Michael Ironside

Michael Ironside
at the 2004 London Film and Comic Con
Born	Frederick Reginald Ironside February 12, 1950 (1950-02-12) (age 59) Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Occupation	Actor, Voice actor, Film producer, Screenwriter, Film director, Film editor, Playwright
Years active	1977–present
Spouse(s)	Karen Dimwiddie (1986-present)

Michael Ironside (born February 12, 1950) is a Canadian actor. He has also worked as a voice actor, producer, film director, and screenwriter in movie and television series in various Canadian and American works. He is best known for playing villains, "tough guy" heroes and amputees, though he has also portrayed sympathetic characters. Ironside is a method actor, who stays in character between takes.

Biography

Early life

Ironside was born Frederick Reginald Ironside^[1] in Toronto, Ontario, the son of Patricia June (née Passmore), a homemaker, and Robert Walter Ironside, who worked in maintenance as a street lighting technician and laborer.^[1] He is of English, Scottish and Irish descent. He attended the Ontario College of Art in Toronto and wrote a play at the age of fifteen, "The Shelter", winning the first prize in a university contest.^[2] He also won the Senior writing award for Riverdale Collegiate Institute in 1967.

Career

One of Ironside's first roles was a memorable turn as evil telepath Darryl Revok in Scanners (1981), an early film by David Cronenberg. His breakthrough role was in the television miniseries V: The Final Battle (1984) as Ham Tyler. He is also known for his roles in Top Gun (1986) as Naval Aviator Lieutenant Commander Rick 'Jester' Heatherly, Extreme Prejudice (1987) as Major Paul Hackett, and Total Recall (1990) as Richter (the murderous henchman of Ronny Cox's villain Cohaagen). Ironside played the villainous General Katana in the sci-fi sequel Highlander II: The Quickening (1991) and, after a brief stint in ER's inaugural season, he was tapped to replace Roy Scheider as captain of the high-tech submarine seaQuest in the third season of seaQuest DSV as Captain Oliver Hudson. However, NBC cancelled the series after only thirteen episodes with Ironside as the star. In 1992, he starred as M. Emmet Walsh's brother in David Winning's thriller Killer Image.In 1997, Ironside was reunited with Total Recall director Paul Verhoeven for Starship Troopers. He also appeared in The Perfect Storm (2000) and The Machinist (2004). He also starred in the movie "Common Grounds" as a small time crook, unable to make it on the outside, who was paired up with a handicapped man.

Ironside has also been recognized for his voice acting. He played iconic comic book villain Darkseid in Superman: The Animated Series and its spin-off, Justice League to great accolade. In one episode of The New Batman Adventures, he played Batman in a Batman: The Dark Knight Returns sequence. Another part he also happened to play in the DC Comics universe was Lois Lane's father, General Sam Lane in two episodes of Smallville.

He appeared as "Miler Cane" in "The A-Team" episode "Taxicab Wars" (1983).

He has also worked in video games as the voice-talents of Tom Clancy's character Sam Fisher in the Splinter Cell games and is cast as the Global Defense Initiative's Lieutenant General Jack Granger in Command & Conquer 3: Tiberium Wars. Ironside recently signed a 5-year deal to portray Captain Jonas Trager in the Spaceworks Television scifi series, Ice Planet.

In 2009 he stars in "The Beacon" under the direction of Michael Stokes^[3].

Personal life

Michael Ironside has a daughter Findlay (born 1998) by second wife Karen and daughter Adrienne Lynne Ironside is from a previous marriage.

Filmography

Actor

• Outrageous (1977)
• Deadly Companion (1980)
• Scanners (1981)
• Visiting Hours (1982)
• Spacehunter: Adventures in the Forbidden Zone (1983)
• V: The Final Battle (1984)
• The Cap (1984)
• Terror in the Aisles (1984)
• V: The Series (1984-1985)
• Murder in Space (TV series) (1985)
• Jo Jo Dancer, Your Life Is Calling (1986)
• Top Gun (1986)
• Extreme Prejudice (1987)
• Nowhere to Hide (1987)
• Hello Mary Lou: Prom Night II (1987)
• Watchers (1988)
• Chaindance (1990)
• Total Recall (1990)
• Highlander II: The Quickening (1991)
• McBain (1991)
• Guncrazy (1992)
• Neon City (1992)
• Killer Image (1992)
• Free Willy (1993)
• Tales from the Crypt (1993 and 1990)
• Bolt (1994)
• The Next Karate Kid (1994)
• Major Payne (1995)
• The Glass Shield (1995)
• seaQuest 2032 (1995)
• The Arrow (1997)
• Starship Troopers (1997)
• Captive (1998)
• Black Light (1998)
• Ivory Tower (1998)
• Chicago Cab (aka Hellcab) (1998)
• The Arrangement (1999)
• Blood Money (1999) -Detective Connor
• The Omega Code (1999)
• The Perfect Storm (2000)
• Borderline Normal (2000)
• Crime and Punishment in Suburbia (2000)
• Heavy Metal 2000 (2000) (voice)
• Walker, Texas Ranger (2000) (As the Chairman)
• Children of the Corn: Revelation (2001)
• Jett Jackson: The Movie (2001)
• Ignition (2001)
• Mindstorm (2001)
• The Last Chapter (2002)
• ER(2003)
• The Machinist (2004)
• Smallville (TV series) (2004)
• Andromeda (TV series) (2004)
• Young Blades (2005)
• Desperate Housewives (2005)
• Reeker (2005)
• Vampire Wars: Battle for the Universe (2005)
• Guy X (2005)
• Deepwater (2006)
• Stargate SG-1 (2006)
• Masters of Horror episode The V Word
• Command & Conquer 3: Tiberium Wars (2007) ...as Lieutenant General Jack Granger
• Ice Planet (2007)
• The Alphabet Killer (2008)
• Surveillance (2008)
• Terminator Salvation (2009)
• The Jazzman (2009) (completed) .... Bernie
• The Beacon (2009) (completed) .... Officer Ned Hutton
• Abduction of Jesse Bookman (2009) (post-production) .... Captain Jones
• Beneath the Blue (2009) (post-production) .... Blaine

... aka Way of the Dolphin (International: English title: informal alternative title) (USA: working title)

• Eve (2009/II) (post-production)
• Liberty (2009) (pre-production) .... Fischer

Voice acting

• in animated series
  • Superman: The Animated Series ...as Darkseid
  • The New Batman Adventures ...as "Dark Knight" Batman
  • Justice League / Justice League Unlimited ...as Darkseid
  • Heavy Metal 2000 ...as Tyler
  • Wolverine and the X-Men ...as Colonel Moss
• in video games
  • Run Like Hell (2002) ...as Cmdr. Mason
  • Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell (2002) ...as Sam Fisher
  • Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell: Pandora Tomorrow (2004) ...as Sam Fisher
  • Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell: Chaos Theory (2005) ...as Sam Fisher
  • Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell: Essentials (2006) ... as Sam Fisher
  • Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell: Double Agent (2006) ...as Sam Fisher
  • TimeShift (2006) ...as Doctor Krone
  • Command and Conquer 3: Tiberium Wars (2007) ...as Gen. Jack Granger
  • Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell: Conviction (2010) ...as Sam Fisher

Director

• The Arrangement (1999)
• Blood Money (1999 film) (1999)

Screenwriter

• Blood Money (1999 film) (1999)
• The Arrangement (1999)
• Chaindance (1990)

References

External links

• Michael Ironside at the Internet Movie Database
• Michael Ironside Interview at www.sci-fi-online.com