Smallville’s Superman Actor Tom Welling Arrested for DUI at California Arby’s

Former Superman actor Tom Welling has been arrested for driving under the influence. According to TMZ, the Smallville star was arrested in an Arby’s parking lot in Yreka, California early Monday morning. Per the police records, Welling’s blood alcohol was reported at or above 0.08 percent. Additional details were not provided. It was also noted that prior to Welling’s arrest just after midnight on Monday, the actor had taken to social media to wish his wife, Jessica Rose Lee, a happy birthday earlier on Sunday. Welling has not addressed the arrest as of the time of this article’s writing.

Welling is best known for his role as Clark Kent in Smallville, a role he played for ten seasons across The WB and The CW, the latter of which served as the successor network to The WB after it merged with UPN in 2006. Beyond his work as Clark Kent/Superman, Welling also appeared in another DC Comics-inspired series, Lucifer, where he played Lieutenant Marcus Pierce/Cain in Season 3. More recently, he appeared on The CW’s Supernatural spinoff, The Winchesters. Welling also recently starred in the action film, Mafia Wars.

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Welling also revisited his Smallville role briefly in 2019, appearing in The CW’s Arrowverse franchise crossover event Crisis on Infinite Earths. The appearance touched base with Welling’s Clark on Earth-167 and revealed that Clark gave up his powers to have a normal life with his family — meaning that he was no longer impacted by Kryptonite. Welling’s Smallville co-star Erica Durance also appeared as Lois.

“I was asked to be in a lot of other shows after Smallville ended, I was asked to sort of appear in them as Clark and it never felt like their tone was the same as Clark was or what Smallville was,” Welling explained in 2024. “I still believe that in the crossover what you see Clark doing and giving up his powers and being with Lois for their family, that might not be the Clark from Smallville because it’s a multiverse.”

Welling is Hoping to Reprise His Smallville Role

Welling is also hopeful he will get to reprise his Smallville role, albeit in an animated capacity, though progress on that project got a disappointing update back in November. At that time, Welling revealed that Warner Bros. hadn’t responded to the pitch for the series Welling and former co-Star Michael Rosenbaum had been developing.

“We want it to work,” Welling said at the time. “The honest answer is we have not been able to get Warner Bros. to give us the thumbs up. We need their permission.”