Bruce Greenwood was born August 12, 1956 in Noranda, Quebec, Canada. He and his two younger sisters, Kelly Louise and Barbara Lynn, grew up mainly in Vancouver, where their family moved when Bruce was 11. He went to Magee secondary school in the Kerrisdale area although he graduated from high school in Zurich, Switzerland, where his family lived for 13 months while his father did research. Bruce went on to attend the University of British Columbia for three years, where his father was Head of the Geology Department while his mother was a nurse with the extended care unit. He got interested in acting after seeing Brad Dourif’s performance as Billy Bibbit on One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest in 1975.
Greenwood started his own acting career in theater while in Vancouver, but was undecided about pursuing it until after his first professional play. He did various odd jobs while starting on his acting career and was supplementing his theatrical endeavors as a chemical factory worker, when he got his first movie role on Bear Island in 1979. His breakthrough came when he was cast as Dr. Seth Green on the hit `80s hospital drama, St. Elsewhere. He became known for his roles in several blockbusters, including I, Robot and Double Jeopardy. He was also in The Core, and played President John F. Kennedy in Thirteen Days. He later portrayed Truman Capote’s lover Jack Dunphy in Capote, and was seen in Eight Below and Firehouse Dog as well.
Greenwood had also been chosen by Canadian director Atom Egoyan to play characters in three of his films. These were in the award-winning Ararat, Exotica, and The Sweet Hereafter. Other credits of the actor include Mee-Shee: The Water Giant, The Malibu Bikini Shop, The World’s Fastest Indian, and the Bob Dylan biopic I’m Not There. On television, Greenwood was seen on Knots Landing, the UPN series Nowhere Man, on an episode of Road to Avonlea, and the HBO drama John from Cincinnati as Mitch Yost. Sicne then, he has had roles in National Treasure: Book of Secrets, The Summit, and the 2009 Star Trek film as Captain Christopher Pike.
(Photo courtesy of HBO)