Dean Cain Biography

Dean Cain was born Dean George Tanaka, on July 31, 1966, in Mount Clemens, Michigan, U.S., to U.S. serviceman Roger Tanaka and actor Sharon Thomas.

He is of mixed descent and has English, French–Canadian, Welsh, Irish, and Japanese roots. Dean's paternal grandfather, John Megumi Tanaka, had Japanese ancestry, whereas, Dean's paternal grandmother, Grace E. Miyoko Sugiura, was half-Japanese and half-European.

Dean grew up with an older brother named Roger. Roger later grew up to be a musician.

Interestingly, Dean never met his father and later claimed he was “an unfaithful husband.” His father once told the media that Dean’s mother had left him when he was away at the Vietnam War. Dean countered this statement and said that his father had not served in the war but had cheated on his mother.

In fact, soon after Dean was born, Sharon moved to Los Angeles, carrying Dean and his older brother with her. Sharon apparently wanted to start a career in the entertainment industry back then.

In 1969, when Dean was 3, Sharon married director Christopher Cain, who later adopted Dean and his brother.

They then moved to Malibu, California, where Sharon and Christopher had a daughter, Krisinda Cain.

Dean joined the Santa Monica High School and grew interested in sports. He was on the school’s baseball team, with Charlie Sheen. Rob and Chad Lowe were his schoolmates, too.

In 1984, Cain graduated high school and joined Princeton University. At Princeton, he served as a free safety on the university’s football team.

In the 1987 season, he helped Princeton secure a season record with 12 interceptions (in 10 games). He completed his college career with 22 interceptions in 30 games.

In 1988, he graduated with a BA degree in history. His senior thesis was on "The History and Development of the Functions of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.”

Soon after his graduation, Dean Cain signed with the NFL's Buffalo Bills as a free agent. However, a knee injury that he sustained during a training camp put an end to his football career.

Dean then became interested in screenwriting and eventually plunged into acting. In 1984, Dean had already started his movie career with his father’s film The Stone Boy.

He was also part of quite a few commercials, including a volleyball-themed campaign for Kellogg's Frosted Flakes. He was also seen on TV shows such as Grapevine, Beverly Hills, 90210, and A Different World.

In 1993, Dean got the biggest breakthrough of his career when he was offered the role of Clark Kent/Superman in the series Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman. The series featured him opposite Terri Hatcher (as Lois Lane) and was hugely popular. It continued for four seasons, eventually ending in 1997.

In 1998, Dean launched his production company, Angry Dragon Entertainment. The company produced the TBS Superstation series Ripley's Believe It or Not!

He then appeared in quite a few films, such as The Broken Hearts Club (2000), Out of Time (2003), and Bailey's Billion$ (2004). In 2002, he voiced the character Evann in the video game Grandia Xtreme. In 2004, he appeared as Scott Peterson in the TV movie The Perfect Husband: The Laci Peterson Story.

He was seen as Casey Manning in the series Las Vegas. Dean also returned to the Superman franchise, with a guest appearance in an episode of the seventh season of Smallville (as Dr. Curtis Knox, a character inspired by the DC Comics villain Vandal Savage).

He was also seen in a recurring role (as Jeremiah Danvers) in Supergirl. Dean also had a significant role in the VH1 series Hit the Floor. The series featured him as Pete Davenport, the new head coach of an NBA team. He was placed at No. 33 on VH1's list of the 40 Hottest Hotties of the '90s.

He appeared as a contestant in the NBC reality series Stars Earn Stripes. He was placed third in the finals. In 2012, he was seen in the Fox dating game show The Choice.

In 2013, Dean appeared as the host of the show 10 Million Dollar Bigfoot Bounty, in which he offered $10 million to the contestants if they could prove the existence of “Bigfoot.”

Dean played a businessman in the 2014 movie God's Not Dead. In 2016, he was seen in a guest role in the Netflix series Lady Dynamite. The series featured him as Graham, the former fiancé of Maria Bamford. Dean also appeared in 16 Christmas films.

Dean was also part of the third season of the U.K. series The Jump in 2016. Though he had reached the final round of the show, he lost to rugby player Ben Cohen by a narrow margin.

In June 2018, Dean hosted a TV infomercial for The National Real Estate Network. Dean also appeared in the 2018 film Gosnell: The Trial of America's Biggest Serial Killer, which narrated the story of abortionist Kermit Gosnell.

Dean Cain was a member of the Zeta Psi Fraternity of North America.

He was also associated with the Aspen Grassroots Experience. He attended the 7th Annual Aspen Celebrity Downhill, to raise funds for children.

In May 2005, Dean met soldiers in Iraq, along with Kelly Hu and Amanda Swisten.

On June 19, 2018, Dean became a reserve police officer of the St. Anthony Police Department in Idaho.

The same year, he became part of the board of directors of the National Rifle Association.

During his time at Princeton University, Dean Cain dated fellow student (and future actor) Brooke Shields for 2 years. It is believed Brooke had even lost her virginity to Dean when she was 22.

In 1997, Dean got engaged to singer Mindy McCready. However, they split the next year.

On June 11, 2000, Dean had a son, Christopher Dean Cain, with his then-girlfriend, “Playboy Playmate” Samantha Torres. Dean named his son after Christopher Cain, his adoptive father.

Dean has tattooed his birth name, “Tanaka,” in Japanese, on his ankle. He now owns properties in Malibu, Colorado, Aspen, and Ibiza.

In October 2018, it was reported that Ronnie Mund, who was the driver and bodyguard of radio personality Howard Stern, had used a photoshopped picture of Dean Cain as a publicity photo.

Ronnie initially denied the allegations but later admitted that he had been using the photo for more than 5 years. Ronnie claimed he was not aware the photo had been tampered with. Dean later sued Ronnie for $662,000.

In 2020, while speaking about a Time magazine article on the depiction of superheroes, Dean stated that his character in Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman would have been torn apart had he said “Truth, justice and the American Way” in the present scenario.

Dean’s comment was in the context of the portrayal of policemen in films and series. He received a lot of flak for his comment, with writers David Weissman, Tom King, and Brian Lynch, too, criticizing him.

Dean Cain is one of only seven actors to have appeared in both Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman (1993) and Smallville (2001).