Matt Cavenaugh

William Matthew Cavenaugh, born May 31, 1978, in Jonesboro, Arkansas, is an American tenor and actor whose work spans stage, film, and television. He earned a Bachelor of Fine Arts from Ithaca College in 2001 and made his first screen appearance as a child actor in the film Little Monsters before building a career primarily in theatrical performance.

Cavenaugh's stage work began in the late 1990s with productions including The Pirates of Penzance, in which he played Samuel in 1997, and Babes in Arms, where he portrayed Val in 1999. At Ithaca College he continued performing, taking on the role of Henrik in A Little Night Music in 2000 and Younger Brother in Ragtime in 2001. Following graduation, he appeared in Strike Up the Band, Footloose as Ren, and The Picture of Dorian Gray as the title character, all in 2002.

His Broadway career began in 2003 when he played Bud in Urban Cowboy. That same year he toured nationally as Jimmy Smith in Thoroughly Modern Millie. In 2005 he took on the role of Billy Bigelow in Carousel at the Benedum Center and appeared in The Secret Garden as Ian Shaw at Manhattan Center. He also played Lance in Palm Beach, The Screwball Musical at La Jolla Playhouse that year. In 2006 he portrayed Joseph Patrick Kennedy, Jr. and Jerry Torre in Grey Gardens, first in an Off-Broadway production and subsequently in the Broadway transfer. That same year he played Billy Crocker in Anything Goes at the Williamstown Theatre Festival. He returned to Broadway in 2008 as Ralph Halloran in A Catered Affair.

Cavenaugh's most prominent Broadway credit came in 2009, when he starred as Tony in the revival of West Side Story at the Palace Theatre, a run that extended from February 23 to December 13 of that year. Following his Broadway work, he played Superman and Clark Kent in a 2010 Dallas production of It's a Bird, It's a Plane, It's Superman! and took on the role of Eric Fenton in the Off-Broadway production of Death Takes a Holiday in 2011. He later returned to Ragtime in 2013, this time in the role of Henry Ford.

On August 23, 2009, Cavenaugh married actress Jenny Powers at the Gate of Heaven Catholic Church in Boston, Massachusetts.