Havertown native is 'Scandal,' 'How to Get Away with Murder' secret weapon

PHILADELPHIA (WPVI) -- 'Scandal' and 'How to Get Away With Murder' are Thursday night staples on 6abc and there's a local man who you might call the "triple threat" for the shows' success.

Call him Mr. Thursday night. By day Tom Verica is the co-executive producer and director of 'Scandal' starring Kerry Washington.

By night he's a principal player on 'How to Get Away with Murder' playing Viola Davis' husband.

"There's powerful women all around me so I consider myself a lucky man," Verica said.

And there's another TV powerhouse that made it happen: Shonda Rhimes.

She's the mastermind behind 'Scandal,' 'Murder' and 'Grey's Anatomy.'

"She says 'if we can make it, work will you do it?' I said, 'Absolutely.' When Shonda wants something, she pretty much gets what she wants," Verica said.

Raised in Havertown, Verica boasts that he comes from a big South Philly Italian family. He left home at 21 to pursue his acting career, but was thrilled to come home to shoot the pilot for How to Get Away with Murder which is based here in Philadelphia.

"I got a little taste of home. It was a kind of cruel. I would try to go out and get the best cheesesteak, pick up all the Tastykakes and soft pretzels and bring them back here," Verica said.

So what's a day in life of a man who wears many hats both on and off screen?

"If I'm acting on 'Murder' that day and it's one of the scenes where I'm dead, I will go in and do my dead makeup first, then I'll go into a production meeting for 'Scandal' and I'll forget that I'm wearing that and I'll walk into this with my dead makeup on. People coming up to me from 'Scandal' with these very concerned looks on their faces asking me if I'm feeling okay," Verica said.

You can tweet with Tom every Thursday night during the show and look for him at the Mummer's Parade this New Year's Day. He says he will be there with his family.