Tom Cavanagh

Thomas Cavanagh (born October 26, 1963

Early life Thomas Cavanagh was born on October 26, 1963 (although some sources state 1968) in Ottawa, Ontario, to a Roman Catholic family of Irish descent. Cavanagh moved with his family to Winneba, a small city in Ghana, when he was a child.

In his teens, the family moved to Lennoxville, Quebec when his father became the Academic Dean of Champlain College. He attended the Séminaire de Sherbrooke, where he studied in French and played basketball for the Barons. He later studied at Champlain College in Lennoxville at the CEGEP level. While attending Queen's University, Kingston, Ontario, he became interested in theatre and music and played ice hockey and varsity basketball. He graduated in 1987 with degrees in English, biology, and education.

Career

Commercial credits Cavanagh acted in his native Canada for many years, appearing on television dramas such as Jake and the Kid in the late 1990s, and television commercials, appearing for Oh Henry! chocolate bars and Labatt Blue Light beer commercials in the 1990s and for CIBC.

Broadway roles In 1989, he was cast in the Broadway revival of Shenandoah and in 2003 he starred as Bobby Strong in the Broadway cast of Urinetown. Other stage credits include productions of A Chorus Line, Cabaret, Brighton Beach Memoirs, and Grease. He appeared in the 2008 production of Some Americans Abroad at Second Stage Theatre in New York City.

Television performances After gaining notice for his recurring role as Doug the Dog Guy in the NBC television program Providence, Cavanagh was cast as the title character in the NBC program Ed. Cavanagh received a Golden Globe nomination and a TV Guide Award for his work on Ed, which ran for four seasons beginning in October 2000 and concluding in February 2004.

Cavanagh hosted Stories from the Vaults on Smithsonian Networks from 2008 to 2009. He made a guest appearance in the mid-season premiere of the USA Network show Royal Pains as former professional golfer Jack O'Malley. In 2012, he starred in Lifetime's A Killer Among Us remake.

From 2014 to 2021, Cavanagh was a series regular on The CW's live-action television series The Flash, portraying Harrison Wells; most notably Eobard Thawne / Reverse-Flash impersonating the Earth-1 version in conjunction with several different doppelgängers, such as Earth-2's Harry, Earth-19 writer H. R., Earth-221 detective Sherloque, and explorer Nash (also known as Pariah). He was a regular cast member for the first seven seasons, and made guest appearances in the final two. In 2023, Cavanagh began hosting the game show Hey Yahoo!.

Film performances Cavanagh starred in the 2002 film Bang Bang You're Dead. Prior to Ed, Cavanagh's film appearances were mainly in supporting roles. They re-launched the podcast in August 2021 on the Starburns Audio podcast network until going on hiatus again in early 2023. They re-relaunched the podcast in September 2025 as part of the Realm podcast network.

Personal life Cavanagh married Maureen Grise, an image editor for Sports Illustrated, on July 31, 2004, in a Catholic ceremony on Nantucket, Massachusetts. The couple has two daughters and two sons.

Cavanagh ran the 2006 New York City Marathon.

In summer 2008, he founded the Cavanagh Classic, an annual celebrity basketball tournament in Rucker Park in Harlem to raise money and awareness for Nothing But Nets. The charity's goal is to combat malaria by sending mosquito nets to families that need them. Cavanagh travelled to Rwanda on a March 2009 United Nations Foundation trip to distribute the nets and educate the recipients in their use.

Filmography

Film

Year Title Role Notes 1991 White Light Ella's Secretary 1995 Dangerous Intentions Ron 1995 Magic in the Water Simon 1996 Mask of Death Joey 1996Midnight Heat Bowlan 1996 Profile for Murder Tim Jonas 1997 Honeymoon Jamie 1999 Something More Harry 2003 Freddy vs. Jason Will's Father 2005 Alchemy Mal Downey 2006 How to Eat Fried Worms Mitch Forrester 2006 Two Weeks Barry Bergman 2006 Gray Matters Sam Baldwin 2007 Sublime George Grieves 2007 The Cake Eaters Lloyd 2007 Breakfast with Scot Eric McNally 2010 Yogi Bear Ranger John Smith 2013 The Birder Ron Spencer 2014 The Games Maker Mr. Drago 2015 400 Days Zell 2016 Sidekick Darkman 2016 Offer and Compromise Henry Warner 2019 Love & Debt Henry Warner 2022 Corrective Measures Gordon Tweedy

Television

Video games

As a director Ed (2000–2004) – three episodes The Flash (2017–2018) – episodes: "The Once and Future Flash", "Elongated Journey Into Night" and the 100th episode, "What's Past Is Prologue". Superman & Lois (2021–2023) – two episodes: "Last Sons of Krypton", "Closer".