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Canadian actor Tom Cavanagh was born on October 26, 1963, in Ottawa, Ontario, and moved to a small village in Ghana with his parents when he was six years old. He moved to Montreal when he was a teenager. He graduated from Queen's University in Ontario with degrees in English and Biology, and he has done television commercials for Labatts and CIBC, as well as ads for Starburst and Dominoes. Tom made his debut on Broadway in the Musical "Shenandoah" and had a role in "Grease." In 1999 he moved to Los Angeles where he landed the role of Ed Stevens in the NBC series "Ed," and soon after he was cast as Dan Dorian in the hospital comedy "Scrubs." Tom also appeared in the films "Once Upon A Time In New York" and the family comedy "How To Eat Fried Worms." He met his wife Maureen Grise on a New York City basketball court, and they were married on July 31, 2004, in Nantucket.

An actor once christened by the media as the "Breakout Performer of 2000," Tom Cavanagh earned that title largely thanks to his assignment headlining the popular prime-time series Ed (2000). In that seriocomedy, Cavanagh starred as Ed Stevens, an attorney who moves back to his hometown of Stuckeyville, OH, where he sets up practice in a bowling alley and strikes up a romance with a girl from high school (Julie Bowen). The series lasted four seasons; in its wake, Cavanagh branched out into movies, with leads in the teen-oriented drama Bang, Bang, You're Dead (2002) and the romantic comedy Gray Matters (2006), as well as a small supporting role in the family-oriented laugher How to Eat Fried Worms (2006). During that time, he'd also taken on a recurring role on the medical comedy series Scrubs, playing Dan Dorian, the brother of lead character J.D. (Zach Braff), thanks in large part to the two actors' resemblance to each other.



Cavanagh returned to regular television work with the 2006 prime-time drama Love Monkey -- headlining that program as a record-company executive who grows disillusioned with the ethos of his corporation and sets up shop with a smaller independent label. He rebounded from the hasty cancellation of that program with more feautures, including a starring role in Laurie Lynd's drama Breakfast With Scot (2007), playing a closeted gay sportscaster whose romantic relationship with a hockey player threatens to be undone by the arrival of the latter's nephew. Cavanagh could soon be seen on the small screen again when he guest-starred on the comedy drama Eli Stone as the titular character's deceased father. Nathan Southern, All Movie Guide

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