A handsome, dark-haired actor balancing dashing good looks with an appealing innocence, Eddie Cahill had the unique charm and palpable talent that made him one to watch. Raised in and around Manhattan, the performer got his start on the city's stages and would later shoot to fame on sets designed to look like NYC locales, with guest roles on the Los Angeles-filmed series "Friends" (NBC 1994-2004) and "Felicity" (The WB 1998-2002).
A turn as an almost angelic hustler in the 2000 Off-Broadway production "The Altruists" earned Cahill good reviews that remarked on his appealing sweetness. A 2000 episode of "Sex and the City" (HBO 1998-2004) marked Cahill's first screen role, and here he played a young bisexual whose unselfconscious openness leads gal-about-town Carrie (Sarah Jessica Parker) to question just how sexually liberated she really is. Cahill took his proven talent for playing unfettered and unspoiled characters to NBC, where a recurring role on "Friends" allowed him to reach millions.
He portrayed Tag, an underqualified but irresistible candidate for the job as Rachel (Jennifer Aniston)'s assistant in a story arc that looked at Rachel's relationship problems and showcased Cahill's "aw shucks" adorableness. When Rachel hired Tag over a more qualified female applicant, audiences knew it was wrong, but sympathized with her fascination. When Rachel dumped Tag, audiences knew it was for the best, but felt for the brokenhearted young man. Next up for Cahill was "Felicity," where he would break away from his nice guy image with a turn as a crazed drug dealer who won't let go of Molly (Sarah-Jane Potts), the girlfriend who wants out.
The sinister and intense portrayal gave the actor a chance to show his versatility in a three-episode recurring role, and even as audiences wished for his volatile character to stop his destructive antics, it was easy to empathize with his poisonous but truly heartfelt devotion. The actor returned to his prostitute-portraying roots in 2001 on an episode of "Law & Order: Special Victims Unit," (NBC 1999- ) playing a fresh-faced male escort who is victimized by his own madam and a couple with a dangerous fetish. That same year he starred in the short-lived "Glory Days" (The WB), as a hot young mystery writer who must solve the inexplicable murder of his father.
On the big screen, Cahill starred as real-life 1980 U.S. Olympic hockey team goalie Jim Craig, who has to find his own inner drive to achieve greatness, in the Cinderella sports story "Miracle" (2004), and co-starred in skateboarding drama "Lords of Dogtown" (2005), but he found his greatest success as police detective Don Flack on the procedural drama "CSI: NY" (CBS 2004-2013). After that series ended its nine-season run, Cahill moved on to the Stephen King-created drama "Under the Dome" (CBS 2013-15). Following the end of that summer series, Cahill moved on to the main cast of the legal drama "Conviction" (ABC 2016- ).