In his early teens he saw Brando in On the Waterfront. He knew then, he wanted to be an actor. At 19, he left Miami FL with $200, and set out for New York.

Two years later he acted opposite Robert Duval on the live TV drama Armstrong Circle Theater.

It wasn't until 1969 that his career really got a shot in the arm .
He originated the role of Shanty in the Pulitzer Prize winning play, No Place to be Somebody. Ron received rave reviews in both New York and across the US, where he later toured.
In '72 he joined the prestigious cast of the Henry Fonda revival The Time of Your Life.

By then, Ron had moved to L.A. He was awarded The Los Angeles Drama Critics Circle Award in 1973 for his portrayal of Bickham in Does A Tiger Wear a Necktie.

In the next 25 years, he was seen guesting on numerous television shows, one of which was a recurring character on the Emmy winning show Baretta .

He starred in the cult classic animated film American Pop, directed by Ralph Bakshi. The film was Rotoscoped, a process in which the actors performed the entire movie on a soundstage in front of a camera. The performances are then traced over and the background drawn in. The end result is not just a voice over, but the actor's actual emotional and physical performance on screen presented in animation. Ron played the 2 leads in the film, Tony and Pete. Due to a botched promotional campaign, the film was a box office failure and again a disappointment to Ron's career; his contribution was heavily ignored.

In the late 90's he became disillusioned with his career. He began to question his own talent and stopped acting. During this time, he went on a spiritual search and eventually began to fight through the darkness.

In 2010, Ron became an active member of the online community. After joining Facebook, he discovered a whole new fanbase of his he never knew existed.

Unbeknownst to him, American Pop became a cult classic, thanks to DVDs, cable and the internet. Even more of a shock was the understanding audiences had of the rotoscope process, including Ron's contribution to the final performance of his characters.

In January of 2014 he was honored at Hollywood's Egyptian Theater for his portrayal of Tony and Pete in American Pop. There was a special showing of the movie preceded by a Q & A with Ron Thompson himself.

After 15 years , Ron returned to his career