Michael Ironside

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 and "tough guy" heroes, though he has also portrayed sympathetic characters. Ironside is a method actor, who stays in character between takes.

Early life

Ironside was born as Frederick Reginald Ironside 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. 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. He also won the Senior writing award for Riverdale Collegiate Institute in 1967.

In a January 2010 interview, Michael Ironside stated in response to a question about his many roles in science fiction movies that he's always been a big fan of sci-fi and often received science fiction short story collections from his grandfather that he kept in a shoebox under his bed. He stated that his favorite science fiction novels are Dune by Frank Herbert and "anything involving adventure".

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 as cynical anti-hero Ham Tyler in the television miniseries V: The Final Battle (1984). 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 science fiction 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 recently starred as Resistance General Ashdown in Terminator Salvation, reunited with his co-star Christian Bale from The Machinist.

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 science fiction series, Ice Planet.

In 2009 he starred in The Beacon under the direction of Michael Stokes.

In 2010, Ironside guest starred in Season 4, Episode 1 ("Friends and Enemies") of Burn Notice.

Personal life

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)
• High-Ballin' (1978)
• Summer's Children (1979)
• Stone Cold Dead (1979)
• The Family Man (1979)
• Clown White (1980)
• Deadly Companion (1980)
• Suzanne (1980)
• Coming Out Alive (1980)
• Scanners (1981) .... Darryl Revok
• Surfacing (1981)
• Best Revenge (1982)
• Visiting Hours (1982)
• American Nightmare (1983)
• Spacehunter: Adventures in the Forbidden Zone (1983)
• The Sins of Dorian Gray (1983)
• Cross Country (1983)
• V: The Final Battle (1984)
• The Cap (1984)
• Terror in the Aisles (1984)
• The Surrogate (1984)
• V: The Series (1984-1985)
• The Falcon and the Snowman (1985)
• Murder in Space (1985)
• Jo Jo Dancer, Your Life Is Calling (1986)
• Top Gun (1986)
• Extreme Prejudice (1987)
• Ford: The Man and the Machine (1987)
• Nowhere to Hide (1987)
• Hello Mary Lou: Prom Night II (1987)
• Hostile Takeover (1988)
• Watchers (1988)
• Murder by Night (1989)
• Mindfield (1989)
• Thunderground (1989)
• Chaindance (1990)
• Total Recall (1990) .... Richter
• Highlander II: The Quickening (1991)
• Payback (1991)
• McBain (1991)
• Guncrazy (1992)
• Neon City (1992)
• Killer Image (1992)
• Deadly Surveillance (1991)
• The Vagrant (1992)
• Cafe Romeo (1992)
• Black Ice (1992)
• Marked for Murder (1993)
• Night Trap (1993)
• Sweet Killing (1993)
• Free Willy (1993)
• Father Hood (1993)
• Point of Impact (aka Spanish Rose) (1993)
• The Killing Machine (aka The Killing Man) (1994)
• Bolt (1994)
• Tokyo Cowboy (1994)
• Save Me (1994)
• Fortunes of War (1994)
• Dead Man's Revenge (1994)
• Forced to Kill (1994)
• Red Scorpion 2 (1994)
• The Next Karate Kid (1994)
• Red Sun Rising (1994)
• Probable Cause (1994)
• Singapore Sling: Road to Mandalay (1995)
• Tales from the Crypt (1990, 1995)
• Major Payne (1995)
• The Glass Shield (1995)
• seaQuest 2032 (1995)
• The Destiny of Marty Fine (1996)
• Terminal (1996)
• Too Fast Too Young (1996)
• Portraits of a Killer (1996)
• One Way Out (1996)
• Kids of the Round Table (1997)
• The Arrow (1997)
• One of Our Own (1997)
• Cold Night Into Dawn (1997)
• Starship Troopers (1997)
• Captive (1998)
• Black Light (1998)
• Ivory Tower (1998)
• Voyage of Terror (1998)
• Death Row the Tournament (1998)
• Going to Kansas City (1998)
• Johnny 2.0 (1998)
• Desert Blue (1998)
• Chicago Cab (aka Hellcab) (1998)
• The Arrangement (aka Blood Money) (1999)
• Question of Privilege (1999)
• Southern Cross (1999)
• A Twist of Faith (1999)
• The Omega Code (1999)
• Cause of Death (2000)
• The Perfect Storm (2000)
• Borderline Normal (2000)
• Crime and Punishment in Suburbia (2000)
• Heavy Metal 2000 (2000) (voice)
• Nuremberg (2000)
• Walker, Texas Ranger (2000) (As the Chairman)
• The Red Phone: Manhunt (2001)
• Down (aka The Shaft) (2001)
• Children of the Corn: Revelation (2001)
• Jett Jackson: The Movie (2001)
• Ignition (2001)
• Mindstorm (2001)
• Dead Awake (2001)
• Extreme Honor (2001)
• The Last Chapter (2002)
• ER (1995-2002)
• Fallen Angels (2002)
• Fairytales and Pornography (2002)
• Hemingway vs. Callaghan (2003)
• The Failures (2003)
• The Red Phone: Checkmate (2003)
• Maximum Velocity (2003)
• The Machinist (2004)
• Smallville (2004)
• Andromeda (2004)
• Young Blades (2005)
• Desperate Housewives (2005)
• Reeker (2005)
• Bloodsuckers (aka Vampire Wars: Battle for the Universe) (2005)
• Batman: The Dark Knight Returns (2005) .... Bruce Wayne/Batman
• Guy X (2005)
• Deepwater (2006)
• 1st Bite (2006)
• Disaster Zone: Volcano in New York (2006)
• Stargate SG-1 (2006)
• Masters of Horror episode The V Word (2006)
• The Veteran (2006)
• Command & Conquer 3: Tiberium Wars (2007) .... as Lieutenant General Jack Granger
• The Alphabet Killer (2008)
• Surveillance (2008)
• Storm Cell (2008)
• Mutants (2008)
• Terminator Salvation (2009) .... General Ashdown
• The Butcher (2009)
• Level 26: Dark Origins (2009)
• The Jazzman (2009) .... Bernie
• Hardwired (2009) .... Hal
• The Beacon (2009) .... Officer Ned Hutton
• Eva (2009)
• Abduction of Jesse Bookman (2009) .... Captain Jones
• The Bannen Way (2010) .... Chief Bannen
• Beneath the Blue (2010) (post-production) .... Blaine
• Castle (TV series) (2010) .... Victor Racine
• The Three Keepers' (2011) (filming) .... Laurence Robbins

Voice acting

• in animated series
  • Superman: The Animated Series ...as Darkseid
  • Justice League / Justice League Unlimited ...as Darkseid
  • Heavy Metal 2000 ...as Tyler
  • Wolverine and the X-Men ...as Colonel Moss
• in video games
  • Project I.G.I.: I'm Going In (2000) ...as David Llewellyn Jones (screams)(uncredited)
  • Run Like Hell (2002) ...as Cmdr. Mason
  • Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell (video game) (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 (aka Blood Money) (1999)

Screenwriter

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

External links

• Michael Ironside Interview at Sci-fi-online.com