Tom Cavanagh

By the time he became a fresh face in Hollywood three years ago, Tom Cavanagh had six years of professional stage, film and television experience in Canada - including the short-run series "Jake And The Kid" and "No Place Like Home." He was perfectly happy living in Vancouver and working steadily doing guest shots and supporting roles on Canadian as well as American TV shows and pilots, but U.S. producers and fellow actors kept urging him to give Hollywood a legitimate shot long before old age (starting at 30) could slow him down. If they were sincere, it was a foolish mistake on their part.

Curiosity finally drove him to L.A., where he promptly nailed down the lead role on "900 Lives Of Jackie Frye" - a series that was picked up but never saw the light of day - during the 1997 pilot season. A year later, with the feature films "Northern Lights," "Profile For Murder" and "Honeymoon" behind him, the skinny, blue-eyed 6-footer became attached to a CBS network project titled "Stuckeyville." The pilot revolved around the life and times of Ed Stevens, a lovable loser of a New York stockbroker opening a bowling alley in his hometown of Stuckeyville, Ohio, to start life over after being dumped hard by his ex-wife.

The Unblinking Eye network drowned the show at birth despite the heft of David Letterman`s Worldwide Pants Inc. production company. While "Stuckeyville`s" creators/writers Rob Burnett and Jon Beckerman shopped the series at other networks, Cavanagh seized the opportunity to co-star in nine episodes of "Providence" as Doug the Dog Boy - a weird young lad from Newfoundland who thinks he is a Labrador retriever until discovering his "inner man" when kept on a short leash by Joanie (Paula Cage).

Cavanagh polished off his "Providence" gig just in time to hook up with "Stuckeyville" as it was picked up by the NBC network under the title of "Ed" (Wed., 8-9 p.m., NBC). The pilot was reshot with a few minor changes, including changing Ed Stevens` occupation to former New York lawyer now running a legal shop in the back of his small-town bowling alley. The voice of sanity, Ed is surrounded by the requisite number of wackos, including Phil (Michael Ian Black), the nut-case Stuckeybowl employee who sleeps on Lane 1; Carol Vessy (Julie Owen), the object of Ed`s affection; Mike (Josh Randall), Ed`s doctor friend and his multi-tasking wife, Nancy (Jana Marie Hupp).

The bowling alley interiors and a majority of exteriors are shot in the New Jersey community of Northvale.

"I`ve been very fortunate, somehow being in the right place at the right time long enough to make a living at acting," says the down-to-earth, 31-year-old actor. "There are advantages and disadvantages to being a Canadian in the U.S. television industry, of course.

"On the upside, there is a relatively small talent pool to draw from and a lot of things going on in Canada. You get to work a lot and the experience is invaluable," Cavanagh continues. "In L.A., there`s lots of competition and many young actors don`t get a chance to work on a regular basis. Some wait for years in order to get a shot; some wait forever.

"On the negative side, Canadian actors have to deal with lots of paperwork and other headaches in order to get the proper visas and work permits. It can get quite difficult."

Born in Ottawa, Cavanagh spent most of his childhood - along with four siblings - in a small coastal village in Ghana where his father trained African teachers in modern educational methods, while his mother taught in a local school.

"It was a magical time in many ways," he recalls. "I learned such useful things as climbing coconut palms and how to avoid stepping on poisonous snakes on jungle trails. I don`t think the experience hurt any of us, as one of my brothers is now a prosecuting attorney for the Crown Court in Ottawa, while the other, and my two sisters, are school teachers.

After a family stop-over in Bolivia, Cavanagh returned to Canada in time to attend high school in southern Quebec and later enrolled at Queens University in Kingston, Ontario. A jock, he played varsity basketball as a "very small" point guard and eventually graduated with three bachelor`s degrees (that proved useless in his chosen profession) in biology, education and English.

"Always interested in acting, he didn`t do anything about it until his senior year in college when he auditioned for the role of Danny Zuko in an off-campus Equity production of "Grease." He followed up with a local staging of "Brighton Beach Memoirs," then received a huge break in the Broadway revival of the musical "Shenandoah." A year later, the New York-seasoned Cavanagh returned to Toronto and Vancouver for movie and television work, including "The Dukes," "Magic In The Water," "Mask Of Death" and "Anya`s Bell." He filled in spare time with episodic guest shots on such projects as "Viper," "The Sentinel," "The Outer Limits" and "Sports Night."

"I already had `Ed` locked up before I did the arc on `Providence,`" Cavanagh says, "but doing a hefty part on a successful series never hurts. And the producers have left the door open. I`ll go back if I can. The problem is distance - `Providence` is basically shot in L.A., not Rhode Island."

Now a permanent resident of Los Angeles, Cavanagh currently sublets an apartment in New York City while shooting "Ed" in parts of New Jersey.

"That`s the way this business works and you go where the work is," he says, content with his lot. "I`m pleased, to say the least, to play a guy who has taken some heavy hits in his life and decided to do something about it. I find that an admirable trait, actually."

Never married with no children or a girlfriend at the moment, Cavanagh is free to pursue any avenue that tickles his fancy - including travel, reading in vast amounts and playing basketball at every opportunity.

"I`m always the shortest guy on whatever (basketball) team I play on, but I`m way smarter than all those big guys," he dead pans. "They`re in a no-win situation."

(c) Copley News Service

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Author: Eirik Knutzen