Tompkinson 1st come to prominence by using a role of Damien Day in the satiric comedy Drop The Dead Donkey in 1989.He has since starred in the film Brassed Off, and teamed higher sustaining Nick Berry around crime-solving drama Around Deep. Too when starring around more televisiin dramas, he has too appeared regularly on stage.

a single of his virtually all popular roles was that of Father Peter Clifford, alongside one-sometime fiancé Dervla Kirwan, in Ballykissangel.