Whatever Happened To Smallville Star Tom Welling?

Way back in 2001, Tom Welling joined an elite fraternity of actors who have portrayed Superman on screen. Following in the footsteps of George Reeves, Christopher Reeve, and Dean Cain, Welling was tapped to headline "Smallville," a series for the now-defunct WB network. Unlike previous films and TV shows focusing on the Man of Steel, "Smallville" took a different route by melding the Superman mythos with teen drama, exploring Clark Kent's life as a super-powered high school student in "Smallville."

Guided by the mantra "no tights, no flights" (Clark, played by Welling, was not permitted to fly or debut the iconic costume so as not to compete with big-screen Superman projects), "Smallville" experienced a long run of television success, migrating to The CW until concluding its run in 2011 after 10 hit seasons. After "Smallville" wrapped, the series' numerous actors went their separate ways toward other projects. More than a decade later, it's not surprising that the cast of "Smallville" looks totally different today, which is certainly the case for its star.

It's not hyperbole to point out that "Smallville" suddenly catapulted Tom Welling from little-known up-and-comer to bona fide Hollywood star. Opportunities flew at him, and he took as many as he could handle during the show's annual summer hiatus. Those gigs included a supporting role in Steve Martin's 2003 big-screen comedy "Cheaper By the Dozen" (which he reprised for its 2005 sequel), followed by a star turn in 2005 horror film "The Fog," a remake of a 1980 thriller featuring horror movie scream queen Jamie Lee Curtis. However, while promoting "The Fog" on KTLA, Welling's recollection of shooting the film wasn't particularly fond. "There were times where we did a lot of night shoots, where you're very tired, very exhausted, and discombobulated," Welling griped. 

While "The Fog" was a middling hit, bringing in $46 million worldwide at the box office, the film was universally panned by critics. "Another remake bites the dust," snarked the BBC's review, while the Sydney Morning Herald slammed "The Fog" as "a dull, stupid, boring picture, inferior in every way" to the original. Years later, Welling confirmed the whole thing had been a nightmarish mistake. "I did this horror movie that was horrible," he said during a TalkVille podcast appearance, recalling how producers, in the midst of production, began "taking everything that made the first one scary out of it ... because they wanted to appeal to more of a mass [audience]. And it didn't work, I'll tell you that, because it wasn't scary." 

When Tom Welling auditioned for "Smallville," he had no idea that his high-profile role in the Vancouver-shot series would dominate his life for the next decade. "I spent 10 years where my life was 6 a.m. to 1 a.m. on set," he told BuzzFeed of the grueling demands of being No. 1 on the call sheet. "From an emotional standpoint, I was basically cut off from everyone."

When "Smallville" finally ended, many actors in his position would have already had their next project all lined up. Welling, however, chose a different path, instead retreating to his beach house on the East Coast, where he'd previously spent his "Smallville" hiatuses. "I needed a break," he said. "I needed to figure out what was going on in my head a little bit. There was some adjusting that I needed to get back into real life and to make up for lost time as well." As he crossed the border from Canada to the U.S., Welling recalls experiencing an overwhelming sense of freedom. "I definitely remember that final moment crossing the border, thinking to myself, 'This is a new chapter,'" he told The Hollywood Reporter.

While the two months he'd typically spend watching the waves cleared his head between seasons, that wasn't the case after "Smallville" ended. What he'd intended to be a short break lasted for six months, until he eventually realized he couldn't sit idly forever. "I felt like I was basically retired and it sort of woke me up," he told BuzzFeed. "But it needed to happen."

In 2013, Tom Welling's first screen role after the series finale of "Smallville" landed in theaters. In the drama "Parkland" — set amidst the JFK assassination — Welling was part of an impressive ensemble cast that included Paul Giamatti, Billy Bob Thornton, Zac Efron, Marcia Gay Harden, David Harbour, and more. The prestige production brought Welling to the Venice International Film Festival for the premiere, with the tuxedo-clad actor posing for photographers and discussing his role as Roy Kellerman, the Secret Service agent who was assigned to protect President John F. Kennedy at the time of his assassination. 

Playing an actual person was a new challenge for Welling, who explained his process in portraying Kellerman during an interview held at the festival in Venice. "You try to learn as much as you can about the person through different sources and avenues, talk to a lot of people who were old enough to remember what that experience was like for them," Welling explained. "But a lot of it came from Peter's script," he added, referencing the work of the film's director and screenwriter, Peter Landesman.

When Tom Welling was cast in "Smallville," he was already in a long-term relationship with Jamie White. In 2002, they got married in Martha's Vineyard. Sadly, the marriage didn't last. In October 2013, White filed for divorce; according to the filing, they had been separated since December of the previous year. The couple had no children, and she sought spousal support.

