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	Printed Articles & Interviews Toronto Sun September 28, 1999

Kicking Butt Across the Border Starring in multiple movies, recent and upcoming, Bruce Greenwood is one hot Canuck by Bob Thompson -- Toronto Sun

HOLLYWOOD -- Cross-border acting arrived when Canadian Raymond Massey played U.S. presidential icon Abraham Lincoln in 1940's Abe Lincoln In Illinois. Now Canuck Bruce Greenwood is doing John F. Kennedy in Kevin Costner's Cuban missile crisis film, 13 Days.

"Gee," says a grinning Greenwood at a Beverly Hills Hotel suite recently, "I really hope the American people don't mind.

"I promise to get the hair right. I'm working on that Boston accent right now, eh."

Joke or not, most wouldn't have known that the 42-year-old was born in Noranda, Que, and grew up in Vancouver.

Fans of TV's St. Elsewhere certainly didn't when he played a self-centred doctor on the series in the late '80s.

Lots of Canadians still don't realize his native status -- even some in the cast and crew of Atom Egoyan's Exotica and The Sweet Hereafter.

Not that the former rock 'n' roller -- he was with Vancouver's Humphrey And The Dumptrucks in the '70s -- is overly concerned about his politically incorrect JFK casting.

Mind you, Greenwood has been calling L.A. his home for 15 years, which was just about the time he landed the St. Elsewhere job.

Lots of low-profile assignments later, it seems as if the movie industry is starting to notice that he's around.

"You mean Hollywood is suddenly noticing I'm around 40," Greenwood jokes, showing off his self-deprecating wit.

That kind of humour helped him survive the ups and downs of an actor's life, although he's had mostly steady but demanding work co-starring in movies-of-the-week and landing semi-obscure supporting roles in films.

Steady is one thing, but Greenwood has been downright in demand over the last few years, and he's loving it.

Maybe he's just improving with age as he moves from being 'Who's he again?' to 'Yeah, that guy.'

Besides shooting Costner's 13 Days, he just completed Rules Of Engagementwith Tommy Lee Jones and Samuel L. Jackson and Cord with Daryl Hannah and Jennifer Tilley.

Also on his upcoming list are Thick As Thieves with Alec Baldwin; The Lost Son, directed by Chris Menges; and Here On Earth, starring Leelee Sobieski.

Right now, he can be seen on screen as the evil-hearted scheming husband opposite Ashley Judd in the recently released Bruce Beresford thriller Double Jeopardy.

He was okay with working alongside Judd after playing her father in the telefilm, Naomi & Wynonna: Love Can Build A Bridge, about her sometimes controversial country music family. "I can't worry about stuff like that," reports Greenwood.

Just like he doesn't get concerned about portraying bad guys and nasty dudes a lot.

"Go with what you're good at," he says, laughing.

For instance, in Thick As Thieves, "I double-cross the crooks.

"And Lost Son is so sick," he says, having fun with defining his bad guy portrayals. "I play a guy who farms children. Yeah, he actually fattens them up and sells them to people who want children."

In Cord, Greenwood kidnaps a pregnant woman so his wife can have a kid. "I'm really bad in that," he says.

How bad?

"I'm so bad," Greenwood replies, playing along, "that Jennifer Tilley rolls me up in a carpet and beats me."

That's bad.