Tom Welling Biography
Tom Welling born (Thomas Patrick Welling) is an American actor, director, producer, and model best known for his role as Clark Kent in The WB/The CW superhero drama Smallville (2001–2011). He has also co-starred in the third season of Fox fantasy comedy-drama Lucifer as Lt. Marcus Pierce (2017–2018).
A high school athlete, Welling initially worked in construction and, in 1998, he successfully modeled men’s clothing for several popular brands. In 2000, he made a successful transition to television. He has been nominated for and received several awards for his role as Clark Kent.
In 2001, he had a recurring role as Rob “Karate Rob” Meltzer in the second season of the CBS legal drama Judging Amy. He has also been involved behind the camera as an executive producer and a director. His films include Cheaper by the Dozen (2003), Cheaper by the Dozen 2 (2005), The Fog (2005), Draft Day (2014), and The Choice (2016).
10 Quick Facts About Tom Welling
- Name: Tom Welling
- Age: 45 years
- Birthday: April 26
- Zodiac Sign: Taurus
- Height: 6 feet 2 ½ inches
- Nationality: American
- Occupation: Actor, Director, Producer
- Marital Status: Married
- Salary: Under Review
- Net worth: $14 million
Tom Welling Age
Tom Welling is 45 years old as of 2022. He was born on April 26, 1977, in Putnam Valley, New York, U.S. Welling celebrates his birthday on April 26 every year. His birth sign is Taurus.
Tom Welling Height
Tom Welling Stands at a height of 6ft 2 ½ (189.2 cm), He has a weight of 85kg or 187 lbs.
Tom Welling Family
Tom Welling was born in Putnam Valley, New York to Bonnie Welling (mother) and Sir Tom Welling (father). His family moved to Wisconsin, Delaware, and Michigan where he was raised up. He has three siblings Rebecca Welling(sister), Jamie Welling (sister), and Mark Welling (brother).
Tom Welling Wife, Is Tom Welling Married?
Tom Welling is married to model Jamie White on July 5, 2002. The two stayed in their marriage for only ten years but finally divorced. He then started dating actress Jessica Rose Lee and fortunately, they announced their engagement in April 2018. Jessica Lee gave birth to a son known as Thompson Wylde who was their first child.
Tom Welling Net worth
Tom Welling has an estimated net worth of $ 14 million dollars as of 2020. This includes his assets, money, and income. His primary source of income is his career as an actor, director, producer, and model. Through his various sources of income, Tom has been able to accumulate a good fortune but prefers to lead a modest lifestyle.
Tom Welling Actor
Early career
Originally a construction worker, Welling was discovered in 1998 at a party in Nantucket by a catalog camera scout who suggested he try modeling. Welling modeled for Louisa Modeling Agency until 2000 when he relocated to Los Angeles.
There he modeled for Tommy Hilfiger, Abercrombie & Fitch, and Calvin Klein while pursuing an acting career. In 2000, Welling appeared in Angela Via’s music video “Picture Perfect” where he played Vía’s love interest.
Welling has said that he did not like modeling and that he was not good at it because it was all on the outside or from an external point of view. He pursued acting because he wanted to express a range of emotions, but Welling still models occasionally and appeared in the May 2008 issue of Vogue, the so-called Superhero Issue.
In his first major acting role, Welling played karate teacher Rob “Karate Rob” Meltzer, a younger love interest of Amy Gray (Amy Brenneman) in the second season of the CBS legal drama Judging Amy, which aired in 2001.
Welling was originally signed for three episodes; after receiving enthusiastic fan reviews, the producers kept him for three more. Welling also had a small role in the UPN science fiction sitcom Special Unit 2, and he appeared in the pilot episode of the FOX sitcom Undeclared.
Tom Welling Smallville
Welling was cast in the WB superhero drama Smallville after a nationwide search for an actor to play Clark Kent. In an interview with a teen magazine, Welling spoke about the day he auditioned for the role: “I was on my way back from the Warner Bros. studio, and I stopped in a gas station to call my manager and tell him how it went.
