Thomas Cavanagh (born October 26, 1963[1]) is a Canadian actor. He is known for a variety of roles on American television, including starring roles in Ed (2000–2004), Love Monkey (2006) and Trust Me (2009), and recurring roles on Providence and Scrubs. From 2014 to 2023, he portrayed Harrison Wells and Eobard Thawne / Reverse-Flash on The CW television series The Flash; Cavanagh also directed several episodes of The Flash. In 2023, he became the host of Hey Yahoo! on GSN.[2]
Early life
Thomas Cavanagh was born on October 26, 1963, in Ottawa, Ontario,[1] to a Roman Catholic family of Irish descent.[3] Cavanagh moved with his family to Winneba, a small city in Ghana when he was a child.[4]
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[8] and Labatt Blue Light beer commercials[9] in the 1990s and for CIBC.
After gaining notice for his recurring role as Doug the Dog Guy in the NBCtelevision programProvidence, 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.[4]
Cavanagh in April 2008
Cavanagh guest starred on the sitcomScrubs where he played Dan Dorian, the brother of Zach Braff's character. He made six subsequent appearances in the series, starting with 2002's "My Big Brother" and culminating with the eighth season finale.
In 2005, Cavanagh filmed the pilotLove Monkey, with Jason Priestley, Judy Greer and Larenz Tate. The show was selected 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 which was played in the entirety in the spring of 2006.
In 2008, Cavanagh appeared in the short-lived ABC series Eli Stone, playing the father of the title character. From January to April 2009, Cavanagh starred in the television drama Trust Me, co-starring Eric McCormack, which aired on TNT until cancellation due to low ratings.[11][12]
From 2014 to 2021, Cavanagh was a series regular on The CW's live-action television series The Flash, portraying Harrison Wells;[14] 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 seven seasons before he left yet continued to make guest appearances in the final two seasons.[15][16][17] In 2023, Cavanagh began hosting the game show Hey Yahoo!.[18]
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.[4] 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.
In 2006, Cavanagh began filming Breakfast with Scot, in which he plays a gay retired hockey player who becomes an adoptive father to a young boy. The film, released in 2007, drew attention 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. In 2007 he starred in the second installment of the direct-to-DVD Raw Feedhorror film series from Warner Home Video, Sublime. In 2008, Cavanagh starred in the Crime/Drama The Capture of the Green River Killer. He also starred as Ranger Smith in the feature film Yogi Bear (2010).
Podcast
From 2010 until 2016, Cavanagh co-hosted the podcastMike and Tom Eat Snacks, with his Ed castmate Michael Ian Black, on the Nerdist Podcast Network.[19] They re-launched the podcast in August, 2021 on the Starburns Audio podcast network.
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.[23]
^ abcBlackman, Lori (November 15, 2000). "Tom Cavanagh of 'Ed'". CNN. Archived from the original on September 21, 2013. Retrieved August 13, 2014. My parents are educators, and they were over there putting in teaching systems in Africa
^Oh Henry! commercial (1995). Some Old Videos. February 21, 2020. Archived from the original on December 21, 2021. Retrieved November 5, 2021 – via YouTube.
^Labatt Blue Commercial. VideoCassettes. July 25, 2008. Archived from the original on December 21, 2021. Retrieved July 8, 2016 – via YouTube.
^Cavanagh, Tom (March 25, 2009). "Trust me, Nets Save Lives". Nothing But Nets. Archived from the original on September 14, 2016. Retrieved March 25, 2009.
