Michael Ironside, who began life as Fred Ironside, got an early start in his career when he wrote a play at age 15 and saw it produced by Toronto’s Factory Lab. He studied at the Ontario College of Art, where he wrote, directed and acted in his film Down Where the Lights Are. He graduated with honors and then trained as a teaching aide at the college for one year. Janine Manatis, a director of a National Film Board workshop, saw Ironside’s film and invited him to train with other writers, directors and actors. She also cast him in his first television role in Look Back in Anger, which she directed for CBC. After working on many Canadian film and television productions, both in front of and behind the camera, he came to the fore in David Cronenberg’s sci-fi hit Scanners, earning a Genie Award nomination for Best Supporting Actor. This success was followed by roles in Total Recall and Top Gun to name just two in a long list of films. In 1998, he wrote and directed The Arrangement.
Also see: Hidden Assets on Super Channel
Features & TV Movies:
VR indicates Direct-to-Video Release
Outrageous! (1977)
The Last Campaign (1978)
High-Ballin’ (1978)
Stone Cold Dead (1979)
The Family Man (TV-1979)
Suzanne (1979)
Double Negative (1980)
Scanners (1981)
Surfacing (1981)
Best Revenge (1982)
Visiting Hours (1982)
American Nightmare (1983)
Spacehunter: Adventures in the Forbidden Zone (1983)
The Sins of Dorian Gray (TV-1983)
Cross Country (1983)
The Falcon and the Snowman (1984)
Coming Out Alive (1984)
The Surrogate (1984)
Murder in Space (TV-1985)
Jo Jo Dancer, Your Life is Calling (1986)
Top Gun (1986)
Nowhere to Hide (1987)
Hello Mary Lou: Prom Night II (1987)
Extreme Prejudice (1987)
Ford: The Man and the Machine (TV-1987)
Watchers (1988)
Hostile Takeover (1988)
Mindfield (1989)
Murder by Night (TV-1989)
Office Party (1989)
Payback (1990)
Destiny to Order (1990)
Chaindance (1990)
Total Recall (1990)
McBain (1991)
Highlander II – The Quickening (1991)
Drop Dead Gorgeous (TV-1991)
Deadly Surveillance (T19V-91)
Neon City (1991)
The Vagrant (1992)
Neon City (1992)
Killer Image (1992)
Gun Crazy (1992)
Cafe Romeo (1992)
Black Ice (1992)
Save Me (1993)
Red Sun Rising (1993)
Point of Impact (1993)
Night Trap (1993)
Fortunes of War (1993)
Forced to Kill (1993)
Father Hood (1993)
Marked For Murder (TV-1993)
Sweet Killing (1993)
Free Willy (1993)
Tokyo Cowboy (1994)
Sleepless (1994)
Red Scorpion 2 (1994)
The Killing Machine (1994)
The Glass Shield (1994)
Bolt (1994)
Dead Man’s Revenge (TV-1994)
The Next Karate Kid (1994)
The Probable Cause (TV-1994)
Too Fast Too Young (1995)
Singapore Sling: Road to Mandalay (1995)
Kids of the Round Table (1995)
Major Payne (1995)
Terminal (TV-1996)
Portraits of a Killer (1996)
One Way Out (1996)
The Destiny of Marty Fine (1996)
Slammers (1997)
Johnny 2.0 (TV-1997)
Cold Night Into Dawn (1997)
The Arrow (1997)
Starship Troopers (1997)
Voyage of Terror (TV-1998)
Desert Blue (1998)
Chicago Cab (1998)
Captive (1998)
Black Light (1998)
The Arrangement (1998)
Going to Kansas City (1998)
One of Our Own (1998)
Southern Cross (1999)
Ivory Tower (1999)
Crime and Punishment in Suburbia (1999)
Question of Privilege (1999)
A Twist of Faith (1999)
The Omega Code (1999)
Heavy Metal 2000 (voice, 2000)
The Perfect Storm (2000)
Cause of Death (2000)
Borderline Normal (2000)
Mindstorm (2001)
Down (2001)
Jett Jackson: The Movie (TV-2001)
SoulKeeper (2001)
The Red Phone (TV-2001)
Megiddo: Omega Code 2 (2001)
Extreme Honor (2001)
Dead Awake (2001)
Ignition (2001)
Fallen Angels (2002)
Fairytales and Pornography (2002)
Maximum Velocity (2003)
The Failures (2003)
Hemingway vs Callaghan (TV-2003)
Alaska (TV-2003)
The Machinist (2004)
The Red Phone: Checkmate (TV-2004)
Reeker (2005)
Bloodsuckers (TV-2005)
Deepwater (2004)
Guy X (2005)
On That Day (2005)
Core: Boiling Point (TV-2005)
Disaster Zone: Volcano in New York (TV-2006)
1st Bite (2006)
The Veteran (2006)
Prisoners of the Sun (2006)
The Butcher (2007)
The Terrorist Next Door (TV-2008)
Surveillance (2008)
The Alphabet Killer (2008)
Mutants (2008)
The Jazzman (2008)
Abduction of Jesse Bookman (2009)
Way of the Dolphin (2009)
The Beacon (2009)
Hardwired (2009)
The Bannen Way (2010)
Eva (2010)
Beneath the Blue (2010)
Lake Placid 3 (2010)
Level 26: Dark Prophecy (2010)
Conduct Unbecomming (2011)
Dark Rising 2: Summer Strikes Back! (2011)
California Winter (2011)
Transgression (2011)
Turbo Kid (2015)
The Harrowing (2017)
Stegman is Dead (2017)
Knuckleball (2018)
BlackBerry (2023)
TV Series – Cast:
V (1984-1985)
Race for the Bomb (1986, mini-series)
SeaQuest DSV (1995-1996)
Nuremberg (2000, mini-series)
Last Chapter: The War Continues (2003, mini-series)
Young Blades (2005)
Wolverine and the X-Men (voice, 2008-2009)
Ice Planet (2009)
Hidden Assets ( 2022, mini-series)
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First published as Northernstars.net February 1, 1998
ISSN 2563 4895