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 [[Feature~V17472~Rambo: First Blood~firstblood]]. 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 [[Feature~V175363~St. Elsewhere~stelsewhere[tvseries]]] from 1986-1988. Other TV projects included [[Feature~V16489~The FBI Murders~thefbimurders]], [[Feature~V43775~The Servants of Twilight~theservantsoftwilight]], and [[Feature~V129235~Summer Dreams: The Story of the Beach Boys~summerdreams:thestoryofthebeachboys]]. 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 [[Feature~V127062~The Little Kidnappers~thelittlekidnappers]], and then took home an award for his role in [[Feature~V41570~Road to Avonlea~talesfromavonlea[tvseries]]]. He also starred as Thomas Veil on the UPN dramatic series Nowhere Man and guest starred as Roger Bingham on the HBO comedy series [[Feature~V263257~The Larry Sanders Show~thelarrysandersshow[tvseries]]]. He did quite well on NBC, as well, appearing in many TV movies (including [[Feature~V152211~Naomi & Wynonna: Love Can Build a Bridge~naomiwynonna:lovecanbuildabridge]]) and starring in the sci-fi mystery show [[Feature~V160252~Sleepwalkers~sleepwalkers]] as Dr. Nathan Bradford.
Greenwood made the leap to the big screen with a fellow Canadian, Egyptian-born filmmaker [[Performer~P88743~Atom Egoyan~atomegoyan]]. In [[Feature~V134260~Exotica~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, [[Feature~V155010~The Sweet Hereafter~thesweethereafter]], 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 [[Feature~V163040~Disturbing Behavior~disturbingbehavior]], [[Feature~V186889~Hide and Seek~hideandseek]], [[Feature~V180794~Double Jeopardy~doublejeopardy]], and [[Feature~V184519~Rules of Engagement~rulesofengagement]] He may be most well known, however, for playing [[Performer~P37720~President John F. Kennedy~johnfkennedy]] during the Cuban Missile Crisis in the political thriller [[Feature~V228585~Thirteen Days~thirteendays]], 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 [[Feature~V257355~The Magnificent Ambersons~themagnificentambersons]] as well as a dual role in [[Performer~P88743~Egoyan~atomegoyan]]'s [[Feature~V265820~Ararat~ararat]]. In 2003, he produced fellow Canadian [[Performer~P192088~Deepa Mehta~deepamehta]]'s film [[Feature~V290153~The Republic of Love~therepublicoflove]] and appeared in the action comedy [[Feature~V280226~Hollywood Homicide~hollywoodhomicide]] and the sci-fi thriller [[Feature~V267270~The Core~thecore]]. He continued to work steadily in a variety of projects including I, Robot, Racing Stripes, Capote, Déjà vu, and had a small part in Todd Haynes' 2007 idiosyncratic Bob Dylan biopic I'm Not There. That same year he played the president in the hit sequel National Treasure: Book of Secrets. He had a brief but memorable turn as Captain James T. Kirk's father in J.J. Abrams Star Trek, and played a bad guy in the comedy Dinner for Schmucks. He had a major role in the arty western Meek's Cutoff, and reteamed with Abrams when he appeared in the Spielberg homage Super 8. ~ Andrea LeVasseur, Rovi