Michael Ironside

Ironside was born in Toronto, Ontario, the son of Robert Walter Ironside and Patricia June (Passmore). His father was a street lighting technician and laborer,and his mother a homemaker. He is of English, Irish, and Scottish descent,and is one of 5 children.

The house he grew up in was small – 12 1/2 feet wide. Ironside attended the Ontario College of Art in Toronto and wrote a play at the age of 15, The Shelter, which won the first prize in a university contest.He also won the Senior writing award for Riverdale Collegiate Institute in 1967.

In a January 2010 interview,Ironside stated in response to a question about his many roles in science fiction movies that he has always been a big fan of science fiction and often received science fiction short story collections from his grandfather that he kept in a shoebox under his bed. He stated that his favourite science fiction novels are Dune by Frank Herbert and "anything involving adventure.

One of Ironside's first roles was a memorable turn as evil telepath Darryl Revok in Scanners (1981), an early film by David Cronenberg. He appeared as "Miler Crane" in The A-Team episode "Taxicab Wars" (1983). His breakthrough role was as cynical anti-hero Ham Tyler in the television miniseries V: The Final Battle (1984). He is also known for his roles in Top Gun (1986) as Naval Aviator Lieutenant Commander Rick 'Jester' Heatherly, Extreme Prejudice (1987) as Major Paul Hackett, and Total Recall (1990) as Richter (the murderous henchman of Ronny Cox's villain Cohaagen). Ironside played the villainous General Katana in the science fiction sequel Highlander II: The Quickening (1991) and, after a brief stint in ER's inaugural season, he was tapped to replace Roy Scheider as captain of the high-tech submarine seaQuest in the third season of seaQuest DSV as Captain Oliver Hudson. However, NBC cancelled the series after only thirteen episodes with Ironside as the star. In 1992, he starred as M. Emmet Walsh's brother in David Winning's thriller Killer Image. In 1997, Ironside was reunited with Total Recall director Paul Verhoeven for Starship Troopers. He also appeared in The Perfect Storm (2000) and The Machinist (2004). He also starred in the movie Chaindance as a small time crook, unable to make it on the outside, who was paired up with a handicapped man. Ironside recently starred as Resistance General Ashdown in Terminator Salvation, reunited with his co-star Christian Bale from The Machinist.

Ironside has also been recognized for his voice acting. He played iconic comic book villain Darkseid in Superman: The Animated Series and its sequel, Justice League to great accolade. In one episode of The New Batman Adventures, he played Batman in a Batman: The Dark Knight Returns sequence. Another part he also happened to play in the DC Comics universe was Lois Lane's father, General Sam Lane in three episodes of Smallville. He has also worked in video games as the voice-talents of Tom Clancy's character Sam Fisher in the Splinter Cell games and is cast as the Global Defense Initiative's Lieutenant General Jack Granger in Command & Conquer 3: Tiberium Wars. Ironside signed a 5-year deal to portray Captain Jonas Trager in the SpaceWorks Television science fiction series, Ice Planet but the show was not produced.

In 2009, he starred in The Beacon under the direction of Michael Stokes. In 2010, Ironside guest starred in Season 4, Episode 1 ("Friends and Enemies") of Burn Notice.

In 2011, Ironside appeared in the film: X-Men: First Class, playing the Captain of the 7th fleet. In 2012, Ironside appeared in Justified playing a supporting role as a Detroit hitman. In 2013, Ironside begun the voice role of Ultra Magnus in season 3 of the Transformers: Prime series.

Ironside is married to Karen Marls Dinwiddie. Michael and Karen have two daughters: Adrienne Lynn Ironside (from Ironside's previous marriage) and Findlay Ironside (born 1998).

He has twice survived cancer – thyroid, then prostate.