I called and got him on the phone and he said, ‘Can you hold on a second?’ Next thing I know, there are literally seven people on the other line and almost in unison, they say, ‘Tom, you got it!'” The pilot aired in October 2001 and became the highest-rated debut for The WB, with 8.4 million viewers.
Welling told TV Guide that he turned down the lead role twice, but after reading the script, he decided to take the job. Like Christopher Reeve, he was not a Superman fan prior to being cast as Clark Kent. In fact, he said, he continues to not read Superman comics: “I made a conscious decision to stay away from that material.
We’re doing something different at a time before all that, I don’t want that to affect what I’m doing, even subconsciously.” He did get the chance to meet two previous Superman actors: Christopher Reeve, who appeared in season 2: episode 17 titled “Rosetta”, and Dean Cain, who appeared in season 7: episode 4 titled “Cure”.
Welling was named one of People magazine’s “Breakthrough Stars of 2001”, and also won the Teen Choice Award as “Choice Breakout Star (Male)” in 2002 for his role as Clark Kent.
Following the third season, Welling was interviewed by Smallville Magazine and said that if he could play one character on the show that was not Clark Kent, it would be Lex Luthor; “Lex Luthor!
I wouldn’t mind having my head shaved—as an actor, [it is the ultimate,] getting to play the complete opposite of your character.” In 2004, Welling was approached about starring in the big-screen adaptation of Superman when director Brett Ratner was attached to the project.
Comic book artist Alex Ross even did two sketches of Welling as the “Man of Steel” to see what the actor would look like in the famous costume. In August 2009, Welling won another Teen Choice Award as “Choice TV Actor (Action-Adventure)” for Smallville.
In 2019, Welling is set to reprise his role as Clark Kent in The CW Arrowverse crossover event “Crisis on Infinite Earths”, along with his Smallville co-star Erica Durance as Lois Lane.
Tom Welling Lucifer
In 2017, Welling was cast to co-star in the third season of the Fox fantasy comedy-drama Lucifer. He plays Marcus Pierce / Cain / Sinnerman, a police lieutenant at the precinct and the main antagonist of the season who is the immortal Cain.
Film
In December 2003, Welling made his feature film debut as Charlie Baker, the oldest son and second-oldest in the Baker family which had 12 children, in the family comedy Cheaper by the Dozen with Steve Martin and Bonnie Hunt, which is a remake of the 1950 movie starring Clifton Webb and Myrna Loy, based on the 1948 book about the family of Frank and Lillian Gilbreth and written by two of their children.
Welling talked about why he was interested in the project in an interview with Paul Fischer: “The top three reasons I decided to do this film were, one, Steve Martin, two, Steve Martin and three, Steve Martin. That was the number one draw for me.
Then, after reading the script, I really liked this character, Charlie. I liked what he went through, what he had to go through, and I felt I understood where he was coming from. And I just wanted to be a part of it.” Welling had always been a fan of Martin’s and said that he “absolutely loved” working with him.
In 2005, Welling co-starred in the horror film The Fog, a remake of John Carpenter’s 1980 film of the same name, as Nick Castle (a character originally played by Tom Atkins). At the same time, The Fog was in production, Welling was still working on the last few episodes of the fourth season of Smallville.
The same year, he reprised his role as Charlie Baker in Cheaper by the Dozen 2. In 2013, Welling was among the all-star cast of Peter Landesman’s historical drama Parkland, based on the book Reclaiming History: The Assassination of President John F. Kennedy by author Vincent Bugliosi.
The story centers on the chaotic events that occurred at Parkland Hospital in Dallas, Texas on the day President John F. Kennedy was assassinated on November 22, 1963. In 2014, Welling co-starred with Kevin Costner, Jennifer Garner, Frank Langella, and Denis Leary in Ivan Reitman’s sports drama Draft Day. He played a veteran quarterback whose career is at a crossroads.
Production
For Smallville‘s ninth season, Welling served as a co-executive producer. He returned as Clark Kent for the show’s tenth and final season in Fall 2010 and became a full executive producer, as credited in a May 20, 2010 press release by the CW.
