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Michael Ironside

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Michael Ironside, actor,
A publicity still of Michael Ironside from The Harrowing.

B: February 12, 1950 in Toronto, Ontario

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.

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