Michael Ironside

Frederick Reginald Ironside (born February 12, 1950), known as Michael Ironside, is a Canadian actor, producer, director, and screenwriter. He is best known for playing villains and "tough guy" roles, but has also portrayed sympathetic characters. He has played Darryl Revok in Scanners (1981), LCDR Richard "Jester" Heatherly in Top Gun (1986), Richter in Total Recall (1990), Dial in Free Willy (1993), Lt. Jean Rasczak in Starship Troopers (1997), Miller in The Machinist (2004) and Eddie Williams in Nobody (2021). He has also voiced Darkseid in the DC Animated Universe (1997–2006), Sam Fisher in Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell (2002–10) and Ultra Magnus on Transformers: Prime (2013). Ironside was born in Toronto, Ontario, the son of Robert Walter Ironside and Patricia June Ironside (née Passmore). His father was a street lighting technician and laborer and his mother a housewife. He is of English, Irish and Scottish descent, and is one of five children. Ironside attended the Ontario College of Art in Toronto and at age 15 wrote a play, The Shelter, which won the first prize in a university contest. He also won the Senior writing award at Riverdale Collegiate Institute in 1968. Ironside specializes in playing villains and tough guys. One of his first roles was as evil telepath Darryl Revok in Scanners (1981), an early film by David Cronenberg. He played the role of a serial killer, Colt Hawker, in the 1982 slasher film Visiting Hours, directed by Jean-Claude Lord, and appeared as Miler Crane in The A-Team episode "Taxicab Wars" (1983).