Welling served as an executive producer on the CW comedy-drama Hellcats based on journalist Kate Torgovnick’s book Cheer: Inside the Secret World of College Cheerleaders. The series first aired on The CW beginning in the fall of 2010 and was canceled on May 17, 2011.
According to Welling, the reason for the cancellation was because of the change of CW president of entertainment from Dawn Ostroff to Mark Pedowitz. He also said that there was a possibility of a reboot of the series with a new cast and cameos from the previous cast if enough fans continue to watch the original series on CW Seed.
Directing
Welling made his directorial debut in 2006 with the Smallville episode “Fragile” (5.18). He also directed “Hydro” (6.10); the show’s 150th episode, “Apocalypse” (7.18); “Injustice” (8.21); the second part (“Legends”) of the two-hour episode “Absolute Justice” (9.11); and two episodes of Smallville’s final season, “Patriot” (10.09) and “Booster” (10.18).
Tom Welling Doing Now
Tom Welling has actually been keeping things a bit more chill the last few years. With some selective film roles under his belt and plenty of continued interest in his career, it certainly looks as though Superman’s Hollywood journey could be on the upswing again.
Tom Welling has been working on in the past five years, but there are rumors about Welling joining Supergirl true? I’m sure you’d all love to see him put in an appearance, so let’s take a look. The first project to be released post-Smallville for Welling was the movie Parkland.
Based on the book Four Days in November: The Assassination of President John F. Kennedy, Parkland follows the events which occurred following the death of President Kennedy. The movie was pretty star-studded, and its cast included Zac Efron, Colin Hanks, Paul Giamatti, and Marcia Gay Harden.
This marked the most serious movie role in Welling’s career (he previously co-starred in Cheaper By The Dozen 1 & 2, and The Fog). “The storyline my character goes through was very interesting to me.
This guy’s job is in jeopardy. Sure, he’s an NFL quarterback who’s coming off an injury and his job is being threatened, but that’s the kind of challenge which a lot of people have to deal with. Even though he’s a big quarterback, he has to go home to his wife and say, ‘I might be out of a job.’
And that’s not an easy thing to do.” It’s exciting to see Clark Kent be given more serious and challenging roles on the big screen. There have been a lot of rumors that Welling might reprise his role as Superman on CBS’ Supergirl.
There has been nothing to be confirmed, for him being in the Supergirl has an audience, but Welling was welcomed by fans of both shows. Though it was revealed that the show was casting a young Kal-El aka Kara’s famous cousin it was difficult not to hope that Welling would still be featured on the show at some point. Let’s all keep our fingers crossed.
Tom Welling Acting Review
Tom Welling has been fairly quiet in Hollywood since appearing as Clark Kent on the CW’s Smallville. Although he was the OG superhero on a network that has since become known for its comics-derived shows, Welling has yet to capitalize on the show’s success to push into the next stage of his acting career.
Rumors of him reprising his role as Superman on the CW’s Supergirl this season didn’t come to fruition, with Tyler Hoechlin being cast in his place. Here are the reasons why Hollywood won’t cast Tom Welling anymore, and what he can do to turn his career around.
Tom Welling was new to Hollywood when he booked a six-episode arc on the CW’s Judging Amy, playing karate teacher Rob Meltzer in a total of six episodes over the course of the six-season series. What recurring role could a karate teacher play on a legal drama about a Connecticut judge trying to raise a daughter on her own?
As Judge Amy’s love interest, of course! That’s right: Welling’s Rob Meltzer taught karate to Lauren, Amy’s daughter, and he and Amy hit it off and begin seeing each other. Welling scored the role of the hunky karate teacher when he was 24 years old, and the appearances led to his starring role as a high school student on Smallville, also on the CW.
Despite his six episodes on Judging Amy, his overall lack of acting experience was still pretty obvious in some of the earlier episodes of Smallville, and it also meant that Clark Kent became Welling’s most immediately identifiable role, making it even harder for him to break out into other parts later.
