Dean Cain Biography

Biography

Birth Name
Dean Tanaka
Date of birth (location)
31 July 1966
Mt. Clemens, Michigan, USA

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A handsome, engaging lead of TV who became one of America's most beloved superheroes in "Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman" (ABC, 1993-97), Dean Cain presented an unorthodox, bumbling Superman who levitates when nervous, and unlike in previous incarnations, it was the mild-mannered Clark Kent who seemed more comfortable around people. Another difference was that Cain, who is Welsh, Japanese, French-Canadian and Irish, made a distinctively non-WASPy Superman.

Cain had previously played football for Princeton, where he made All-American and set an NCAA record for the most interceptions in one season. After graduation, he was signed to the Buffalo Bills but a knee injury during pre-season training forced him to switch to acting. Cain made his TV debut in "In Vino Veritas", a two-hour entry in the "Christine Cromwell" series on "The ABC Saturday Mystery". A number of guest spots on "Life Goes On", "Grapevine" and "A Different World" followed, but it was for his recurring character as Brenda's summer love-interest Rick on "Beverly Hills, 90210" that Cain first received notice.

Following his successful stint as the Man of Steel, Cain worked steadily in television and small profile films, hosting such early reality-based series as "Off Camera With Dean Cain" (1995)--following actors and athletes in their off hours--and "Ripley's Believe It or Not" (1999) and appearing in such films as director Tamra Davis' "Best Men" (1997), the TV prison thriller "Dogboys" (1998), the sci-fi telepic "Futuresport" (1998), "The Broken Hearts Club: A Romantic Comedy" (2000), the large ensemble comedy "Rat Race" (2001), the TV-movie remake "Gentle Ben" (2002) and its sequel "Gentle Ben 2: Danger on the Mountain" (2003), among others. In 2003, Cain experienced something of a career resurgence, joining the cast of Lifetime's popular TV crime drama "The Division" (2001 - ), which was created by his "Lois & Clark" executive producer Deborah Joy Levine, as Det. Jack Ellis, and appearing as a bitter, failed one-time football star opposite Denzel Washington in director Carl Franklin's crime thriller "Out of Time" (2003).