Tom Cavanagh

In 2023, he became the host of Hey Yahoo! On GSN.

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.

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.

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.

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 guest starred on the sitcom Scrubs 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 pilot Love 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. He starred in the Lifetime Movie Network television miniseries The Capture of the Green River Killer in which he portrayed King County sheriff David Reichert. In March 2006, Cavanagh filmed My Ex-Life, a comedy pilot for CBS about a divorced couple who remain friends. The pilot featured Lost actress Cynthia Watros as his character's ex-wife. CBS did not select the show for its fall 2006 schedule. Cavanagh portrayed the lead role Nick Snowden (the heir to the Santa Claus identity) in the made-for-TV movie Snow in 2004. 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. 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!.

From 2010 until 2016, Cavanagh co-hosted the podcast Mike and Tom Eat Snacks, with his Ed castmate Michael Ian Black, on the Nerdist Podcast Network. 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.

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.

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".