Dean George Cain (born Dean George Tanaka; July 31, 1966) is an American actor. He is most widely known for his role as Superman in the popular American television series Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman.
Early life
Cain was born on July 31, 1966 as Dean George Tanaka in Mount Clemens, Michigan, the son of Sharon Thomas, an actress, and Roger Tanaka. He is of French Canadian, Irish, Welsh, and Japanese (from his paternal grandfather) descent. In 1969, Cain's mother married film director Christopher Cain, who adopted Dean and his brother (musician Roger Cain); they became his sons and the family moved to Malibu, California. The couple later had a daughter, Dean's sister, actress Krisinda Cain. Both attended Santa Monica High School, where he excelled in sports.
He played baseball as a child with Chad and Rob Lowe and Charlie Sheen â€" who played on the same team â€" were among his schoolmates. Cain graduated from high school in 1984 and was offered athletic scholarships to 17 universities, but decided to attend Princeton University. At Princeton he was also a member of the Zeta Psi fraternity and the Cap & Gown eating club. He dated actress Brooke Shields while at Princeton. Cain graduated from Princeton in 1988 with a BA degree in History; his senior thesis was titled "The History and Development of the Functions of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences."
Career
Immediately after graduating, Cain signed on as a free agent with the Buffalo Bills, but a knee injury during training camp ended his football career before it began. With little hope of returning to sports, he turned to screenwriting and then acting, shooting dozens of commercials including a volleyball-themed spot for Kellogg's Frosties 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, it would bring in an average of at least 15 million viewers per episode. The series ran for four seasons, ending in 1997.
In 1998, Cain started the Angry Dragon Entertainment production company, which produced the TBS Superstation television series Ripley's Believe It or Not!. He has also starred in several films, including The Broken Hearts Club (2000), Out of Time (2003) and Bailey's Billion$ (2004) (co-starred Laurie Holden, Jennifer Tilly, and Tim Curry). In 2004, he portrayed Scott Peterson in the fact-based made for television movie The Perfect Husband: The Laci Peterson Story. He appeared in a recurring role as Casey Manning in the television series Las Vegas. Cain made a return to the Superman franchise, with a special guest role in a seventh season episode of Smallville as the immortal Dr. Curtis Knox, a character based upon the DC Comics villain Vandal Savage. He's #33 on VH1's 40 Hottest Hotties of the '90s. Cain has also made an appearance in Internet Explorer 8 commercials.
Cain was also a contestant in an NBC celebrity reality competition series called Stars Earn Stripes. He won 4 out of 6 missions on the show, though came only 3rd in the final. In 2012, he participated in Fox's dating game show The Choice. He also stars in Hit The Floor.
In 2013 Cain agreed to host a reality show about Bigfoot called "10 Million Dollar Bigfoot Bounty" where he offers contestants $10,000,000.00 to prove the existence of Bigfoot.
Cain appeared in the mid season premier of Comic Book Men, appearing at Kevin Smith's Secret Stash where the crew was celebrating 75 years of Superman, citing that Dean Cain helped people care about Superman again.
Personal life
In 1997, Cain became engaged to singer Mindy McCready. The couple broke up the following year. Cain has a son named Christopher Dean Cain (born June 11, 2000) with ex-girlfriend and Playboy Playmate Samantha Torres. His son is named after his father, film director Christopher Cain. While promoting the television show, Ripley's Believe It or Not, on the Howard Stern Show on January 10, 2001, Cain said that his biological father lied to the National Enquirer when he stated that Cain's mother left him while he was serving in the Vietnam War. Cain stated his father never served in the war but instead cheated on his mother, which was the real reason they divorced. Dean Cain supported Republican candidate Rick Perry for President in the 2012 election, and has appeared on the Fox News Channel to discuss limiting unemployment benefits, saying that he appeared in subpar films to avoid unemployment.
Filmography
References
External links
- Dean Cain at the Internet Movie Database
- Dean Cain as Coach Davenport on VH1's Hit the Floor (TV series)
- Dean Cain at AllMovie
- Dean Cain on Yahoo movies
