Cain was born in Mount Clemens, Mich. Immediately after graduating from Princeton University, Cain signed on as a free agent with the Buffalo Bills, an NFL football team, but a knee injury during training camp ended his football career before it began. With little hope of returning to sports, he turned to screenwriting and then acting, shooting dozens of commercials including a famous volleyball one for Kellogg's Frosties and appearing on popular television shows like "Grapevine," "A Different World" and "Beverly Hills, 90210." In 1993, Cain took on his biggest role to date as Superman in the television series "Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman." At the height of its popularity, it would bring in an average of at least 15 million viewers per episode. The series ran for four seasons, ending in 1997.

In 1998, Cain started the Angry Dragon Entertainment production company, which produced the TBS Superstation television series "Ripley's Believe It or Not!." He has also starred in several films, including "The Broken Hearts Club" (2000), "Out of Time" (2003) and "Bailey's Billion$" (2004) (co-starred Laurie Holden, Jennifer Tilly, and Tim Curry). In 2004, he portrayed Scott Peterson in the fact-based made for television movie "The Perfect Husband: The Laci Peterson Story." He appeared in a recurring role as Casey Manning in the television series "Las Vegas." Cain made a return to the Superman franchise, with a special guest role in a seventh season episode of "Smallville" as the immortal Dr. Curtis Knox, a character based upon the DC Comics villain Vandal Savage. He's #33 on VH1's 40 Hottest Hotties of the '90s. Cain has also made an appearance in the new comical Internet Explorer 8 commercials.