Tom Cavanagh
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| Born: | October 26, 1963 (age 43) Ottawa, Ontario |
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| Occupation: | Actor |
Thomas Cavanagh (born October 26, 1963) is a Canadian actor.
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[edit] Personal life
Cavanagh was born in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada, and moved with his parents to a small village in Ghana when he was six years old. In his teens, the family moved to Montreal where he started high school. While attending Queen's University in Ontario, he became interested in theater and music and played ice hockey and varsity basketball. He graduated with degrees in English, biology and education.
Cavanagh is married to Maureen Grise, a photo editor for Sports Illustrated. They were married on July 31, 2004, in a Roman Catholic ceremony in Nantucket, Massachusetts. The couple welcomed their first child, daughter Alice Ann, on February 10, 2006. Tom Cavanagh ran the 2006 New York City Marathon finishing in 3:29:31.
[edit] Career
[edit] Commercial credits
He has long been known in Canada as an actor in television commercials, appearing for Labatt in the 1990s and more recently for CIBC.
[edit] Broadway credits
In 1989 he was cast in a Broadway revival of Shenandoah. His stage credits also include productions of Grease, A Chorus Line, Cabaret, Brighton Beach Memoirs, and Urinetown.
[edit] Primetime television
After gaining notice for his recurring role as the "Dog Boy" in Providence, Cavanagh was cast as the protagonist and title character in the NBC television program Ed, the role for which he is most recognized. Cavanagh received a Golden Globe nomination and a TV Guide Award for his work on Ed, which ran for four seasons beginning in October of 2000 and concluding in February of 2004.
In 2002, he starred in the Showtime film Bang Bang You're Dead, which won a Peabody Award.
In 2002, Cavanagh guest starred on the sitcom Scrubs. He was hired to play Dan Dorian, the brother of lead character J.D. (Zach Braff), because of his resemblance to Braff. He returned for one episode in 2003, again for a two-episode arc in 2004, and most recently in April 2006.
In 2005, Cavanagh filmed a pilot entitled Love Monkey with Jason Priestley, Judy Greer, and Larenz Tate. The show was picked up by CBS as a midseason replacement and debuted on January 17, 2006. Love Monkey was given an eight-episode order, but only three aired on CBS before the show was placed on indefinite hiatus due to low ratings. VH1 bought all eight episodes and played them in their entirety in the spring of 2006. However, CBS is intending to make all 8 episodes available for free on-demand on-line viewing on its new Innertube website (one episode is already available).
In March 2006, Cavanagh filmed a pilot for a comedy, again for CBS, entitled My Ex-Life about a divorced couple who remain friends. The pilot also featured "Lost" actress Cynthia Watros as his ex-wife. However, CBS did not pick the show for its fall 2006 schedule.
[edit] Film
Prior to Ed, Cavanagh's film appearances were mainly in supporting roles. After that series ended, he had his first starring role as an escaped convict in the thriller Heart of the Storm. In 2005, he starred in the romantic comedy Alchemy, opposite Sarah Chalke; in 2006, he appeared in another romantic comedy, Gray Matters, opposite Heather Graham.
In the fall of 2006, Cavanagh began filming Breakfast with Scot, in which he plays a gay retired hockey player who becomes adoptive father to a young boy. The film, scheduled for release in 2007, has already become notable as the first gay-themed film ever to win approval from a major league sports franchise to use its real name and logo; Cavanagh's character formerly played for the Toronto Maple Leafs
