stopped flying. I stepped away from aviation, and I didn’t really talk about it. It reminded me back of the dark times of loss and rejections, all over again.

Then came London.

Between 2024-2025, I solo backpacked 30 UN-recognized countries while living abroad in London. Somewhere along those roads, trains, airports, hostels, mountains, and unfamiliar cities, I began rebuilding the confidence I thought I had lost. Then, I made a promise to myself on top of Mount Srd in Dubrovnik, Croatia (my 40th country), that someday I would visit every U.S. state, every continent, and every UN-recognized countries in the world. I learned that travel is essential to shaping one’s worldview, and that the world is a book, so for those who don’t travel, read only a page. I came back to the States as a brand new person and sat in the airplane again to face my biggest fears for a second time. First I passed the checkride, now I completed the States, and history speaks for itself ever since.

My goal is to inspire others through the things I do and the brand I built, to have people follow their own path to their unique greatness. When I first started, I thought that if one person travels somewhere because my journey inspired them, then my job is complete, and I would be so satisfied. I knew I did that already, and that always put a smile on my face. Today only marked the beginning of MY journey and I hope it will become YOURS someday too, and to see you someday on the road, in some far corners of the world…”

https://www.imdb.com/name/nm15624441/?ref_=ext_shr_lnk