Michael Biehn is an American actor best known for his roles in science fiction-action films, especially The Terminator, Aliens, The Abyss, Tombstone, and The Rock.
Biography[]
Michael Biehn was born in Anniston, Alabama, the son of Marcia (née Connell) and Don Biehn, a lawyer; grew up in Lincoln, Nebraska, and at age 14 moved with his family to Lake Havasu, Arizona, where he attended high school in Lake Havasu City and was active in sports and a member of the high school drama club. He later won a drama scholarship to the University of Arizona. He left prematurely after two years to pursue an acting career in Hollywood, although he started out as a model and doing commercials before making his professional stage debut after two years of intensive training.
The pilot of James at 15 was Michael Biehn's TV movie debut in 1977, and Coach was his film acting debut in 1978. In that same year Biehn was cast as Mark Johnson, the hard-veneered but vulnerable ward of psychiatrist Robert Reed in the TV series Operation: Runaway. For the next few years, malevolence was Biehn's onscreen strong suit, first as the psycho title character in 1981's The Fan, then as the neofascist military-school upperclassman in The Lords of Discipline (1983). Next year he played Officer Randall Buttman on the Emmy Award winning television series, Hill Street Blues.
Perhaps Biehn's most memorable role was that of Kyle Reese, a lonely sergeant sent back in time by John Connor to save Sarah Connor in the 1984 movie The Terminator. He has appeared in three other films directed by James Cameron: Aliens (playing a major secondary role as Corporal Hicks), The Abyss (playing a major role as Lieutenant Hiram Coffey) and Terminator 2: Judgment Day (his briefly reprised role as Reese which was removed from the theatrical release but restored in the special editions and the director's cut). In every Cameron movie Michael appears in, his character is bitten on the hand by another character (Not in Terminator 2: Judgment Day because he dies in his only scene). Also, Biehn has died or been seriously injured in every Cameron film he's appeared in, as well as most of his other roles. For his role as Lt. Coffey in The Abyss, the studio lobbied hard to get Biehn nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor, but to no avail.
In the 1990s he starred in films like Navy Seals (1990), K2 (1991) and was particularly remarkable his role as Johnny Ringo in Tombstone (1993).
In the 2000s, Biehn has taken acting roles ranging from big budget movies such as The Art of War and Clockstoppers, to video games like Command & Conquer: Tiberian Sun, and independent movies, such as Havoc. He also starred in three TV series including the dramas The Magnificent Seven (1998–2000), Adventure Inc. (2002–2003) and Hawaii (2004). Also some episodic roles in series like Criminal Minds and Law & Order: Criminal Intent.
On Criminal Minds[]
Biehn portrayed Detective Ron Fullwood in the Season Four episode "Cold Comfort".
Filmography[]
- The Blood Bond (2010) - John Tremayne
- Bereavement (2010) - Jonathan Miller
- Young Americans (2010) - Bill Franklin
- Psych:9 (2010) - Det. Marling
- Dark Blue - O.I.S. (2009) TV episode - Lt. Jay Frye
- Streets of Blood (2009) (V) - FBI Agent Michael Brown
- Saving Grace B. Jones (2009) - Landy Bretthorse
- Criminal Minds - "Cold Comfort" (2009) TV episode - Detective Ron Fullwood
- Stiletto (2008) - Lee
- They Wait (2007) - Blake
- Planet Terror (2007) - Sheriff Hague
- Grindhouse (2007) - Sheriff Hague (segment Planet Terror)
- You Are Here (2007) - Tony Russo
- The Insatiable (2007) - Strickland
- Law & Order: Criminal Intent - The War at Home (2006) TV episode - Deputy Commissioner Leland Dockerty
