A talented arm wrestler in his youth, he ironically often loses an arm and / or other limb in his films: Total Recall (1990), Starship Troopers (1997), The Machinist (2004) and Guy X (2005). If he hadn't been too bulky he also would have played Murphy in RoboCop (1987), who loses both his arms.
At the age of fifteen he wrote a play called "The Shelter" which won first prize in a Canada-wide university contest. He used the prize money to mount his own production of said play.
Came to notice in the Canadian sci-fi horror classic Scanners (1981) in which he played the mind-controlling, head-blowing megalomaniac Daryl Revok, which led to a dynamic, infamous career of out-and-out baddies or edgy anti-heroes.
Father of Adrienne Ironside.
Good friends with WWE Hall of Famer Jerry Lawler (aka Jerry "The King" Lawler).
Has a daughter Findlay (born 1998) by second wife Karen.
Has had a love of reading since childhood, with which he credits his father instilling in him: "My dad gave me and my brother this rule - as long as we were reading and doing nothing else, we could stay up until dawn or until we passed out...whichever came first. That's why, to this day, I'm a sucker for a good book".
His brother is a high school shop teacher in his hometown of Toronto, Canada.
His daughter Adrienne is from a previous marriage.
His father, Robert, was a streetlight maintenance man, his mother, Patricia, a housewife.
Huge fan of Professional Wrestling.
Is of Scottish, English and Irish heritage.
Like Terence Stamp, he has played both a Superman foe and friend. The foe he played was Darkseid, one of Superman's greatest enemies, in the animated show "Justice League" (2001). The friend he played was Gen. Sam Lane, father of Lois Lane (Clark Kent's future bride) on the TV show "Smallville" (2001).
Lives in Los Angeles, California.
Moved to Los Angeles, California, USA in 1982.
Said in an interview he is mostly recognized by the public from his voice over work in the Splinter Cell (2002) (VG) series.
Was for some time attached to play the title role in RoboCop (1987), but the crew had to give up on the idea when they realized that he would have to have a much smaller frame to fit into the costume envisaged.