Cavanagh was born on October 26, 1963 in Ottawa, Ontario to a Roman Catholic family of Irish descent.[1] Cavanagh moved with his family to Winneba, a small city in Ghana.[2]
In his teens, the family moved to Lennoxville, Quebec where he started high school. He attended the Séminaire de Sherbrooke, where he studied in French and played basketball for the Barons. He later studied at Champlain College in Lennoxville at the CEGEP level. While attending Queen's University, Kingston, Ontario, he became interested in theatre and music and played ice hockey and varsity basketball. He graduated with degrees in English and biology