Tom Welling was new to Hollywood when he booked a six-episode arc on the CW’s Judging Amy, playing karate teacher Rob Meltzer in a total of six episodes over the course of the six-season series.
What recurring role could a karate teacher play on a legal drama about a Connecticut judge trying to raise a daughter on her own? As Judge Amy’s love interest, of course! That’s right: Welling’s Rob Meltzer taught karate to Lauren, Amy’s daughter, and he and Amy hit it off and begin seeing each other.
Welling scored the role of the hunky karate teacher when he was 24 years old, and the appearances led to his starring role as a high school student on Smallville, also on the CW.
Despite his six episodes on Judging Amy, his overall lack of acting experience was still pretty obvious in some of the earlier episodes of Smallville, and it also meant that Clark Kent became Welling’s most immediately identifiable role, making it even harder for him to break out into other parts later.
There are many actors who started out with easily identifiable early roles on huge, long-running TV shows, but they were able to still jumpstart their career in other directions by appearing in films while the show was in progress.
However, the innovative visual effects that Smallville demanded meant that Welling was on set more than other actors, giving him less time for other projects.
The roles he did appear in include the ill-received horror film The Fog with Maggie Grace and Selma Blair, and, most notably, the role of Charlie Baker in the Cheaper by the Dozen series. Welling wasn’t called upon to carry a lot of dramatic weight in any of the roles; coming out of Smallville, the TV series remained the most impressive thing on his résumé.
Welling spent ten years on television, which can be very tiring for an actor, and it makes sense that he’d want to take a break from life in front of the cameras after having to head to the same set year after super-year. It should come as no surprise that, because of that decade-long grind, Welling has been very selective in the roles he’s taken since the end of Smallville’s run.
In fact, he’s only appeared in three films since the show’s 2011 finale: the Zac Efron and Billy Bob Thornton-starring mystery drama Parkland, the Ivan Reitman-directed, and Kevin Costner-starring sports drama Draft Day, and the Nicholas Sparks romance The Choice.
While none of the movies made much of an impact on audiences or critics (more on that in a moment), it is safe to say that Welling had a chance to stretch himself as an actor in all three roles. In The Choice, Welling played Ryan, a doctor and former flame of the movie’s leading lady, Gabby Holland.
Meanwhile, in Parkland, Welling took the role of a Secret Service agent working during JFK’s assassination. Draft Day offered a third occupation for Welling to try out: that of a washed-up quarterback for the Cleveland Browns. Clearly, Welling was going for range with those roles no tights, capes, or superhero-themed jackets in any of them.
Welling launched Tom Welling Productions towards the end of Smallville’s run with the goal of spending more time behind the camera. Welling, who began executive producing during the later episodes of Smallville, served as an executive producer on the CW’s cheerleader dramedy Hellcats in 2011 and was attached to serve as an executive producer on a potential TV show project in 2015 (more on that later).
Welling also directed a few episodes of Smallville over the years and told the L.A. Times after the show ended that directing was a new ambition. It’s possible that his acting career lost some momentum because he’s focused on pursuing other opportunities behind the camera.
He spent hours on set every day, filming in Vancouver, far away from his New York-based family. This was very difficult for the young star, who felt lonely and isolated at times. Tom Welling said he spent 10 years where my life was 6 AM to 1 AM on set,” he told BuzzFeed.
“From an emotional standpoint, I was basically cut off from everyone… I just put my head in a hole and I basically blocked everybody and everything out.” Because of this, he decided that, after Smallville, he didn’t want to do another TV show for a while.
Movies, which take less time to film and offer more of a break, were more in the lane of what he was looking for, but it can be very hard for a TV actor to make the jump to film. Welling’s aversion to the TV may have led to him turning down potentially lucrative and popular roles after Smallville.
Tom Welling Superman
Actor Tom Welling reprises his Smallville Clark Kent/Superman for Arrowverse Crossover episodes. Welling returns as one version of Superman, but Brandon Routh, who played Superman in the 2006 movie Superman Returns is also back in the crossover.
