James Remar facts for kids

Quick facts for kids James Remar
James Remar at the 2010 Screen Actors Guild Awards
Born	William James Remar (1953-12-31) December 31, 1953 (age 70) Boston, Massachusetts, U.S.
Occupation	Actor
Years active	1978–present
Spouse(s)	Atsuko Remar ​ (m. 1984)​
Children	2

William James Remar (born December 31, 1953) is an American actor. He has played numerous roles over a 40-year career, most notably Ajax in The Warriors (1979), Albert Ganz in 48 Hrs. (1982), Dutch Schultz in The Cotton Club (1984), Jack Duff in Miracle on 34th Street (1994), Richard Wright in Sex and the City (2001–2004), and Harry Morgan, the father of the title character, in Dexter (2006–2013). Since 2009 he has done voice-over work in ads for Lexus luxury cars. Remar studied acting at the Neighborhood Playhouse School of the Theatre in New York City.

Remar's more recent roles include Frank Gordon in Gotham from 2016 to 2019; Peter Gambi in Black Lightning from 2018 to 2021; and Secretary of War Henry L. Stimson in Oppenheimer in 2023.

Early life

William James Remar was born in Boston, Massachusetts on December 31, 1953. He is the son of Elizabeth (née Boyle), who worked in mental health affairs for the state of Massachusetts, and Roy Remar, who was an attorney. His father was of Russian Jewish descent, while his mother was a native of England and of Irish descent. He has three sisters and two brothers. Remar grew up with his family in Newton, Massachusetts.

Remar dropped out of high school when he was 15, although he attended what he described as "kind of an alternative school" for a year afterwards. He then traveled around the United States, briefly playing guitar in a rock band. Eventually, he returned home and went back to high school, although he decided not to attend college after graduating. Remar has said he decided to become an actor when he was 20; after he was laid off from his job as a roofer, he remembered a previous job performing at a summer camp, and said he would give himself three years to attempt an acting career before he would try something else.

In Florida, Remar earned a role in a state production of Cross and Sword. Afterwards, he studied at the Neighborhood Playhouse School of the Theatre, but was not asked back after his first year, which he described as "a devastating experience". Remar continued searching for other acting jobs, eventually landing the part of Kenickie in a touring production of Grease, and also performed at the Ensemble Studio Theatre, before making his film debut in On the Yard.

Career

Films

Remar has spent the majority of his film career playing villains. He portrayed the violent gang member 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. 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). That same year, Remar had a cameo in the Western The Long Riders (1980) in a bar fight scene with David Carradine.

He was the star of the 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. 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). In 1994 he played a supporting role in the film Renaissance Man (1994) 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 film 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 film The Unborn (2009), alongside C.S. Lee, who portrays Vince Masuka in Dexter. He also played the father of Olivia Grey in Feed (2017).

Remar appeared 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): Ace Speck and Butch Pooch. He starred, alongside Emma Roberts, Lucy Boynton, and Lauren Holly, in the thriller film The Blackcoat's Daughter (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 "Dæmonicus". 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's character. He had a recurring guest role in the 2006 television series Jericho on CBS. Remar guest-starred in the CBS crime drama Numbers, playing a weapons dealer who later turns good and helps the FBI.

From 2006 to 2013, Remar co-starred in Dexter on Showtime. He 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. On July 23, 2017, Remar was cast as Peter Gambi on the superhero drama Black Lightning. The series would run for four seasons from January 2018 to May 2021, Remar's Gambi a series regular for its entirety. He would then be cast in a recurring role on The Rookie as Tom Bradford, Tim’s father. He was later cast in It: Welcome to Derry, an upcoming television series prequel to the 2017 film, It, set to debut on Max in 2025.

Personal life

In 1984, he married Atsuko Remar. They have two children. He speaks conversational Japanese.

