Dean Cain is an American actor, producer, director, television presenter and former professional football player. He is best known for his role as Clark Kent/Superman in the TV series "Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman" and as the host of the TV series "Ripley's Believe It or Not!".

Cain was born Dean George Tanaka in Mount Clemens, Michigan, the son of actress Sharon Sarah Thomas and U.S. Army serviceman Roger Tanaka, who divorced before he was born. Cain is of Japanese (from his paternal grandfather), French Canadian, Irish and Welsh descent. In 1969, Cain’s mother married film director Christopher Cain, who adopted Dean and his brother (musician Roger Cain), and the family moved to Malibu, California. The couple later had a daughter, Dean’s half-sister, actress Krisinda Cain who also attended Santa Monica High. At Santa Monica High School, Cain excelled in sports. He played on the baseball team, and Chad and Rob Lowe and Charlie Sheen who played on the baseball team were among his classmates. Cain graduated high school in 1984 and was offered athletic scholarships to 17 universities but decided to attend Princeton University. At Princeton, he was captain of the volleyball team and played free safety (Defensive Back) on the football team, where he had record-setting 12 interceptions in a single season. He was also a member of the Zeta Psi fraternity and the Cap & Gown eating club. While at Princeton, he dated actress Brooke Shields, who was one year ahead of him at the university. Cain graduated from Princeton in 1988 with a BA in History; his senior thesis was titled The History and Development of the Functions of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.

Immediately after graduating, Cain signed on as a free agent with the Buffalo Bills, an NFL football team, 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, 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 Billions (2004). In 2004, he portrayed Scott Peterson in the fact-based made for television movie The Perfect Husband: The Laci Peterson Story.

Cain has appeared as a regular on “Hope & Faith,” (ABC, 2003-06) and played the recurring character of Casey Manning on the hit series, “Las Vegas” (NBC, 2005-06 ). He had a lead role in the made-for-television disaster epic, “10.5: Apocalypse,” (NBC, 2006), then starred in another made-for-TV holiday romance, “A Christmas Wedding,” (Lifetime, 2006), and the miniseries, “Final Approach” (Hallmark, 2007). In “September Dawn (2007), his stepfather’s period drama on the Mountain Meadows Massacre in 1857, Cain had a small, but significant role as Joseph Smith, founder of the controversial Mormon Church. He has also starred in several popular films, including The Broken Hearts Club (2000) and Bailey’s Billion$ (2004) (co-starred Laurie Holden, Jennifer Tilly and Tim Curry). 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. In 2012 Dean starred in the Hallmark movie “Operation Cupcake” along with Kristy Swanson and was a contestant on FOX TV’s “The Choice” and NBC’s “Stars Earn Stripes.” He won 4 out of 6 missions on “Stars Earn Stripes” and came in 3rd place in the final. He had the pleasure and honor of working with the late Chris Kyle.

Since 2013, Dean starred on VH-1’s highly acclaimed series “Hit the Floor” as NBA coach Pete Davenport for the Los Angeles Devils. He appeared on the show from 2013-2016 and in 2018.

In 2014, Cain hosted a reality show about Bigfoot called “10 Million Dollar Bigfoot Bounty” where he offered contestants $10 million to prove the existence of Bigfoot. That same year, Cain appeared in the second half of Season 3 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. Also in 2014, Dean hit the big screen again as Marc Shelley in the film "God's Not Dead".

In 2015 Cain starred in the action movie “Vendetta” in which he has some amazing fight scenes with 7’ tall 450 lb. Paul Wight, also known as WWE superstar “The Big Show.”  Between 2015-2017, Dean played the role of Supergirl's foster dad, Jeremiah Danvers, on the popular SUPERGIRL TV series which starred Melissa Benoist as "Kara Danvers" (Supergirl).

In 2018, Cain co-starred as Detective James Wood in the 2018 film GOSNELL: The Trial of America's Biggest Serial Killer, a movie about the investigation of the horrific crimes and trial of abortionist Dr. Kermit Gosnell. In 2019, Cain starred in the play FBI Lovebirds alongside Kristy Swanson, a play that mocked Peter Strzok and Lisa Page, the two FBI operatives at the center of the investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 United States elections. On June 19, 2018, Cain was sworn in as a reserve police officer for the St. Anthony Police Department in St. Anthony, Idaho. In June 2021, it was announced that he would have his directorial debut with "Little Angels" and have a main role in it.

Dean’s Movie/Show Credits...

Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman

Supergirl

Smallville

God's Not Dead

Hit The Floor

Beverly Hills 90210

Out Of Time

Rat Race

The Broken Heart's Club

Vendetta

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