Thomas Cavanagh

Kavanagh was born in Ottawa, Ontario. He is of Irish descent and grew up in a large Roman Catholic family. He has an older brother, a prosecutor, and three sisters. One of his sisters teaches religion and is a chaplain in Ontario, another is an autism specialist in Toronto, and the third sister is a writer and lives in London. Kavanagh moved with his family to Ineba, a small town in Ghana. In his youth, his family moved to Lennoxville, Quebec, where he went to high school. He attended the Seminary of Sherbrooke (fr. Séminaire de Sherbrooke), where he studied French and played basketball for the Barons team. He later attended Champlain College in Lennoxville. While studying at Queens University in Kingston, Ontario, Kavanagh became interested in theater and music, played hockey and basketball. He graduated from the university with a degree in English and Biology