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Filmography

Film

Television

Year	Title	Role	Notes	Reference(s)
1981	Hill Street Blues	Cooper	Episode: "Rites of Spring"
1984	The Mystic Warrior	Pesla	Television film
1985	Miami Vice	Robbie Cann	Episode: "Buddies"
1987	The Equalizer	Tremayne	Episode: "High Performance"
	The Hitchhiker	Ron	Episode: "Homebodies"
	Crime Story	Smilin' Jack	Episode: "Blast from the Past"
1989	Desperado: The Outlaw Wars	John Sikes	Television film
1990	Kojak: None So Blind	Wolfgang Reiger
	Night Visions	Sergeant Thomas Mackey
1991	Session Man	McQueen
	Tales from the Crypt	Red Buckley	Episode: "Dead Wait"
	Brotherhood of the Gun	Frank Weir	Television film
1992	Strangers	Bernard
	Indecency	Mick Clarkson
1996	Cutty Whitman	Cutty Whitman
1997	Total Security	Frank Cisco	13 episodes
1998	Inferno	Dr. Coleman West	Television film
1999	Walker, Texas Ranger	Keith Bolt	Episode: "The Principal"
2000	18 Wheels of Justice	Mitch Davis / "Gabriel"	Episode: "Wages of Sin"
2000–2001	The Huntress	Tiny Bellows	28 episodes
2001	Nash Bridges	Mark Lee Page	Episode: "Fair Game"
	7th Heaven	James Carver	2 episodes
	Strong Medicine	Guy Falls	Episode: "Systemic"
	The X-Files	Professor Josef Kobold	Episode: "Dæmonicus"
	Justice League	Lead Manhunter	Voice, episode: "In Blackest Night"
2001–2004	Sex and the City	Richard Wright	12 episodes
2002	The Twilight Zone	Alois Hitler	Episode: "Cradle of Darkness"
	Third Watch	Detective Madjanski	4 episodes
2003	Peacemakers	Cole Hawkins	Episode: "Legend of the Gun"
	Without a Trace	Lucas Vohland	Episode: "Confidence"
2004	The Grid	Hudson "Hud" Benoit	Miniseries
	The Survivors Club	Roan Griffin	Television film
	Ike: Countdown to D-Day	General Omar Bradley
	Meltdown	Colonel Boggs
	North Shore	Vincent Colville	21 episodes
2005	Battlestar Galactica	Meier	2 episodes
2005–2006	Justice League Unlimited	Hawkman, Shadow Thief	Voice, 2 episodes
2006	CSI: Miami	Capt. Quentin Taylor	Episode: "Open Water"
	Thief	Agent Patterson	Miniseries
2006–2007	Jericho	Jonah Prowse	5 episodes
2006–2008	The Batman	Black Mask	Voice, 3 episodes
2006–2013	Dexter	Harry Morgan	96 episodes
2007	Sharpshooter	Dillon	Television film
2008	Eli Stone	Salinsky	Episode: "Praying for Time"
2009	The Unit	Reece	Episode: "Hero"
	Criminal Minds	Tom Benton	Episode: "Demonology"
	The Spectacular Spider-Man	Walter Hardy	Voice, episode: "Opening Night"
	The Christmas Hope	Mark Addison	Television film
2009–2010	Batman: The Brave and the Bold	Harvey Dent / Two-Face	Voice, 2 episodes
	Ben 10: Alien Force	Vilgax	Voice, 7 episodes
2010	D.R.E.A.M. Team	Shawn Murphy	Television film
	Numb3rs	Randall Priest	Episode: "Arm in Arms"
	FlashForward	James Ermine	Episode: "Blowback"
	The Vampire Diaries	Giuseppe Salvatore	2 episodes
	Private Practice	Gibby	Episode: "Playing God"
2011	Human Target	Warden Cole	Episode: "Cool Hand Guerrero"
	Hawaii Five-0	Elliott Connor	Episode: "Ua Hiki Mai Kapalena Pau"
	Young Justice	Joar Mahkent / Icicle Sr., Wilcox	Voice, episode: "Terrors"
	Pound Puppies	Sarge	Voice, episode: "The K9 Kid"
2011–2012	Ben 10: Ultimate Alien	Vilgax	Voice, 5 episodes
2012	Hatfields & McCoys	Joe Hatfield	Miniseries
2013–2014	Beware the Batman	Silver Monkey	Voice, 3 episodes
	The Legend of Korra	Tonraq	Voice, 14 episodes
	Grey's Anatomy	James Evans	6 episodes
	Wilfred	Henry Newman	5 episodes
2014	From Dusk till Dawn: The Series	Ray Gecko	Episode: "Boxman"
2014–2015	State of Affairs	Syd Vaslo	9 episodes
2016	The Shannara Chronicles	Cephalo	7 episodes
2017	Gotham	Frank Gordon	3 episodes
	NCIS: Los Angeles	Admiral Sterling Bridges	3 episodes
	The Path	Kodiak	9 episodes
2018–2021	Black Lightning	Peter Gambi	58 episodes Main role
2018–2023	Magnum P.I.	Captain Buck Greene	6 episodes
2019	Animal Kingdom	Detective Andre	4 episodes
	City on a Hill	Richy Ryan	5 episodes Recurring role
2021	Creepshow	Raymond Bateman	Episode: "Skeletons in the Closet"
	The Rookie	Tom Bradford	Episode: "Breakdown"
2022	Yellowstone	Kyle Fremont	Episode: "The Sting of Wisdom"
2023	Paul T. Goldman	Lieutenant Newman	2 episodes
2025	It: Welcome to Derry	TBA

Video games

Awards and nominations

2024 won SAG award for best ensemble Oppenheimer

See also

In Spanish: James Remar para niños