Bruce McGill

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Bruce McGill

Bruce McGill (born 11 July 1950; age 73) is the American actor who played Braxton in the Star Trek: Voyager episode "Relativity". He took over the role from Canadian actor Allan G. Royal.

McGill was born in San Antonio, Texas, and graduated from The University of Texas at Austin with a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in acting. He is well-known for his role as Daniel Simpson Day (aka "D-Day") in the 1978 comedy film National Lampoon's Animal House, which co-starred fellow Voyager guest star Mark Metcalf. McGill reprised his role as D-Day in the short-lived Animal House television series which aired in 1979.

Since his appearance in Animal House, McGill has become highly recognized for his supporting roles in many other popular films, including My Cousin Vinny, The Insider, The Legend of Bagger Vance, Collateral, The Lookout, and Cinderella Man. He is also known for his numerous television appearances, including a recurring role on MacGyver and guest spots on the science fiction series Quantum Leap and Babylon 5.

Stage work

McGill began his professional stage acting career as a member of the Washington, District of Columbia-based National Shakespeare Company in 1973. Later that year, he joined Trinity Square Repertory Company of Providence, Rhode Island, where he remained until 1975. During his time with Trinity Square, he performed in such productions as Tom Jones, Peer Gynt, and Sherlock Holmes.

McGill made his Broadway stage debut in a revival of William Shakespeare's Hamlet at the Vivian Beaumont Theatre in 1975, in which he played the part of Oscric and understudied for the role of Laertes. He then appeared in a 1977 revival of The Cherry Orchard with David Clennon at the same venue.

In 1983, McGill was part of the original cast of the Broadway musical My One and Only. Among his co-stars in this production was DS9 regular Nana Visitor, making her Broadway debut. Both McGill and Visitor departed the show later in the year; the play closed in 1985 after 767 performances.

In January and February 2008, McGill worked alongside Sharon Lawrence in the Pasadena Playhouse production of Orson's Shadow.

Film career

Animal House was only McGill's second film, following 1977's Handle with Care (co-starring Ed Begley, Jr. and Charles Napier). Following Animal House, McGill landed supporting roles in such films as the Academy Award-nominated Silkwood (which also featured Jim Beaver and Bill Cobbs), the football comedy Wildcats (with Bruce French), Harold Ramis' vacation comedy Club Paradise (starring Joanna Cassidy and Andrea Martin), The Secret of My Success with Mark Margolis and the action comedy Three Fugitives (with Tim de Zarn, Alan Ruck, and Brian Thompson).

In the 1990s, McGill had roles in such popular films as The Last Boy Scout (with Frank Collison, Jack Kehler, Frank Kopyc, and Noble Willingham), the hit comedy My Cousin Vinny, Cliffhanger (with Vyto Ruginis, Zach Grenier, Jeff McCarthy and Paul Winfield), A Perfect World (with Keith Szarabajka), and Courage Under Fire (with Albert Hall, Tim Ransom, and Ned Vaughn). He was also the third male lead in the comic book-based science fiction thriller Timecop, which co-starred Scott Lawrence; his role of Eugene Matuzak would later be played by Don Stark in the TV series adaptation.

McGill had a supporting role in Michael Mann's acclaimed 1999 film The Insider, along with Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country actor Christopher Plummer. McGill reunited with Mann on two more films – the 2001 biographical drama Ali (which featured LeVar Burton, Michael Dorn, and Brad Greenquist) and the 2004 thriller Collateral.

McGill co-starred with DS9 regular Terry Farrell and TNG regular Wil Wheaton in the 2000 science fiction film Deep Core. McGill followed this with a major supporting role in the golf drama The Legend of Bagger Vance, which co-starred Harve Presnell. He then appeared in such hit films as Shallow Hal (with Jason Alexander), The Sum of All Fears (co-starring James Cromwell) Legally Blonde 2: Red, White & Blonde (with David Doty, Michael Krawic, James Read, Bruce Thomas, Ruth Williamson, Carolyn Hennesy, Monika Spruch, and Keone Young), Matchstick Men (with Tim Kelleher) and Runaway Jury (with Bruce Davison).

More recently, McGill played boxing promoter Jimmy Johnston in the acclaimed 2005 film Cinderella Man, in which Ron Canada and Clint Howard also appeared. He then co-starred with Kirsten Dunst in the romantic comedy Elizabethtown and appeared in the film Slow Burn, a thriller starring Star Trek: Enterprise's Jolene Blalock. He has since appeared in two films featuring actors from the upcoming film Star Trek: Behind Enemy Lines II: Axis of Evil, with Ben Cross; and Vantage Point, co-starring Zoe Saldana.

