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Callum Keith Rennie (born September 14, 1960) is a British-born Canadian actor best known for his roles in Battlestar Galactica and Californication.

He played Detective Brad Halloran in Jigsaw.

Early Life[]

Callum Keith Rennie was born to Scottish parents in Sunderland, County Durham. When he was four years old, the family emigrated to Canada. Rennie was raised in middle-class Edmonton, Alberta, as the second of three boys. He graduated from Strathcona High School, where he met and befriended Bruce McCulloch from The Kids in the Hall. He dropped out of college and took up all sorts of odd jobs instead, leaving Edmonton for brief stays in Vancouver and Toronto before eventually settling in Vancouver. After struggling with alcoholism in his youth, Rennie managed to get his addiction under control at the age of 33 and was finally able to commit to acting.

Career[]

Working at the campus radio of the University of Alberta led Rennie to discover acting at the age of 25. He started his career on stage, performing at the A.B.O.P. Theatre in Edmonton in Amerika, a play adapted from Franz Kafka's eponymous novel, and followed with the critically acclaimed American Buffalo during the Edmonton International Fringe Festival. After attending Bruhanski Theatre Studio in Vancouver, he had his first professional theatrical role in the Touchstone Theatre production of Sally Clark's Lost Souls and Missing Persons in 1989. Following this performance, he was invited to the Shaw Festival, where he appeared in Man and Superman and Arthur Wing Pinero's comic play Trelawny of the Wells in 1990.

Rennie's first appearance on screen was in the indie Canadian film Purple Toast, filmed in 1990 and released in 1993. Also in 1993, he began to take minor roles in television series, including Highlander, Forever Knight, and the revamped version of The Outer Limits. Rennie's profile within the Canadian industry was heightened during this period by leading roles in the television films Paris or Somewhere in 1994 and For Those Who Hunt the Wounded Down in 1996. Due to several disagreements during the production of the latter film, Rennie vowed never to work for the CBC again, though he has remained a staunch supporter of the Canadian industry as a whole. After his first appearance on The X-Files, he was offered the role of Alex Krycek but turned it down because he did not want to commit to a television series back then. His career gained momentum quickly, and Rennie received roles in Canadian films such as Mina Shum's drama Double Happiness, for which he was nominated for a Genie Award for Best Supporting Actor.

His most prominent early roles were as guitar player Billy Tallent in Bruce McDonald's Hard Core Logo in 1996 and as detective Stanley Raymond Kowalski in the third and fourth seasons of the CTV series Due South, which aired in over 150 countries. The Canadian band Billy Talent is named after his Hard Core Logo character. As for his part in Due South, it has been said that his "disaffected intensity and hungover good looks" added an edge to the series.

Rennie was then seen as the convenience store guru Newbie in Twitch City and Detective Bobby Marlowe in the award-winning series Da Vinci's Inquest. His interpretation of sex marathoner Craig Zwiller in Don McKellar's Last Night earned him his first Genie Award in 1999. After a role in David Cronenberg's eXistenZ, his first international success on the big screen was his appearance as the thug Dodd in Christopher Nolan's Memento in 2000. The same year, he impersonated a chilling yet seductive drifter in Suspicious River.

With the father characters in Flower and Garnet in 2002 and Falling Angels in 2003, Rennie expanded to playing more mature roles rather than young, self-destructive rebels. He also portrayed self-controlled Inspector Wood in the period drama Torso: The Evelyn Dick Story in 2002 and appeared as the quiet dyslexic painter of Wilby Wonderful in 2004.

He has played guest roles in Canadian and US television series like Mutant X, The Dead Zone, Smallville, Supernatural, The L Word, Bionic Woman, and Harper's Island. During the same time, he has interpreted contrasting characters in movies such as The Butterfly Effect, H20, The Five People You Meet in Heaven, Blade: Trinity, Lucid, Unnatural & Accidental, The Invisible, Tin Man, Normal, Silk, and The X-Files: I Want to Believe. His recurring role as the Cylon Leoben Conoy in the reimagined Battlestar Galactica from 2004 to 2009 and his portrayal of the record producer Lew Ashby throughout the second season of Californication in 2008 have earned him international recognition.

From 2009 to 2010, Rennie played Jeff Slingerland, aka Dr. Maurice Raynaud, on the ABC science fiction series Flashforward. Before the series was canceled, David Goyer, who previously directed him in Blade and The Invisible, mentioned he would be back and was slated to appear in the second season. He also appeared as Russian mobster Vladimir Laitanan in the eighth season of 24.

In the fall of 2010, he played Detective Brian Sullivan in Shattered, a series about a detective who suffers from multiple personality disorder. The series aired in Canada on Global TV and then in other countries, though not the United States. Rennie received critical acclaim for his performance and won the Gemini and Leo awards for the role in 2011. However, Shattered was not renewed for a second season.

His feature film appearances included the Canadian film Gunless, a Western comedy, as a bounty hunter on the trail of Paul Gross' Montana Kid. He also reprised his role as Billy Tallent for a short appearance in Trigger. Additionally, Rennie served as one of Trigger's executive producers. Another film, Faith, Fraud & Minimum Wage, based on Canadian playwright Josh MacDonald's play Halo, was released in December 2010.

Rennie made several television appearances in 2011, including a supporting role on The Killing as Rick Felder, Detective Sarah Linden's fiancé. He also guest-starred on Alphas, CSI: Miami, and Rookie Blue. Rennie was also cast as a series regular on the NBC series The Firm, where he played Ray McDeere, the brother of the principal character, Mitch McDeere, played by Josh Lucas. It began airing as a midseason replacement for the 2011–12 season. In 2015, Rennie was cast as a main character for the second season of Amazon's The Man in the High Castle.

