A rough-hewn, prolific character actor best known for his striking portrayals of genre villains, Michael Ironside began as a writer in his native Canada, where he wrote and produced his first play at age 15. While attending the Ontario College of Art, he wrote, directed and starred in his first film "Down Where the Lights Are", which attracted the attention of actor-director Janine Manatis. She cast him in a Canadian TV version of John Osborne's "Look Back in Anger", the first of many Canadian TV and film projects he would undertake before relocating to California in 1983. An early highlight from this period was David Cronenberg's psychic thriller, "Scanners" (1980), wherein the evil Ironside uttered the immortal line, "Let's do this the Scanner way . . . I'm going to suck your brain dry!"
Once in Los Angeles, Ironside landed a leading role as Ham Tyler in NBC's miniseries "V: The Final Battle" (1984) and subsequent "V: The Series" (1984-85), after which he pursued his film career, working with distinguished directors like John Schlesinger ("The Falcon and the Snowman", 1985), Walter Hill ("Extreme Prejudice", 1987), and Paul Verhoeven ("Total Recall", 1990). Ironside segued to screenwriting and producing with the Canadian feature "Chaindance" (1991) and followed up with roles as the evil park owner in "Free Willy" (1993) and the baddie opposing Pat Morita in "The Next Karate Kid" (1994). He created the character of Dr. William Swift who shows up periodically on NBC's "ER" and joined the cast of "seaQuest DSV" (NBC) as a regular for its 1994-95 season. Ironside reteamed with Verhoeven to play a schoolteacher who joins in the fight against invading insects in "Starship Troopers" (1997).
- Born:
February 12, 1950 in Toronto, Ontario, Canada
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Job Titles:
Actor, Producer, Screenwriter, Director, Editor, Playwright
Family
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Daughter: Adrienne Katrina Ironside. born c 1974; mother is Ironside s first wife; acted with father in Captive (lensed 1997)
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Father: Robert Walter Ironside.
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Mother: Patricia June Ironside.
Significant Others
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Wife: . divorced; mother of Adrienne
Education
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Ontario College of Art, Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Milestones
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1965 Wrote first play at age 15, The Shelter , which won first prize in a Canada-wide university contest; produced the play with the prize money
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1978 Feature acting debut, High-ballin
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1979 American TV-movie debut, The Family Man (CBS)
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1980 Shone in David Cronenberg s Scanners ; Cronenberg rewrote and expanded the part of Darryl Revok for Ironside
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1983 Moved to L.A.
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1984 Had a lead role in the NBC miniseries V: The Final Battle and its subsequent spin-off V: The Series
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1986 Appeared as Tom Cruise s flight instructor Dick Jester Weatherly in Tony Scott s Top Gun
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1987 Led a hi-tech commando unit in Walter Hill s Extreme Prejudice
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1987 Portrayed Harry Bennett in syndicated miniseries Ford: The Man and the Machine
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1990 First film with director Paul Verhoeven, Total Recall , playing the sociopathic intelligence agent Richter
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1991 Feature screenwriting and co-producing debut (also actor), Chaindance
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1994 Created the recurring character of Dr William Swift on the hit NBC medical drama ER
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1994 Joined cast of the NBC series seaQuest DSV
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1994 Played Colonel Dugan (the villain opposing Pat Morita) in The Next Karate Kid
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1994 Starred with Bruce Dern in USA Network movie Dead Man s Revenge
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1997 Reteamed with Verhoeven for Starship Troopers
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1998 Starred opposite Frederic Forrest in One of Our Own
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2000 Had featured role in The Perfect Storm
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2000 Played the abusive, alcoholic stepfather in Crime and Punishment in Suburbia
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2004 Starred with Christian Bale in The Machinist
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Canadian TV debut, Look Back in Anger
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Formed Wilmont Productions with producer Richard Davis
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While in college, wrote, directed, edited, produced and acted in first film, Down Where the Lights Are , attracting the attention of actor-director Janine Manatis, whom Ironside has called a major influence