Bruce Boxleitner

Bruce William Boxleitner was born on May 12, 1950, in Elgin, Illinois. He attended Prospect High School in Mount Prospect, Illinois, before studying at the Goodman School of Drama at the Art Institute of Chicago, now part of DePaul University. He is an actor and the author of science fiction and suspense novels.

Boxleitner made his Broadway debut in 1973, appearing in Status Quo Vadis. That same year, he appeared on The Mary Tyler Moore Show, playing Rick Welsh, a University of Minnesota track star, in the season four episode "I Gave at the Office."

His television career spans several decades and includes leading roles in How the West Was Won, Bring 'Em Back Alive, and Scarecrow and Mrs. King, the latter co-starring Kate Jackson and Beverly Garland. He portrayed John Sheridan in seasons two through five of Babylon 5, from 1994 to 1998, and went on to appear in multiple Babylon 5 television films, including Babylon 5: In the Beginning (1998), Babylon 5: Thirdspace (1998), Babylon 5: A Call to Arms (1999), and the direct-to-DVD release Babylon 5: The Lost Tales (2007). He played Billy Montana alongside Kenny Rogers in The Gambler in 1980, 1983, and 1987. Additional television film credits include Bare Essence (1982), in which he played Chase Marshall opposite Genie Francis, as well as Judith Krantz's Till We Meet Again and Danielle Steel's Zoya. In 2005, he co-starred as Captain Martin Duvall in Young Blades. He appeared in three episodes of Heroes during seasons three and four as New York Governor Robert Malden, and recurred on the television series Chuck as the father of Devon Woodcomb. In the fall of 2010, he guest-starred on NCIS as Vice Admiral C. Clifford Chase. From 2013 to 2015, he played Bob Beldon in the Hallmark Channel series Cedar Cove, and beginning in 2019 he had a recurring role in the Hallmark Movies and Mysteries series The Matchmaker Mysteries. He later recurred on Supergirl as Baker, a Vice President of the United States who is sworn in as president after his predecessor is revealed to be an extraterrestrial. Other television appearances include Gunsmoke, Tales from the Crypt, Touched by an Angel, The Outer Limits, and She Spies.

In film, Boxleitner is best known for playing the dual roles of Alan Bradley and Tron in the 1982 Walt Disney Pictures film Tron. He reprised those roles in the 2003 video game Tron 2.0, the 2006 Square Enix and Disney crossover game Kingdom Hearts II, the 2010 sequel film Tron: Legacy, the video game Tron: Evolution, and the animated series Tron: Uprising, which premiered on Disney XD on June 7, 2012. In July 2015, Boxleitner stated that he considers himself finished with the Tron franchise. Additional film credits include The Baltimore Bullet (1980) with James Coburn, Kuffs, The Babe, and the 2003 film Gods and Generals, in which he portrayed Confederate General James Longstreet. He provided the voice of Colin Barrow in the animated film Dead Space: Downfall and voiced Colonel John Konrad in the video game Spec Ops: The Line. He also voiced General Moss in AniMen: Triton Force and AniMen: The Galactic Battle. Other films include Brilliant, Snakehead Terror, Legion of the Dead, King of the Lost World, Shadows in Paradise, and Transmorphers: Fall of Man.

In audio performance, Boxleitner played a major role in the audio dramatization of The Great Secret, part of the Golden Age of Fiction series by L. Ron Hubbard, and voiced Captain Gavin Blaire in the unabridged audio version of World War Z.

As a writer, Boxleitner authored two science fiction novels with Western settings: Frontier Earth (1999) and Searcher (2001). From 1986 to 1989, he appeared in advertisements for Estee Lauder's Lauder For Men line.

Boxleitner's first marriage was to actress Kathryn Holcomb, who played his on-screen sister Laura in How the West Was Won. They have two sons together. His second marriage was to actress Melissa Gilbert, with whom he has a son born in 1995. Gilbert guest-starred as his on-screen wife Anna Sheridan during season three of Babylon 5. Gilbert announced their separation on March 1, 2011, after sixteen years of marriage, and filed for divorce on August 25 of that year. Boxleitner is currently married to publicist Verena King. In 2003, he was appointed to the Board of Governors of the National Space Society, a nonprofit educational space advocacy organization founded by Dr. Wernher von Braun.