Personal Life[]

Rennie likes painting and admires abstract expressionist artists such as Basquiat, Motherwell, and Pollock. An enthusiastic mountain climber in his youth, Rennie still practices various sports, including hockey and golf. He alternates between Vancouver and Los Angeles.

Filmography[]

Films[]

Year Title Role
1993 Purple Toast Tom Struck
1994 The Raffle Floor Director
Frank's Cock
Double Happiness Mark
Timecop Stranger
Valentine's Day Astronaut
Still Boyfriend
1995 Curtis's Charm Jim
1996 Unforgettable Drug Dealer
Hard Core Logo Billy Tallent / William Boisy
Letters from Home
1997 Masterminds Ollie
Excess Baggage Motel Manager
Men with Guns Mamet
1998 Last Night Craig Zwiller
1999 eXistenZ Hugo Carlaw
The Life Before This Martin Maclean
2000 The Highwayman Telemarketer
The Last Stop Jake
Memento Dodd
Suspicious River Gary Jensen
2001 Picture Claire Laramie
2002 Slap Shot 2: Breaking the Ice Palmberg
Now & Forever Carl Mackie
Flower & Garnet Ed
2003 Falling Angels Jim Field
Paycheck Jude - Guard
2004 The Butterfly Effect Jason
Wilby Wonderful Duck MacDonald
Blade: Trinity Asher Talos
2005 Lucid Victor
Whole New Thing Denny
Shooting Gallery Michael Mortensen
2006 Snow Cake John Neil
Unnatural & Accidental Norman
2007 Code Name: The Cleaner Shaw
The Invisible Detective Brian Larson
Butterfly on a Wheel Det. McGill
Normal Walt Braugher
Silk Schuyler
2008 Sleepwalking Will
The X Files: I Want to Believe 2nd Abductor - Janke Dacyshyn
2009 Case 39 Edward Sullivan
The Plan Leoben Conoy
2010 Gunless Ben Cutter
Faith, Fraud, & Minimum Wage Donald McMullen
Trigger Billy
2013 The Young and Prodigious T.S. Spivet Father
Hell in a Handbag Silver
2014 October Gale James Matthews
Sitting on the Edge of Marlene Fast Freddy
Ride Tim
2015 Fifty Shades of Grey Ray
Into the Forest Robert
Born to Be Blue Dick Bock
2016 Warcraft Moroes
Wait Till Helen Comes Dave
2017 Little Pink House
Goon: Last of the Enforcers Hyrum Cain
Mobile Homes Robert
Jigsaw Detective Brad Halloran
2018 Fifty Shades Freed Ray

Television Series[]

Year Title Role
1994 The Commish Konichek
Lonesome Dove: The Series Harry Price
1994-1995 The X Files Cemetery Groundskeeper / Tommy
1995 The Marshal Cal
The Outer Limits Carlito
Forever Knight Bruce Spencer
Side Effects Armando
1993-1995 Highlander Tyler King / Neal
1995-1996 My Life as a Dog Johnny Johansson
1997 Viper William T. Lennox
La Femme Nikita Gray Wellman
1999 Strange World Vince
Foolish Heart Ross
1997-1999 Due South Det. Stanley Raymond Kowalski
1998-2000 Twitch City Newbie
1999-2001 Da Vinci's Inquest Det. Bob Marlowe
2001 Dice Egon Schwimmer
2002 Bliss Mike
Dark Angel Sheriff Lamar
Mutant X Zack Lockhart
The Dead Zone Max Cassidy
The Eleventh Hour Mark Mitchum
2003 Tru Calling Elliott Winters
Battlestar Galactica Leoben Conoy
2004 Touching Evil Mike Espy
Kingdom Hospital Earl Candleton
H2O Don Pritchard / Lt. Daniel Holt
2005 Supernatural Roy
2006 The L Word Danny Wilson
Smallville Tyler McKnight
2007 Men in Trees Jeff
Bionic Woman Victor Booth
Tin Man Zero
2004-2009 Battlestar Galactica Leoben Conoy
2009 Harper's Island John Wakefield
Harper's Globe John Wakefield
2010 24 Vladimir Laitanan
2009-2010 Flashforward Jeff Slingerland / Dr. Maurice Raynaud
2010-2011 Shattered Det. Ben Sullivan / Kyle Loggins
2011 Alphas Don Wilson
Rookie Blue Jamie Brennan / Jaimie Brennan
CSI: Miami Jack Toller
2011-2012 The Killing Rick Felder
2012 The Firm Ray McDeere
2008-2013 Californication Lew Ashby
2014 Motive Stuart Fletcher
Transporter: The Series Schramm
2016 Man Seeking Woman McQuaid
Legends of Tomorrow John Valor
The Man in the High Castle Gary Connell
2015-2016 Longmire Walker Browning
2018 Jessica Jones Dr. Karl Malus
2018-2019 Impulse Nikolai
2022 The Umbrella Academy Lester Pocket
2024 Star Trek: Discovery Rayner

Television Films[]

Year Title Role
1994 Paris or Somewhere Christy Mahon
1995 Falling from the Sky: Flight 174 Pumper
When the Dark Man Calls Bob Levesh
The Ranger, the Cook, and a Hole in the Sky Big Hat
The Omen Driver
1996 Little Criminals Kostash
For Those Who Hunt the Wounded Down Jerry Bines
1997 Tricks Adam
2000 Murder Seen Detective Keegan
Nature Boy Eden Abez
2001 Trapped Anthony Bellio
2002 Torso: The Evelyn Dick Story Inspector Wood
2004 The Five People You Meet in Heaven Eddie's Father
2005 Whiskey Echo Dr. Rollie Saunders
Painkiller Jane Mitchell
2006 The Hunters Quin Hunter
2008 Of Murder and Memory Leonard Bast

Gallery[]

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