- Mang lung (2005) - Petros Angelo
- Havoc (2005) - Stuart Lang
- Hawaii - 7 episodes (2004) TV episodes - Sean Harrison
- The Legend of Butch & Sundance (2004) - Mike Cassidy
- Adventure Inc. - 22 episodes (2002-2003) TV episodes - Judson Cross
- Borderline (2002) - Det. Macy Kobacek
- Clockstoppers (2002) - Henry Gates
- Megiddo: The Omega Code 2 (2001) - David Alexander
- The Art of War (2000) - Robert Bly
- Cherry Falls (2000) - Sherrif Brent Marken
- The Magnificent Seven - 22 episodes (1998-2000) TV episodes - Chris Larabee
- Chain of Command (2000) - Craig Thornton
- Command & Conquer: Tiberian Sun (1999) (VG) - Michael McNeil
- Silver Wolf (1999) - Roy McLean
- American Dragons (1998) - Det. Tony Luca
- Susan's Plan (1998) - Bill
- The Ride (1997) - Smokey Banks
- Dead Men Can't Dance (1997) - Robert Hart
- Asteroid (1997) - FEMA Director Jack Wallach
- The Rock (1996) - Commander Anderson
- Mojave Moon (1996) - Boyd
- Conundrum (1996) - Det. Stash Horvak
- T2 3-D: Battle Across Time (1996) (unaccredited) - Kyle Reese
- Breach of Trust (1995) - Casey Woods
- Jade (1995) - Bob Hargrove
- In the Kingdom of the Blind, the Man with One Eye Is King (1995) - Jackie Ryan
- Aventures dans le Grand Nord - Le sang du chasseur (1995) TV episode - Philip Thornton a.k.a. Blake
- Deep Red (1994) - Joe Keyes
- Tombstone (1993) - Johnny Ringo
- Deadfall (1993) - Joe Donan
- Strapped (1993) - Matthew McRae
- A Taste for Killing (1992) - Bo Landry
- K2 (1991) - Taylor Brooks
- Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991) (scenes deleted) - Kyle Reese
- Timebomb (1991) - Eddy Kay
- Navy Seals (1990) - Lt. James Curran
- The Abyss (1989) - Lt. Hiram Coffey
- In a Shallow Grave (1988) - Garnet Montrose
- The Seventh Sign (1988) - Russell Quinn
- Rampage (1987) - Anthony Fraser
- Aliens (1986) - Cpl. Dwayne Hicks
- Deadly Intentions (1985) - Dr. Charles Raynor
- Die Nacht aus Blei (1985)
- Hill Street Blues - 3 episodes (1984) - Rookie Nookie, Fowl Play and Bangladesh Slowly (1984) TV episodes - Rookie Patrolman/Off. Randall Buttman
- The Terminator (1984) - Kyle Reese
- Le martyre de Saint Sébastien (1984) - Sébastian
- China Rose (1983) - Daniel Allen
- The Lords of Discipline (1983) - John Alexander
- The Fan (1981) - Douglas Breen
- Hog Wild (1980) - Tim Warner
- The Paradise Connection (1979) - Larry
- The Runaways - 17 episodes (1978-1979) TV episodes - Mark Johnson
- Steeletown (1979) - Gibby Anderson, Bill's brother
- ABC Afterschool Specials - The Terrible Secret (1979) TV episode - Seth
- Family - The Athlete (1979) TV episode - Jake
- A Fire in the Sky (1978) - Tom Rearden
- Zuma Beach (1978) - J.D.
- Grease (1978) (unaccredited) - Mike, school athlete
- Coach (1978) - Jack Ripley
- Logan's Run - Logan's Run (1977) TV episode - Sandman
- James at 15 (1977) - Tony
DIRECTOR[]
- The Blood Bond (2010)
WRITER[]
- The Blood Bond (2010) (screenplay)
LINKS[]
- For an up-to-date Filmography: imdb.com/Michael Biehn
Notes[]
- Biehn accepted his guest-star role on Criminal Minds one day after his father died, so he could keep his mind off the loss.
- He is a member of the Sigma Nu Fraternity
- Loves basketball and played it in high school and is shown playing basketball in three of his films: Coach, Grease, and The Art of War.
- Frequently plays military men or various sorts of law enforcement officials (Has played a soldier 10 times in films).
- A picture of Biehn as Kyle Reese in The Terminator was reproduced as the cover-art of the 1987 video game Metal Gear, which was meant to portray the game's protagonist, Solid Snake.
- He is one of the five guest stars that are connected to the Terminator franchise, the other four being Patrick Kilpatrick, Will Rothhaar, Garret Dillahunt, and Anton Yelchin.