James Remar

James Remar
Remar at the 2010 Screen Actors Guild Awards
Born	William James Remar (1953-12-31) December 31, 1953 Boston, Massachusetts, United States
Occupation(s)	Actor, voice actor
Years active	1978–present

William James Remar (born December 31, 1953), is an American actor and voice actor. He played Richard, the on-off tycoon boyfriend of Kim Cattrall's character in Sex and the City, Ajax in The Warriors (1979), homicidal maniac Albert Ganz in the thriller 48 Hrs. (1982), gangster Dutch Schultz in The Cotton Club (1984), Lord Raiden in Mortal Kombat: Annihilation (1997), Giuseppe Salvatore in The CW TV series The Vampire Diaries, Jack Duff in Miracle on 34th Street (1994), and Harry Morgan in the Showtime TV series Dexter. Since 2009, he has done voiceover work in ads for Lexus luxury cars.

Early life

Remar was born in Boston, Massachusetts, the son of Elizabeth Mary, a mental health state official originally from West Kirby, England, and S. Roy Remar, an attorney. His paternal grandparents were Russian Jewish immigrants (the family name was originally "Remarman").

Career

Films

Remar has spent the majority of his film career playing villains. He portrayed the violent and sexually aggressive character Ajax in the cult film The Warriors (1979), and the murdering sociopath Albert Ganz in the hit 48 Hrs. (1982). (Both films were directed by Walter Hill and co-starred David Patrick Kelly, whose character is named Luther in both). Remar also played real-life 1930s' era gangster Dutch Schultz in The Cotton Club (1984).

In contrast to these roles, Remar starred in the film Windwalker (1980) as the young Cheyenne Windwalker, for which he spoke his lines in the Cheyenne language. He also portrayed a gay man in the film Cruising (1980). In the same year, Remar had a cameo in the Western The Long Riders (1980); his character he faced David Carradine's character in a bar fight over a woman Remar's character was married to.

He was the star of the 1986 film Quiet Cool (1986) and was cast as Corporal Hicks in the science-fiction/horror film Aliens (1986), but was replaced by Michael Biehn shortly after filming began, due to Remar's having a drug problem. For several years, the reason behind his dismissal was reported as "creative differences" with director James Cameron. At least one piece of footage featuring Remar made it into the final version of the film: when the Marines enter the processing station, and the camera tilts down from the Alien nest, though Remar is not seen in close-up. He is also filmed from the back as the Marines first enter the compound on LV-426 and when "Hicks" approaches the cocooned woman, again filmed from the rear so the viewer is unable to tell it is Remar and not Michael Biehn.

He played Quill, one of the main villains in The Phantom(1996). He appeared in Mortal Kombat: Annihilation (1997), the sequel to the film Mortal Kombat (1995), taking over the role of Raiden from Christopher Lambert. He then followed this with a role in the direct-to-video science fiction movie Robo Warriors (1996). Other films include Psycho (1998), in which he played the patrolman, Drugstore Cowboy (1989), Tales from the Darkside: The Movie (1990), Wedlock (1991), Boys on the Side (1995), The Quest (1996), Rites of Passage (1999), Hellraiser: Inferno (2000), 2 Fast 2 Furious (2003), Fear X (2003), Blade: Trinity (2004), The Girl Next Door (2004). He played a brief role as General Bratt in the prologue of Pineapple Express (2008). He also had a role in the horror movie The Unborn (2009), alongside C.S. Lee, who portrays Vince Masuka in Dexter).

Remar was featured in the film X-Men: First Class (2011) and voiced the Autobot Sideswipe in the film Transformers: Dark of the Moon (2011), replacing André Sogliuzzo. He was also cast in the heist film Setup (2011) and starred in the film Arena (2011).

Remar played two different, unrelated characters in Quentin Tarantino's film Django Unchained (2012): his first character, Ace Speck, is killed near the beginning of the film by lead character, King Schultz (played by Christoph Waltz); Remar's second character, Butch Pooch, kills King Schultz near the end of the film. He starred, alongside Emma Roberts, Lucy Boynton, and Lauren Holly, in the thriller film February (2015).

Television

Remar's television appearances include the series Miami Vice, Hill Street Blues, Sex and the City (as the on-again, off-again boyfriend of Kim Cattrall's character), Tales from the Crypt, Jericho, Third Watch, Justice League Unlimited, and Battlestar Galactica. He also appeared as a possessed mental patient in the X-Files ninth-season episode "Daemonicus". He starred as Tiny Bellows on the short-lived television series, The Huntress(2000-2001). He appeared in the miniseries The Grid (2004) as Hudson "Hud", the love interest of Julianna Margulies' character. He had a recurring guest role in the 2006 television series Jericho on CBS. Remar guest-starred in the CBS crime drama Numb3rs, playing a weapons dealer who later turns good and helps the FBI.

