Background:

An attractive, light-haired leading man, Canadian character actor Bruce Greenwood had built a fertile career with more than 80 projects under his belt since the late 1970s. On the small screen, he is perhaps best known for his roles in the NBC medical drama “St. Elsewhere” (1986-1988, as Dr. Seth Griffin) and the UPN dramatic series “Nowhere Man” (1995-1996, starred as Thomas Veil). He took home a Gemini (Canadian Emmy) nomination after playing supporting role Dr. Willem Hooft in the made-for-TV film The Little Kidnappers (1990), and finally won the award for his significant appearance in one episode of “Road to Avonlea,” four years later. Other memorable works include Danielle Steel’s Mixed Blessings’ (1995), Naomi & Wynonna: Love Can Build a Bridge (1995) and Judith Krantz’s Dazzle (1995). Additionally, he has starred in such short-lived series as the NBC series “Legmen” (1984), “Sleepwalkers” (1998), and lent the voice of Chiron Star in the animated serial “Class of the Titans” (2006).

A prolific TV actor, Greenwood, who made his American debut with a walk-on role in Rambo: First Blood (1982) starring the Sylvester Stallone, had a sporadic roles in films until the late’90s. He made a name for himself in his native of Canada with director Atom Egoyan’s films Exotica (1994), The Sweet Hereafter (1997) and Ararat (2002). American audiences are maybe well-recognized the performer for playing terrible characters such as in the horror/thriller Disturbing Behavior (1998), the highly successful Double Jeopardy (1999) and Rules of Engagement (2000). In 2000, he offered one of his best performances to date, starring as the US President John F Kennedy in the political thriller Thirteen Days, where he nabbed a Golden Satellite Award. In more recent movies, Greenwood is outstanding in Hollywood Homicide (2003), The Core (2003), I, Robot (1004, with Will Smith), Being Julia (2004, earned a Genie nod), Racing Stripes (2005) and Eight Below (2006).

50-year-old Greenwood will star in the forthcoming Firehouse Dog (2006), the thriller Deja Vu (2006, opposite Denzel Washington) and The Mermaid Chair (2006, TV).

Off camera, Greenwood is an avid outdoor man. He likes skiing, hiking, sailing and skydiving. Also a passionate musician, he sings and playing the electric guitar, and was once served as a singer-guitarist for a Canadian rock band before moving to Los Angeles. He is married to Susan Devlin since 1985, and has a child with her.


Greendog

Childhood and Family:

Born Stuart Bruce Greenwood, on August 12, 1956, in Noranda, Québec, Canada, Bruce Greenwood spent his early years in several places such as Princeton, NJ, Washington DC and Bethesda, Maryland before moving to Vancouver at the age of 11. Mostly raised in Vancouver, the son of Hugh John Greenwood and Mary Sylvia Ledingham attended Magee secondary school in the Kerrisdale area of Vancouver. But, he had to finish his high school in Zurich, Switzerland, where his family lived for 13 months while his dad did research. Bruce, who earned nicknamed Greendog while growing up, then lived on his own and started to explore the European ski circuit. At age 16, he suffered a knee injury that abruptly cut short his dream of becoming a professional skier. Back to Vancouver, Bruce attended the University of British Columbia, where his father was Head of the Geology Department. He studied philosophy and economics for three years. He spent a year full at The American Academy of Dramatic Arts in New York City in early 1980s.

Bruce was happily married to his teen girlfriend, Susan Devlin, in 1985. He dated his wife for the first time when they were both 15 years old. The couple has one child.


Nowhere Man

Career:

Québec-born, Vancouver-raised Bruce Greenwood originally wanted to become a professional skier, but a knee injury at age 16 was an obstacle. In the mid-‘70s, he became interested in acting after watching a performance by Brad Dourif in “One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest” (1975), and made his professional debut as a stage actor in Vancouver in the production of “Scapino,” the following year. More roles in local productions followed, including a lead in the musical “Cruel Tears” (1977), and by the late 1970s, he had broken the Canadian cinematic industry with a small role in Alistair MacLean’s Bear Island (1979), playing technician Tommy. The adventure starred Donald Sutherland and Vanessa Redgrave. He then had a recurring role in the Canadian series “Huckleberry Finn and His Friends” (1980), acted in a production of “Beat” (1981), and in 1982, made his last stage appearance for a decade with a role in “A State of Grace.” The same year, he debuted on American movie with a walk-on role in the Sylvester Stallone vehicle Rambo: First Blood. After a role in the pilot of HBO’s “The Hitchhiker” (1983), Greenwood headed to Los Angeles to further pursue his acting career.

A year later, Greenwood scored his first regular as a university student who earns some extra money by working for a sleazy private investigator in the NBC series “Legmen.” Unfortunately, it was a short-lived. Undaunted, he took on recurring roles in several TV series, including “Jessie” (1984) and “Danger Bay” (1986), and appeared in numerous TV films such as Peyton Place: The Next Generation (1985) and Striker’s Mountain (1985) before hitting the big time with his breakthrough role of Dr. Seth Griffin, the brash doctor who discovered religion when he deals AIDS, in the NBC medical drama “St. Elsewhere” (1986-1988).

