Dean George Tanaka[1] was born on July 31, 1966,[2] in Michigan[3] to Roger Tanaka, a U.S. serviceman, and actress Sharon Thomas.[4] Through his biological father, Cain is partly of Japanese descent, with the rest of his ancestry being Welsh, Irish and French Canadian.[5] Cain has said of his biological father, whom he never met: "He's not the kind of man I want to be. He was an unfaithful husband and not much of a father." Soon after Dean's birth, his mother, pursuing an acting career, moved him and his older brother Roger to Los Angeles. In 1969, Sharon married film director Christopher Cain, who adopted Dean and Roger. The couple moved to Malibu, California, and later had a daughter, Krisinda.[6][4]
Cain attended Santa Monica High School, where he excelled in sports. Among his schoolmates were Charlie Sheen, who played on the same baseball team as Cain when they were children, as well as Rob Lowe and his brother, Chad. Cain graduated from high school in 1984 and attended Princeton University, where he starred as a free safety on the football team, set a Princeton season record with 12 interceptions (in just ten games) during the 1987 season, and finished his collegiate career with 22 interceptions in 30 games. During his senior year, Cain was awarded the John P. Poe–Richard W. Kazmaier, Jr. Football Trophy.[7] He dated actress Brooke Shields while at the university.[6][8] Cain graduated in 1988 with a Bachelor of Arts in history. His senior thesis was titled "The History and Development of the Functions of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences".[9]
NFL
After graduating, Cain signed on as a free agent with the NFL's Buffalo Bills, but a knee injury during training camp ended his football career prematurely.[10]
Career
With little hope of returning to sports, Cain turned to screenwriting and then acting, shooting dozens of commercials including a volleyball-themed spot for Kellogg'sFrosted Flakes and appearing on popular television shows like Grapevine, A Different World, and Beverly Hills, 90210.
In 1993, Cain took on his biggest role to date as Superman in the television series Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman. At the height of its popularity the program would bring in an average of at least 15 million viewers per episode. The series ran for four seasons, ending in 1997. Cain later made his first return to the Superman franchise with a special guest role in a season seven episode of Smallville as the immortal Dr. Curtis Knox, a character based upon the DC Comics villain Vandal Savage;[11][12] Cain returned to the Superman universe again between 2015 and 2017, in a recurring role on Supergirl, as the title character's foster father, Jeremiah Danvers.[13]
In 2009 Cain was ranked No. 33 on VH1's 40 Hottest Hotties of the '90s.[14]
Cain was a contestant in an NBC celebrity reality competition series called Stars Earn Stripes. He won four out of six missions on the show, though he came in third in the finals. In 2012, he participated in Fox's dating game show The Choice.[15]
In 2013, Cain hosted a reality show about Bigfoot titled 10 Million Dollar Bigfoot Bounty, where he offered contestants $10 million to prove the existence of Bigfoot. Cain later appeared in the mid-season premiere of Comic Book Men, appearing at Kevin Smith's Secret Stash where the crew was celebrating 75 years of Superman, where it was claimed that his portrayal of the character helped people care about Superman again.[citation needed] Cain appeared in the film God's Not Dead, in which he plays an arrogant businessman. In 2016, Cain played a guest role on the Netflix original series Lady Dynamite as Graham the ex-fiancé of Maria Bamford.
Cain is known for appearing in 16 Christmas films and several faith-based films.[16][17]
As of 2018, Cain is hosting a television infomercial for The National Real Estate Network, an entity which seeks to persuade individuals to attend meetings where they can learn about flipping real estate. In October 2018, it was learned that Ronnie Mund (Ronnie the Limo Driver), the personal driver and bodyguard of radio DJ Howard Stern, had been using a photoshopped picture of Cain as a publicity photo. Specifically, Mund's head had been transposed onto the body of Cain. Mund initially denied the photo was altered but eventually acknowledged he had been using the fraudulent photo for over five years. Mund claimed he was unaware the photo was not genuine.[18] Cain co-starred in the 2018 film Gosnell: The Trial of America's Biggest Serial Killer about the investigation and trial of Kermit Gosnell. He starred in the film Andy the Talking Hedgehog.[19]
During the 1980s, Cain dated actress Brooke Shields for two years while they were both attending Princeton University.[6] In 1992, he dated professional beach volleyball player and model Gabrielle Reece.[23][24] In 1997, Cain became engaged to singer Mindy McCready;[25] the couple split the following year.[26]
He has a son named Christopher Dean Cain (born June 11, 2000) with ex-girlfriend and PlayboyPlaymate and Spanish model Samantha Torres.[6] Cain named his son after his stepfather, film director Christopher Cain.
On June 19, 2018, Cain was sworn in as a reserve police officer for the St. Anthony Police Department in St. Anthony, Idaho.[27]
Cain said in 2018 that he was once a registered Republican, but later became a registered Independent, feeling that the Republican Party did not fully represent his views.[28]
Cain has stated he is "very leftist" on social issues, citing his support of marijuana legalization, and conservative on economic and foreign policy issues.[20]
^Holbrook, Damian. "Coming Attractions". TV Guide Comic-Con Special 2015: 72. Former Lois & Clark cape wearer Dean Cain and original Supergirl film star Helen Slater pop up as Jeremiah and Eliza Danvers, the scientists who adopt Kara.
^"Dean Cain (visual voices guide)". Behind The Voice Actors. Archived from the original on January 14, 2021. Retrieved April 30, 2021. A green check mark indicates that a role has been confirmed using a screenshot (or collage of screenshots) of a title's list of voice actors and their respective characters found in its credits or other reliable sources of information.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: postscript (link)
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