From 2006 to 2013, Remar co-starred in Dexter on Showtime. Remar was nominated for a Saturn Award for Best Supporting Actor for his portrayal of Dexter Morgan's adoptive father, Harry Morgan.

In 2010, he played guest roles as Giuseppe Salvatore in The CW series The Vampire Diaries and as James Ermine, a general for Jericho, a black-ops military contractor, on FlashForward.

He also voiced Vilgax in the animated television series Ben 10: Alien Force and Ben 10: Ultimate Alien, replacing Steve Blum. He guest-starred in Private Practice in 2010, playing a physician named Gibby who works with Doctors Without Borders.

Videogames

He voiced Cpt. Jason Narville in Killzone 3 (2011).

Filmography

Film

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1978	On the Yard	Larson
1979	The Warriors	Ajax
1979	Blond Poison
1980	The Long Riders	Sam Starr
1980	Cruising	Gregory
1981	Windwalker	Young Windwalker
1982	48 Hrs.	Albert Ganz
1982	Partners	Edward K. Petersen
1984	The Cotton Club	Dutch Schultz
1984	The Mystic Warrior	Pesla	Television film
1986	The Clan of the Cave Bear	Creb
1986	Band of the Hand	Nestor
1986	Quiet Cool	Joe Dylanne
1987	Rent-A-Cop	Dancer
1989	The Dream Team	Gianelli
1989	Desperado: The Outlaw Wars	John Sikes	Television film
1990	Kojak: None So Blind	Wolfgang Reiger	Television film
1990	Night Visions	Sergeant Thomas Mackey	Television film
1991	Silent Like Glass	Charly
1989	Drugstore Cowboy	Gentry
1990	Tales from the Darkside: The Movie	Preston	Segment: "Lover's Vow"
1991	White Fang	Beauty Smith
1991	Wedlock	Sam
1991	Session Man	McQueen	Television film
1991	Brotherhood of the Gun	Frank Weir	Television film
1992	Strangers	Bernard	Television film
1992	Indecency	Mick Clarkson	Television film
1993	Fatal Instinct	Max Shady
1994	Blink	Thomas Ridgely
1994	Across the Moon	Rattlesnake Jim
1994	Renaissance Man	Captain Tom Murdoch
1994	Confessions of a Hitman	Bruno Serrano
1994	Miracle on 34th Street	Jack Duff
1995	Boys on the Side	Alex
1995	The Quest	Maxie Devine
1995	Judge Dredd	Block Warlord
1995	Wild Bill	Donnie Lonigan
1996	One Good Turn	Simon Jury
1996	The Phantom	Quill
1996	Cutty Whitman	Cutty Whitman	Television film
1996	Robo Warriors	Ray Gibson
1997	Mortal Kombat: Annihilation	Lord Raiden
1998	Psycho	Patrolman
1998	Inferno	Dr. Coleman West	Television film
1999	Born Bad	Sheriff Larabee
1999	Rites of Passage	Frank Dabbo
2000	Hellraiser: Inferno	Dr. Paul Gregory
2000	Blowback	John Matthew Whitman / Schmidt
2000	Double Frame	Det. Tim Follett
2000	What Lies Beneath	Warren Feur
2000	The Base 2: Guilty as Charged	Lt. Col. Strauss
2001	Dying on the Edge	Jackie James
2001	Guardian	Detective Carpenter
2003	Betrayal	Alex Tyler
2003	Fear X	Peter
2003	2 Fast 2 Furious	Agent Markham
2003	Duplex	Chick
2003	Down with the Joneses	Vic
2004	Blade: Trinity	Ray Cumberland
2004	The Girl Next Door	Hugo Posh
2004	The Survivors Club	Roan Griffin	Television film
2004	Ike: Countdown to D-Day	Gen. Omar Bradley	Television film
2004	Meltdown	Colonel Boggs	Television film
2007	Sharpshooter	Dillon	Television film
2007	Ratatouille	Larousse	Voice
2008	Pineapple Express	General Bratt
2009	The Unborn	Bart Bork
2009	2B	Tom Mortlake
2009	The Christmas Hope	Mark Addison	Television film
2009	Endless Bummer	Gordon Beldon
2010	RED	Gabriel Singer
2010	D.R.E.A.M. Team	Shawn Murphy	Television film
2011	X-Men: First Class	US General
2011	Transformers: Dark of the Moon	Sideswipe	Voice
2011	Setup	William Long
2011	Vs	Rickshaw
2011	Arena	Agent McCarty
2011	The FP	Narrator	Voice
2012	Django Unchained	Butch Pooch / Ace Speck
2013	Horns	Derrick Perrish
2014	Persecuted	John Luther
2014	Eden	Coach DaFoe
2015	February	Bill
2015	Unnatural	Martin Nakos
2015	The Land Before Time XIV: Journey of the Heart	Topsy
2016	USS Indianapolis: Men of Courage	Admiral Parnell
TBA	The Expendables 4	Unknown