The divorce dragged on until a settlement was finally reached in November 2015. As TMZ reported at the time, Welling did agree to spousal support, albeit via a somewhat unorthodox arrangement. Ultimately, this was not one of those messy divorces that left celebs nearly penniless. According to the outlet, Welling would not shell out a pre-specified amount but would, instead, fork over 20% of his net earnings for five years, at which point payments would end; anything above $5 million per year, however, would remain in Welling's bank account. In addition to assorted properties, the couple also owned a horse farm in Florida. Per the divorce settlement, Welling's ex received all of their horses, save one — named Tomahawk — that Welling kept. 

After appearing in a couple more movies — 2014's "Draft Day" and 2016's "The Choice" — Tom Welling finally returned to television in 2017, joining the cast of Fox series "Lucifer." The high-concept series focused on the titular fallen angel (played by Tom Ellis), who had taken human form and relocated from Hell to Los Angeles, where he indulged his skill at solving crimes.

Welling had already been engaged in talks with the network for some projects that didn't materialize when he was approached about appearing in 10 episodes of "Lucifer." As he discussed the possibility, Welling was taken aback when he learned he'd be starting later that same week. "I was like, 'Whoa, hold on a second,'" he recalled in an interview with Entertainment Weekly. After watching several episodes, however, Welling was hooked. "I said, 'I want to do more, I want to do 15,' and so we signed on for 15 episodes, because I like it that much," he added.

Ultimately, Welling wound up in 22 episodes that season in the role of LAPD cop Marcus Pierce. As fans would later find out, the cop was eventually revealed to be Cain, the cursed immortal son of Adam and Eve, who adopted the criminal alias of the Sinnerman. According to Welling, the revelation of his character's true identity was a big part of the appeal. "Joe [Henderson] explained to me the arc of the character, which was vast," Welling told Variety, referring to the series' executive producer, "and it was a slow burn from the beginning."

Fans of "Smallville" assumed that the series finale was the last time they'd see Tom Welling embody Clark Kent. That assumption, however, proved wrong when he revived the role several years later, appearing in an episode of "Batwoman," a superhero series set within the same universe as "Smallville." Welling's return was the crown in the jewel that was the massive crossover storyline "Crisis on Infinite Earths" within the so-called "Arrowverse" of DC Comics series airing on The CW. The storyline began in an episode of "Supergirl," continued in "Batwoman," then in "The Flash," before finally concluding in "Arrow" and "Legends of Tomorrow." Producer Marc Guggenheim expressed enthusiasm about the decade-later return of Welling's Clark. "So, when we first started talking about 'Crisis on Infinite Earths,' our first, second, and third priorities were getting Tom to reprise his iconic role as Clark Kent," Guggenheim said (via E! News). "To say that we're thrilled would be a Superman-sized understatement."

While appearing at a 2024 TalkVille Live event, Welling admitted he was hesitant to reprise Clark, feeling it would come off as a cheap stunt. However, when he read the single scene in which he'd be appearing — where Clark encounters an alternate-universe version of himself, played by Tyler Hoechlin, and then the alternate-universe Lex Luthor (Jon Cryer) — he was sold. "It was really fun, because I was able to kind of bring Clark back again, but a little more grown up," he explained. "I thought, 'If I was a fan of Clark, this fits the tone in which you would see him again.'"

In 2014, following his divorce from Jamie White, Tom Welling began dating New Zealand-born actor Jessica Rose Lee, who shot to fame as the star of the viral web series "Lonelygirl15." In February 2018, the couple shared a low-key announcement of their engagement when Lee referred to Welling as her "perfect fiancé" in an Instagram post. 

A few months later, the couple revealed that they were expecting a baby — and that Lee's pregnancy was more than six months along at that point. "We are over the moon, filled with joy, love, and so excited," she told Us Weekly that November. Their first child, son Thomson Wylde, arrived in January 2019. Later that same year, the two tied the knot in a November ceremony held at Sunstone Vineyards & Winery in San Ynez, California. The bride took her husband's last name, making it official by changing her Instagram handle to Jessica Rose Lee Welling. Their family expanded further when they were joined by a second son in 2021, Rocklin Von. 

A few years before winning an Oscar for "The Whale," Brendon Fraser's complete transformation was well underway when he joined Tom Welling in the action-packed TV series "Professionals," which is loosely based on the 2012 film "Soldiers of Fortune." In the series, Frasier plays billionaire tech whiz Peter Swann, who hires Welling's character — an ex counterintelligence agent — to assemble a team of private soldiers to investigate after one of his company's satellites explodes.

