Biography
One of television's new discoveries during the mid-late 2000s, clean-cut actor Michael Cassidy made perhaps his strongest impression with highly visible supporting roles on two iconic series: season two of FOX's The O.C., as Southern California-based comic book author Zach Stevens, and season 7 of the Superman chronicle
Smallville, as Daily Planet editor-in-chief Grant Gabriel. A native of Portland, Oregon, Cassidy trained in the two-year program at the New York Actors' Workshop, under the tutelage of
Mike Nichols, Kathryn Markey, Andrea Haring and others. Following his graduation from that program, Cassidy traveled to Southern California to audition for the theatrical opus
Superman Returns; he failed to get the part, but so impressed
McG (who was planning to direct the
Superman outing at that time) that he promptly landed the O.C. role instead. Cassidy graduated to even more prestigious work as the star of the CW's very short-lived and critically-panned O.C. clone
Hidden Palms (2007) (as issue-ridden and slightly dangerous Southern California high schooler Cliff Wiatt), then accepted a supporting turn as quietly-in-love socialite Charlie Hogan on the CW ensemble drama series
Privileged (2008). ~ Nathan Southern, All Movie Guide