Bruce Greenwood earned rave reviews for his dazzling portrayal of John F.
Kennedy in the Cuban missile crisis drama THIRTEEN DAYS. The 2001 film
also brought him the unsought-after media attention that his subtle and
beautifully detailed heroes and villains - the comic, the romantic, the
bruised and the beaten, the mysterious and the evil - have long deserved.
He is ambivalent about this limelight. Certainly it offers great
opportunity, but it can be a too-bright place for one so essentially
private. In interviews Greenwood is masterly as he charms, entertains and
provokes, somehow managing to deflect personal attention.
There is this much: After an accident shattered both his knee and his
dream of skiing professionally, he enrolled at the University of British
Columbia, where he discovered and fell in love with acting. His decision
to carve a career from this passion was followed, expectedly, by a period
of benign poverty and an array of odd and occasionally dangerous jobs.
That changed in the mid-'80s when, as Dr. Seth Griffith of the acclaimed
St. Elsewhere, he established himself as a leading man. During the next
ten years he worked constantly, starring in television movies and series
including the short-lived, deeply revered Nowhere Man (1995-96). Since
1997, Greenwood has focused his considerable energy on feature films,
creating a staggering range of characters. Until THIRTEEN DAYS, he was
best known to moviegoers as the husband-victim-villain in DOUBLE JEOPARDY
with Tommy Lee Jones and Ashley Judd. But his greatest acclaim had come
from his work in independent film: as the grieving father in Atom
Egoyan's searing THE SWEET HEREAFTER (1997), for which he received a Genie
nomination as Best Actor, and for his star turn in Egoyan's earlier
EXOTICA (1994).
In demand by studios and independent filmmakers, he continues to work for
both. In the past two years he has starred in the supernatural thriller
BELOW for Miramax; taken on featured roles in ARARAT, his third film with
Egoyan, and Madonna's SWEPT AWAY; and co-starred in Paramount's adventure
THE CORE and opposite Harrison Ford and Josh Hartnett in HOLLYWOOD
HOMICIDE. He recently commuted between Vancouver and Budapest in order to
finish I ROBOT with Will Smith and BEING JULIA opposite Annette Bening,
and recently finished shooting RACING STRIPES in South Africa. His
independent film REPUBLIC OF LOVE, shot last fall in Toronto, premiered at
the Toronto Film Festival and opened in theatres recently.
Think Film Co.
Sony Pictures