Stephen McHattie

Stephen McHattie

Stephen McHattie Smith, actor (born at Antigonish, NS 3 Feb 1947). Stephen McHattie grew up in Guysborough County, NS, and at age 16 began acting in local amateur plays. At 19 he moved to New York to study at the American Academy of Dramatic Arts. His first professional role came in producer Joseph Papp's Central Park production of Shakespeare's Henry IV and he spent the next 15 years on stage in New York. He appeared in Edward Albee's American Dream, and won off-Broadway awards for best actor for Mensch Meier and Ghetto.

McHattie then moved to Los Angeles. A gaunt, brooding character actor with deep-set eyes, he primarily played villains and vicious killers in scores of films and television series. His early credits include the television movie James Dean (1976; as Dean), Kojak, the NBC miniseries Centennial (1978-79), Hill Street Blues, Miami Vice, Law & Order, Star Trek: Deep Space Nine (1998; as Romulan Senator Vreenak) and Beverly Hills Cop III (1994) with Eddie Murphy. For fans of the popular Seinfeld series, McHattie is known as "Dr. Reston," Elaine's psychiatrist, appearing in 4 episodes in 1992.

Returning to Canada in the early 1990s, Stephen McHattie made an impression as a savage wife-beater in the CBC television drama Life with Billy in 1994 and won the GEMINI AWARD for best performance by an actor in a leading role in a dramatic program. His other Canadian credits include Emily of New Moon, Bruce MCDONALD's live television production of American Whiskey Bar (1998), Cold Squad (2000-01, series), One Dead Indian (2006), Clement VIRGO's Poor Boy's Game (2007), Murdoch Mysteries (2008), The Trojan Horse (2008), Bruce McDonald's Pontypool (2009) and This Movie Is Broken (2010), and Michael McCowan's Score: A Hockey Musical (2010).

Stephen McHattie won a GENIE AWARD for best supporting actor as bombastic broadcaster Dick Irvin in Charles Binamé's The Rocket (2005) starring Roy DUPUIS as Maurice "Rocket" RICHARD, and he was memorable as one of the menacing killers in the opening scenes of David CRONENBERG's Oscar-nominated film A History of Violence (2005). McHattie also appeared in 300 (2006) and in Watchmen (2009), based on the best-selling graphic novel, as the first Nite Owl, and is seen in the TV series Haven (2010) and XIII: The Series (2011).