One of television's new discoveries during the mid- to 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, OR, 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). Over the coming years, Cassidy would continue to find success on the small screen, appearing on shows like Smallville, Privileged, and Men at Work.