"5 Faces To Watch"
TV Guide
October 14-20, 2000
Age: 32
Hometown: Ottawa, Canada
Significant Other: Girlfriend Paul Cale of NBC's Providence. "I call her the super, uber-talented Paul. She's an amazing girl."
Star Quality: Has both the dry wit of Jon Stewart and the charm of John Cusack in "Say Anything"
Where You've Seen Him: As Doug on Providence last season. "He was a misguided fellow who believed he was a dog."
Tom Cavanagh, the star of NBC's quirky romantic comedy Ed (Sundaysm 8 P.M./ET), has a warped sense of humor. "You know what I like most about my character?" Cavanagh asks, smiling slyly. "How well he conceals his homicidal tendencies. We've shot six episodes, but you still have no idea where the bodies are buried."
All joking aside, Cavanagh is dead serious about Ed. After CBS passed on the show (about a lawyer who returns to his small-town roots), the actor refused to give up hope. Says Cavanagh, "I really believed [the series] was destined to be more than just a one-million-dollar paperweight on [executive producer] Rob Burnett's desk."
The son of teachers who worked to improve schools in Thirld Word countries, Cavanagh spent much of his childhood in Ghana, Africa ("it sounds exotic, but at the time it just seemed normal because it's where my parents were"). Stints in two Canadian TV series and in the 1989 Broadway revival of "Shenandoah" brought recognition, but Cavanagh expects Ed to make him a name. "I love that this [show] is about second chanes," he says. "I think a lot of people, me included, can't help but relate." -Shawana Malcom