When I was a kid, Superman won me over right away. He’s caring, introspective, and wants to help humanity. The superhero has been portrayed by an array of actors, and now one of them, Smallville’s Tom Welling, is reprising his Clark Kent/Superman role in The CW’s upcoming Arrowverse crossover.
The Arrowverse, for those not in The CW know, refers to DC Comics-based superhero shows that appear on the CW network: The Flash, Supergirl, and Arrow. The upcoming “Crisis on Infinite Earths” story arc is a crossover that plays out across those three franchises and features characters from those shows, including Superman.
“Crisis on Infinite Earths” is based on the DC Comics miniseries in 1985 and 1986 that explored the idea of multiple incarnations of Superman. Welling returns as one version of Superman, but Brandon Routh, who played Superman in the 2006 movie Superman Returns is also back in the crossover.
Think Into The Spider-verse, but Superman. So many Supermen! I’m feeling my Man of Steel love more than ever. I’m excited to see how both actors will play their versions of Superman in the Arrowverse crossover, especially since their takes are so different.
This casting also gives different generations a chance to appreciate anew the Man of Steel. Some fans’ first introduction to Superman’s story was through Welling or Routh and seeing both actors play their versions of Superman in the same storyline will be a fun twist.
(Disclosure: The CW is a joint venture between Warner Bros and CBS, the parent company of CNET.) On the Smallville series, Welling played a teen version of Clark Kent/Superman from 2001-2011. I remember watching Smallville every week wondering if his secret would be outed by his friends, or even by the young Lex Luthor played by Michael Rosenbaum.
I was completely captivated by the idea that a superhero (and an alien from another planet) could go to high school without normal teens even suspecting. I grew up in Kansas, so seeing a misfit teen try to survive as a secret superhero attending a Kansas high school hit home for me.
Tom Welling Movies
- The Choice 2016
- Draft Day 2014
- Parkland (film) 2013
- Cheaper by the Dozen 2 2005
- The Fog 2005
- Cheaper by the Dozen 2003
- Superman
Tom Welling list of TV Shows
- Smallville
2001 – 2011 - Lucifer
Since 2016
Tom Welling List of director and producer credits
Year Title Notes 2006–2011
- Smallville Director; episode 5.18 “Fragile”
Episode 6.10 “Hydro”
Episode 7.18 “Apocalypse”
Episode 8.21 “Injustice”
Episode 9.11 “Absolute Justice”
Episode 10.09 “Patriot”
Episode 10.18 “Booster” - 2009–2010 Smallville Co-executive producer
22 episodes (Season 9) - 2010–2011 Smallville Executive producer
22 episodes (Season 10) - 2010–2011 Hellcats Executive producer
18 episodes (Season 1)
Frequently Asked Questions About Tom Welling
Tom is an American actor, director, producer, and model best known for his role as Clark Kent in The WB/The CW superhero drama Smallville (2001–2011).
Welling is 43 years old as of 2020. He was born on April 26, 1977, in Putnam Valley, New York, U.S. Welling celebrates his birthday on April 26 every year.
Tom Welling Stands at a height of 6ft 2 ½ (189.2 cm), He has a weight of 85kg or 187 lbs.
Welling is married to model Jamie White on July 5, 2002. The two stayed in their marriage for only ten years but finally divorced. He then started dating actress Jessica Rose Lee and fortunately, they announced their engagement in April 2018. Jessica Lee gave birth to a son known as Thompson Wylde who was their first child.
Welling has an estimated net worth of $ 14 million dollars as of 2020. This includes his assets, money, and income. His primary source of income is his career as an actor, director, producer, and model.
She is a resident of New York and LA, USA, we shall upload pictures of his house as soon as we have them.
Tom is alive and in good health. There have been no reports of him being sick or having any health-related issues.
Tom is still an active participant in the creative entertainment industry, Welling is again rumored to return as Clark Kent from Smallville for the upcoming The Flash movie that will follow Barry Allen as he breaks the bonds of physics and crashes into various parallel dimensions leading to encounters with different versions of DC’s superheroes.
Tom Welling Contacts
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