According to Welling, portraying a tough character that isn't particularly likable was a big part of his attraction to the role. However, it was the opportunity to work with Fraser that really sealed the deal. In fact, Welling and Fraser got along so well that their friendship during filming threatened to hinder his performance, given that Fraser played his fiercely driven boss on the show. "It became a little more challenging when Brendon came on because him and I got along so well that when the cameras rolled, I would always have to remind myself that 'I don't like this guy,'" Welling said of his experience with staying in character to Nerds & Beyond in 2022. "Now we're really good friends. It was challenging on set because you're not supposed to have that connection, but you do in reality. We had a blast."

After completing work on "Professionals," Tom Welling returned to The CW, where the final seasons of "Smallville" had aired. This time, he guest-starred on "The Winchesters," a prequel spinoff of long-running network hit "Supernatural," which focused on demon-battling siblings Sam and Dean Winchester. While neither of the original show's stars appeared on screen, erstwhile Dean Winchester Jensen Ackles was onboard as a producer for the spinoff, which delved into the monster-hunting exploits of the brothers' parents.

Welling was cast in a key role, playing the brothers' grandfather, Samuel Campbell. He played the character for a total of three episodes during the one and only season of "The Winchesters." As Welling told Nerds & Beyond, he and Ackles are longtime friends, and Ackles had called him up to let him know they were seeking an actor similar to him for that important role. Various actors were being tested, none of whom brought what Ackles and his wife were looking for. Finally, Ackles experienced an epiphany. "He's like, 'Why don't we just get Tom Welling?' So, he called me, and he gave me the pitch," Welling recalled. 

According to Welling, Samuel Winchester was a joy to inhabit. "The character is sort of an Indiana Jones kind of guy," he explained. "It's great to be back on set with these guys and play a character that has an impact on the trajectory of the storyline of the main character," he added.

More than 10 years after "Smallville" came to an end, Tom Welling decided to rewatch every single episode of the series. He was not alone in this endeavor, nor was it just for kicks; he and former co-star Michael Rosenbaum — who portrayed Clark Kent's nemesis, Lex Luthor — launched the podcast "TalkVille," in which they planned to share their unique perspectives on each individual episode. "Looking forward to rewatching the series, sharing stories. and revealing insights from my time on 'Smallville,'" Welling said in a statement, per Variety. "Rewatching these old episodes with Tom is like going back in time ... and it's a happy place," Rosenbaum added. Those curious about what happened to the "Smallville" actor who played Lana Lang may be delighted to hear that co-star Kristin Kreuk also appeared on several podcast episodes.

That podcast wasn't the only "Smallville"-related endeavor that Welling and Rosenbaum were pursuing. In 2024, Welling confirmed that he and Rosenbaum were trying to mount an animated sequel series but had run into a pretty considerable obstacle, courtesy of the Hollywood studio that owns the rights to the series and all the associated intellectual property. "We want it to work," Welling told ScreenRant. "The honest answer is we have not been able to get Warner Brothers to give us the thumbs up. We need their permission." Welling was pragmatic in theorizing why the studio wasn't responding, revealing that it was really a labor of love, and the financial revenue that would be generated from an animated "Smallville" series was negligible. "I think because it's not a big financial gain for anybody, it's getting less [priority]," he added.

With plans for an animated sequel series to "Smallville" in a holding pattern, Welling continued taking acting jobs. These included the 2024 straight-to-video thriller "Clear Cut," a film about a group of loggers who cross paths with a vicious drug cartel after inadvertently stumbling across a meth lab. Welling took a supporting role amid a cast headlined by Alec Baldwin.

That same year, Welling starred in another film that bypassed cinemas, "Mafia Wars," in which he played a convict who receives an early release from prison in exchange for going undercover to bring down a mob boss. The film was shot in Rome, which proved to be a big perk for the actor. "It was just incredibly beautiful," Welling told Extra. "And any downtime we had, even in-between takes, you just kind of turn around and you're just like, 'This is fantastic.'"

During that interview, Welling admitted he was receptive to reprising his "Smallville" role again, a new willingness that he attributed to his sons. "I will say years ago the answer would have been easily no, but now that my two boys are 5 and 3 [years old], I'm a little more open to it," he admitted.

The second half of the 2020s did not get off to an auspicious start for Tom Welling. In late January of 2025, he was arrested by officers in Northern California and charged with driving under the influence. Welling was taken into police custody in an Arby's parking lot in the town of Yreka, with a blood alcohol level of more than 0.08%. He was released after several hours, with arraignment scheduled a few months later. 

While this mortifying arrest would seem to be among the tragic details about Welling, the outcome was not nearly as dire as it could have been. In June 2025, he entered a plea of no contest to a lesser charge, with the DUI charges then dismissed. He was ordered to pay a fine totalling $619 and an additional $150 in restitution. He was also sentenced to one-year probation and compelled to attend a DUI education program. At the time of writing, Welling had yet to publicly discuss the incident and the circumstances underlying his arrest.