Canadian actor David James Elliott was born David William Smith on September 21, 1960 in Milton, Ontario. He initially wanted to pursue a musical career, going as far as to dropping out of Milton District High School to focus on his other work as part of a band. He later returned to high school, upon realizing that this isn’t the right track for him. He then entered Ryerson University in Toronto, where he decided to pursue his opportunities as an actor. He auditioned, and subsequently entered, the Stratford Shakespearean Festival.
He later moved to Los Angeles, where he adopted his current screen name. He gained some semblance of popularity in 1986, when he appeared on the film Police Academy 3: Back in Training. From there, he appeared in numerous television shows and films, notably major roles in the television series Street Legal, The Untouchables and Melrose Place. He gained wider prominence, however, when he was cast as one of the leads in the military drama JAG, from 1995; he appeared as Captain Harm Rabb Jr., a former Navy pilot who became a military lawyer after being diagnosed with night blindness. He appeared together with actress Catherine Bell throughout the show’s ten-year run.
After JAG folded up, Elliott—by now an American citizen—appeared in a few other films and television shows, before taking a major role in the legal drama Close to Home. He joined the show’s second season as James Conlon, a prosecutor from New York and new boss of lead character Annabeth Chase (Jennifer Finnigan). His stay would be short-lived, however, as the series was cancelled at the end of the second season. In 2007, he joined the cast of the Canadian series The Guard, which centered on the personal and professional lives of members of the Canadian Coast Guard.