Television

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1981	Hill Street Blues	Cooper	Episode: "Rites of Spring"
1985	Miami Vice	Robbie Cann	Episode: "Buddies"
1987	The Equalizer	Tremayne	Episode: "High Performance"
1987	Deadly Nightmares	Ron	Episode: "Homebodies"
1987	Crime Story	Smilin' Jack	Episode: "Blast from the Past"
1991	Tales from the Crypt	Red Buckley	Episode: "Dead Wait"
1997	Total Security	Frank Cisco	Main Role
1999	Walker, Texas Ranger	Keith Bolt	Episode: "The Principal"
2000	18 Wheels of Justice	Mitch Davis / "Gabriel"	Episode: "Wages of Sin"
2001	7th Heaven	James Carver	2 episodes
2001	The Huntress	Tiny Bellows	29 episodes
2001	Strong Medicine	Guy Falls	Episode: "Systemic"
2001	The X-Files	Josef Kobold	Episode: "Dæmonicus"
2001–2006	Justice League	Hawkman Carter Hall Shadow Thief Katar Hol Lead Manhunter	Voice 4 episodes
2002	The Twilight Zone	Alois Hitler	Episode: "Cradle of Darkness"
2002	Third Watch	Det. Madjanski	4 episodes
2002–2004	Sex and the City	Richard Wright	12 episodes
2003	Peacemakers	Cole Hawkins	Episode: "Legend of the Gun"
2003	Without a Trace	Lucas Vohland	Episode: "Confidence"
2004	The Grid	Hudson "Hud" Benoit	Miniseries
2005	Battlestar Galactica	Meier	2 episodes
2006	CSI: Miami	Capt. Quentin Taylor	Episode: "Open Water"
2006	Thief	Agent Patterson	Miniseries
2006–2007	Eli Stone	Salinsky	Episode: "Praying for Time"
2006–2007	Jericho	Jonah Prowse	5 episodes
2006–2008	The Batman	Black Mask	Voice 3 episodes
2006–2013	Dexter	Harry Morgan	96 episodes
2009	The Unit	Reece	Episode: "Hero"
2009	Criminal Minds	Tom Benton	Episode: "Demonology"
2009	The Spectacular Spider-Man	Walter Hardy / The Cat Burglar	Voice Episode: "Opening Night"
2009–2010	Batman: The Brave and the Bold	Two-Face	Voice 2 episodes
2009–2010	Ben 10: Alien Force	Vilgax Goop Alien #2	Voice 7 episodes
2010	FlashForward	James Ermine	Episode: "Blowback"
2010	The Vampire Diaries	Giuseppe Salvatore	2 episodes
2010	Private Practice	Gibby	Episode: "Playing God"
2011	Human Target	Warden Cole	Episode: "Warden Cole"
2011	Hawaii Five-0	Elliott Connor	Episode: "Ua Hiki Mai Kapalena Pau"
2011	Young Justice	Joar Mahkent Icicle Sr. Wilcox	Voice Episode: "Terrors"
2011	Pound Puppies	Sarge	Voice Episode: "The K9 Kid"
2011–2012	Ben 10: Ultimate Alien	Vilgax / Ultimate Vilgax	Voice 6 episodes
2013	Hatfields & McCoys	Joe Hatfield	Miniseries
2013	Beware the Batman	Silver Monkey Mr. Reese	Voice 3 episodes
2013	The Legend of Korra	Tonraq	Voice 8 episodes
2013–2014	Grey's Anatomy	James Evans	6 episodes
2013–2014	Wilfred	Henry Newman	5 episodes
2014	From Dusk Till Dawn: The Series	Gecko Father	Episode: "Boxman"
2016	The Shannara Chronicles	Cephalo	7 episodes

Video games

Year	Title	Role
2005	The Warriors	Ajax
2010	Batman: The Brave and the Bold – The Videogame	Two-Face
2011	Killzone 3	Captain Jason Narville
2014	Destiny	Executor Hideo, New Monarchy Merchant

External links

• James Remar at IMDb