After his role in “St. Elsewhere,” Greenwood’s TV career took flight. He was seen in numerous projects such as In the Line of Duty: The F.B.I. Murders (1988), the USA Network movie Spy (1989), Summer Dreams: The Story of the Beach Boys (1990, as Dennis Wilson) and “Knots Landing” (1991-1992). In the made-for-TV film The Little Kidnappers (1990), Greenwood received a Gemini (Canadian Emmy) nod for Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role for playing Dr. Willem Hooft. He finally took home a statue, this time for his brilliant guest staring role of Caleb Stokes in an episode of “Road to Avonlea” (1994). He also starred as Dave Logan in the brief Fox sitcom “Hardball” (1994), and by the time he assumed the lead of the documentary photographer Thomas Veil on the UPN dramatic series “Nowhere Man” (1995-1996), Greenwood had achieved a star status. The same year, he was also well-received as a first-time father-to-be in the NBC film Danielle Steel’s Mixed Blessings,’ as the husband of Naomi Judd in Naomi & Wynonna: Love Can Build a Bridge, and for playing Casey Nelson in Judith Krantz’s Dazzle.

From the mid-1980s to the mid 1990s, Greenwood was sporadically seen in movies. Among his projects were the Canadian productions The Climb (1986), The Malibu Bikini Shop (1986, starred with Michael David Wright), the Atom Egoyan-directed Exotica (1994, portrayed a tax collector obsessed with a stripper) as well as Paint Cans (1994). He also appeared in Hollywood productions like Another Chance (1989, with Vanessa Angel), the Mickey Rourke and Jacqueline Bisset starring vehicle Wild Orchid (1990), the horror/thriller Servants of Twilight (1991, opposite Jarrett Lennon) and Passenger 57 (1992, starred Wesley Snipes and Bruce Payne).

In 1997, after roles in television movies Tell Me No Secrets and The Absolute Truth, Greenwood found himself acting with Robin Williams and Billy Crystal in the comedy film Fathers’ Day as well as reuniting with a fellow Canadian, Egyptian-born filmmaker Egoyan for The Sweet Hereafter, a drama which netted a special jury prize at Cannes. For his superb presentation in the latter, where he was cast as sorrow father Billy Ansell, whose two children were killed in a tragic bus accident, Greenwood was handed a Genie nomination for Best Actor. He then had a supporting role in the crime/drama film Thick as Thieves (1998, starred Alec Baldwin), guest starred as Roger Bingham in the HBO comedy series “The Larry Sanders Show” (1997-98), starred with Naomi Watts in the short-lived NBC drama “Sleepwalkers” (1998), took on the evil role of Dr. Edgar Caldicott in the horror/thriller Disturbing Behavior (1998, starred James Marsden, Katie Holmes and Nick Stahl), appeared in the drama/thriller The Lost Son (1999) and portrayed Ashley Judd’s scheming spouse in the hit Double Jeopardy (1999). 1999 also saw roles in two television films The Color of Courage (starred Linda Hamilton) and The Soul Collector (opposite Melissa Gilbert).

Following supporting roles in the romance film Here on Earth and the thriller Cord (both 2000), Greenwood again undertook a bad guy role, this time playing immoral National Security Advisor Bill Sokal in Rules of Engagement (2000). But, it was his nuanced portrayal of US President John F Kennedy in the political thriller Thirteen Days (2000) that propelled Greenwood’s movie career to a new level of appreciation, especially after picking up a Golden Satellite. After a two-year away from filmmaking, during this time he appeared on the small screen, Greenwood rejoined Egoyan in Ararat (2002), followed by performances in the WWII submarine thriller Below (2002), the director Guy Ritchie’s Razzie-winning remake Swept Away (2002), the sci-fi/ thriller The Core (2003), the Ron Shelton-helmed comedy Hollywood Homicide (2003, starred Harrison Ford) and the Deepa Mehta’s The Republic of Love (2003, also a producer).

In 2004, Greenwood attracted the public’s interest when he joined Will Smith in the sci-fi/ thriller I, Robot, Alex Proyas’ adaptation of Isaac Asimov’s classic book of sci-fi short stories. The film cast him as Lawrence Robertson, the megalomaniacal CEO of U.S. Robotics who is suspected of kill by a disbelieving detective. The same year, he earned a Genie nomination for Best Supporting Actor for his role of Lord Charles, opposite Annette Bening, in Being Julia, starred in the FX original movie Meltdown, played Arnie in The Life (2004, TV) as well as acted in The Riverman (2004, TV). The following years found roles in the combination live-action and animated comedy Racing Stripes (2005), Saving Milly (2005, TV), Mee-Shee: The Water Giant (2005), Capote (2005, as the long-time lover of Philip Seymour Hoffman’s Truman Capote) and The World’s Fastest Indian (2005).

Recently starring with Paul Walker in Frank Marshall’s family film Eight Below (2006), he is scheduled to play roles in the upcoming films Firehouse Dog (2006), director Tony Scott’s thriller Deja Vu (2006, opposite Denzel Washington) and The Mermaid Chair (2006, TV). As for series, Greenwood provided his voice to the animated show “Class of the Titans” (2006), as Chiron Star.


Awards:

• Golden Satellite: Thirteen Days, 2000
• Gemini: Road to Avonlea, 1994