James Remar - Life and Career

Life and Career

Remar was born in Boston, Massachusetts, the son of Elizabeth Mary, a mental health state official, and S. Roy Remar, an attorney.

He has spent the majority of his film career playing villains. He is known for his roles as the aggressively sexual and violent character Ajax in the 1979 cult film The Warriors and as the murdering sociopath Albert Ganz in the 1982 hit 48 Hrs. (both films were directed by Walter Hill and co-starred David Patrick Kelly, whose character is named Luther in both). In 1980, he starred in the film Windwalker, as the young Windwalker, and also portrayed a gay man in the film Cruising. Remar played real-life '30s-era gangster Dutch Schultz in the 1984 film The Cotton Club.

Remar was cast as Corporal Hicks in the 1986 science-fiction/horror film Aliens (co-produced by Walter Hill), but was replaced by Michael Biehn shortly after filming began due to "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.

In 1996, he played Quill, one of the main villains in The Phantom. Other films include Drugstore Cowboy, Fear X, Boys on the Side, Hellraiser: Inferno, The Quest, Wedlock, Tales from the Darkside: The Movie, Rites of Passage, Blade: Trinity, 2 Fast 2 Furious, The Girl Next Door and in 1998 he played the patrolman in Psycho. He was also the star of the 1986 film Quiet Cool. He portrayed the character of Raiden in Mortal Kombat: Annihilation, the sequel to the 1995 movie adaptation of Mortal Kombat, taking over the role from Christopher Lambert. He then followed this with a role in the 1996 direct-to-video science fiction movie Robo Warriors.

Remar's other appearances include the TV series Miami Vice, Hill Street Blues, Sex and the City, Tales from the Crypt, Jericho, Third Watch, Justice League Unlimited and Battlestar Galactica, as well as appearing as a possessed mental patient in the X-Files ninth season episode "Daemonicus". He was in the miniseries The Grid (2004) as Hudson "Hud", the love interest of Julianna Margulies' character. He starred as Tiny Bellows on the short-lived television series, The Huntress. He had a recurring guest role in the television series Jericho on CBS.

Since 2006, Remar has 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. He also had a role in the 2009 horror movie The Unborn (this film also had actor C.S. Lee, who portrays Vince Masuka in Dexter). In 2008 he played a brief role as General Bratt in the prologue of Pineapple Express. In 2010, he did a guest role as Giuseppe Salvatore in The Vampire Diaries. In 2010, Remar had a guest role on FlashForward playing a character called James Ermine, a general for Jericho, a black-ops military contractor. Remar also did a memorable cameo scene in the famous late 70s Western "The Long Riders" when he faced David Carradine's character in a bar fight over a woman that Remar's character was married to.

He also voiced Vilgax in Ben 10: Alien Force and Ultimate Alien replacing Steven Blum. He guest starred in Private Practice in 2010, playing a physician named Gibby who works with Doctors Without Borders. He voiced Cpt. Jason Narville in Killzone 3. Remar was featured in the 2011 film X-Men: First Class and voiced the Autobot Sideswipe in the 2011 film Transformers: Dark of the Moon replacing André Sogliuzzo. He has also been cast in the 2011 heist film Setup. He also stars in the film Arena. In September 2011 it was announced that Remar would be starring in Quentin Tarantino's new film Django Unchained.