Biography
He burst onto the international scene as a malevolent telepath in David Cronenberg's gory "Scanners" (1981) and bounced between heels and anti-heroes for the next decade. His ubiquitous presence in everything from low-budget thrillers to straight drama boosted him to Hollywood features in the late '80s and early '90s, as well as television series like "ER" (NBC, 1994-2009) and "Seaquest DSV" (NBC, 1993-96), and continued to divide his time …
Latest Tv Credits
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Career Milestones
| Canadian TV debut, "Look Back in Anger" | ||
| Formed Wilmont Productions with producer Richard Davis | ||
| 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 | ||
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 | |
1978 | Feature acting debut, "High-ballin'" | |
1979 | American TV-movie debut, "The Family Man" (CBS) | |
1980 | Shone in David Cronenberg's "Scanners"; Cronenberg rewrote and expanded the part of Darryl Revok for Ironside | |
1983 | Moved to L.A. | |
1984 | Had a lead role in the NBC miniseries "V: The Final Battle" and its subsequent spin-off "V: The Series" | |
1986 | Appeared as Tom Cruise's flight instructor Dick 'Jester' Weatherly in Tony Scott's "Top Gun" | |
1987 | Led a hi-tech commando unit in Walter Hill's "Extreme Prejudice" | |
1987 | Portrayed Harry Bennett in syndicated miniseries "Ford: The Man and the Machine" | |
1990 | First film with director Paul Verhoeven, "Total Recall", playing the sociopathic intelligence agent Richter | |
1991 | Feature screenwriting and co-producing debut (also actor), "Chaindance" | |
1994 | Created the recurring character of Dr William Swift on the hit NBC medical drama "ER" | |
1994 | Joined cast of the NBC series "seaQuest DSV" | |
1994 | Played Colonel Dugan (the villain opposing Pat Morita) in "The Next Karate Kid" | |
1994 | Starred with Bruce Dern in USA Network movie "Dead Man's Revenge" | |
1997 | Reteamed with Verhoeven for "Starship Troopers" | |
1998 | Starred opposite Frederic Forrest in "One of Our Own" | |
2000 | Had featured role in "The Perfect Storm" | |
2000 | Played the abusive, alcoholic stepfather in "Crime and Punishment in Suburbia" | |
2004 | Starred with Christian Bale in "The Machinist" | |