McGill has a role in the drama A Line in the Sand, directed and produced by Jeffrey Chernov. McGill was also seen as CIA Director George Tenet in Oliver Stone's W., a chronicle of the life and presidency of George W. Bush. He acted alongside James Cromwell in this film. McGill's film credits in 2009 have included the hit thriller Obsessed and the action thriller Law Abiding Citizen, the latter of which also stars veteran Star Trek guest actor Gregory Itzin and TNG/DS9 regular Colm Meaney. His upcoming films include The Perfect Game, starring Clifton Collins, Jr., and Fair Game with David Andrews. Reuniting with Gregory Itzin and Dakin Matthews, McGill can currently be seen portraying Secretary of War Edwin McMasters Stanton in the Steven Spielberg directed Civil War biopic Lincoln (2012) with Grainger Hines.

Television work

Between 1986 and 1992, McGill made frequent appearances as Jack Dalton on the television action drama series MacGyver. He worked with several Star Trek alumni during his time on this series, including performers John Anderson, Leslie Bevis, Roger Aaron Brown, Robin Curtis, Anthony De Longis, Judy Geeson, Teri Hatcher, Lance LeGault, Gary Lockwood, Tzi Ma, Patricia McPherson, Ned Romero, Gregory Sierra, Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa, and Vic Tayback, and directors Cliff Bole, Charles Correll, and Michael Vejar. In one episode, DS9 guest actress Constance Towers played McGill's character's mother. This episode was directed by Rob Bowman.

In 1987, McGill co-starred in the made-for-TV adaptation of Walter Tevis' novel, The Man Who Fell to Earth. Also part of this film's cast were TNG's Wil Wheaton and VOY's Robert Picardo. That same year, McGill was seen in the TV movie The Last Innocent Man with Clarence Williams III.

McGill has guest-starred in two episodes of the science fiction series Quantum Leap – the pilot episode in 1989 and the series finale in 1993. This series starred Scott Bakula and Dean Stockwell, both of whom later worked on Star Trek: Enterprise. The finale was directed by James Whitmore, Jr., and also featured Dan Butler, Susan Diol, Mike Genovese, Richard Herd, Stephen McHattie, and W. Morgan Sheppard.

During the 1995-1996 television season, McGill starred in UPN's short-lived series Live Shot. Fellow Star Trek alumni Sam Anderson, David Birney, David Coburn, and Jeff Yagher were also regulars on this series. Other Star Trek performers who appeared on the show include Casey Biggs, Chase Masterson, Dion Anderson, John Schuck, Lee Arenberg, Hal Landon, Jr., Cully Fredricksen and Kenneth Tigar.

In 1996, McGill guest-starred as Major Ed Ryan on another science fiction series, Babylon 5. Bill Mumy and Andreas Katsulas were regulars on the series at the time; Phil Morris and James Parks were also in McGill's episode, entitled "Severed Dreams."

In a blooper from McGill's Babylon 5 episode, Bruce Boxleitner (as Captain John J. Sheridan) asks McGill's character where General Hague is, to which McGill responds, "General Hague... is doing Deep Space Nine. It seems he was double-booked by his agent and there was nothing to be done. So you'll have to do with me, sir." This is a reference to what actually occurred.[1] General Hague was portrayed by Robert Foxworth and he could not return to his role on Babylon 5 because he had indeed been double-booked by his agent and guest starring on Deep Space Nine as Admiral Leyton in the episodes "Homefront" and "Paradise Lost" at the time episodes where he had been cast were scheduled to shoot.

In 2001, McGill was among the many Trek performers to have a role in the acclaimed HBO movie 61*; his co-stars included Seymour Cassel, Robert Costanzo, J.D. Cullum, Charles Esten, Bob Gunton, Robert Joy, Christopher McDonald, Michael Nouri and, as a pair of writers, Dell Yount and Enterprise star Connor Trinneer. The following year, McGill appeared in two more acclaimed TV movies: the Emmy Award-nominated Path to War (with Cliff DeYoung and Albert Hall) and the Emmy Award-winning Live from Baghdad (with John Carroll Lynch).

McGill had a recurring role on Wolf Lake, the short-lived series focusing on a town of werewolves in the North-Western United States. Bill Mondy, Gregory Itzin, Sharon Lawrence, Sam Anderson, and the late Kellie Waymire also worked on this series. He has since appeared on such television shows as The Practice, CSI, and Law & Order: Criminal Intent. He also appeared in an episode of CBS' Numb3rs with Steven Culp and an episode of Psych in which he and Richard Riehle play fellow firefighters.

External links

• Bruce McGill at Wikipedia
• Template:IMDb-link