Biography
Canadian character actor Bruce Greenwood spent the 1970s working in regional Vancouver theater, and appeared in many Canadian TV shows during the '80s. His first American film was a walk-on role in Rambo: First Blood. In the U.S., he fared much better with television pilots, miniseries, and made-for-TV movies. His first big role was Dr. Seth Griffin on St. Elsewhere from 1986-1988. Other TV projects included
The FBI Murders,
The Servants of Twilight, and Summer Dreams: The Story of the Beach Boys. By the '90s, he had found a home for himself on television. Greenwood played Pierce Lawson in 1991 on the evening soap opera
Knots Landing, earned a Gemini (the Canadian Emmy) nomination for
The Little Kidnappers, and then took home an award for his role in
Road to Avonlea. He also starred as Thomas Veil on the UPN dramatic series
Nowhere Man and guest starred as Roger Bingham on the HBO comedy series
The Larry Sanders Show. He did quite well on NBC, as well, appearing in many TV movies (including Naomi & Wynonna: Love Can Build a Bridge) and starring in the sci-fi mystery show
Sleepwalkers as Dr. Nathan Bradford.
Greenwood made the leap to the big screen with a fellow Canadian, Egyptian-born filmmaker
Atom Egoyan. In
Exotica, he played the troubled Francis, a tax collector obsessed with a stripper. The film was a hit at the Cannes Film Festival, and Greenwood re-teamed with the director for his next film,
The Sweet Hereafter, which won a special jury prize at Cannes, while Greenwood was nominated for a Genie award for his supporting role of mourning father Billy Ansell. By contrast, he played bad guys in mainstream thrillers in the '90s, with starring roles in
Disturbing Behavior,
Hide and Seek,
Double Jeopardy, and
Rules of Engagement He may be most well known, however, for playing President John F. Kennedy during the Cuban Missile Crisis in the political thriller
Thirteen Days, for which he won a Golden Satellite Award. With this role under his belt, Greenwood moved into more dramatic territory with the A&E miniseries
The Magnificent Ambersons as well as a dual role in Egoyan's
Ararat. In 2003, he produced fellow Canadian
Deepa Mehta's film
The Republic of Love and appeared in the action comedy
Hollywood Homicide and the sci-fi thriller
The Core. Projects for 2004 include
Being Julia, I, Robot, and
Racing Stripes. ~ Andrea LeVasseur, All Movie Guide