BELOW

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 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.

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 Griffin 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 thehusband-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 Canadian Oscar 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. This season will also see Miramax's "Ararat," his third film with Egoyan, and the release of Guy Ritchie's remake of "Swept Away", in which he stars opposite Madonna, and of Paramount's adventure "The Core". He is currently commuting cross-continent for starring roles in "Two Cops" with Harrison Ford and Josh Hartnett and the independent "Republic of Love".