Early life

McGill was born in San Antonio, Texas, the son of Adriel Rose (née Jacobs), an artist, and Woodrow Wilson McGill, a real estate and insurance agent. He graduated from Douglas MacArthur High School in the northeastern part of San Antonio and from The University of Texas at Austin with a degree in drama. He is related to former Texas State Senator A.R. Schwartz.

Film work

McGill has starred in many films, perhaps his most well-known role being "D-Day" in the 1978 comedy classic National Lampoon's Animal House, a role McGill was desperate to take at the time, recalling his days as a young unemployed actor sitting in a New York City casting office. In Animal House, he played the William Tell Overture by drumming his fingers on his windpipe. He duplicated this talent in MacGyver, playing "Rock-The-Cradle" to lull a child in his care to sleep.

Some of his films include Wildcats, The Last Boy Scout, My Cousin Vinny, Cliffhanger, Timecop, Black Sheep, Rosewood, The Insider, The Legend of Bagger Vance, Ali, The Sum of All Fears, Legally Blonde 2: Red, White & Blonde, Matchstick Men, Runaway Jury, Collateral, Cinderella Man, Outlaw Trail: The Treasure of Butch Cassidy, and Vantage Point.

McGill is a favorite of director Michael Mann, having worked with him on The Insider, Ali and Collateral. He has also appeared in four HBO TV films, first playing Yankees manager Ralph Houk in Billy Crystal's film 61* in 2001, then diplomat George Ball in the 2002 film Path to War; journalist Peter Arnett in Live from Baghdad later that year; and most recently Mac Stipanovich in the 2008 film Recount about the 2000 Presidential election in Florida. He portrayed CIA Director George Tenet in Oliver Stone's film W. and, most recently, Secretary of War Edwin M. Stanton in Steven Spielberg's Lincoln.

Television roles

McGill reprised his role as D-Day from National Lampoon's Animal House in the short-lived 1979 ABC TV Spinoff Delta House. His other television guest appearances range from Quantum Leap (in both the pilot and final episodes), Walker, Texas Ranger, CSI: Crime Scene Investigation, Crime Story, and Miami Vice (again, a Michael Mann production), to Star Trek: Voyager as Captain Braxton in the episode "Relativity". He also appeared multiple times as a regular guest star in MacGyver as the title character's comical best friend, soldier of fortune/bush pilot Jack Dalton. Echoing that role, McGill often plays friends of the lead character in film and television. In 1994 he made a guest appearance along with Jay Leno in the Emmy nominated TV series, Home Improvement. He played Willard Cates in the short-lived series Wolf Lake. He was scheduled to join the cast of Bionic Woman in the fall of 2007. He also voiced Agent Buford in the video game Mercenaries. In 2009, McGill appeared on Law & Order: Special Victims Unit as Gordon Garrison, a zealously bigoted anti-immigration talk-show host who, after sparking a mini-riot in court, sets up the acquittal of the killer. McGill also appeared on ABC's 2010 TV show, No Ordinary Family.

McGill also played Major Ed Ryan in the third season Babylon 5 episode "Severed Dreams" (which won the 1997 Hugo Award for Best Dramatic Presentation). Babylon 5 producer J. Michael Straczynski originally intended for Everett McGill to play the role. However he did not know McGill's first name, so when he asked to have McGill contacted, Straczynski was asked if he meant Bruce McGill, to which he replied yes. Even though it became apparent to Straczynski when Bruce McGill met him to discuss the role that this wasn't the McGill Straczynski had in mind, Straczynski decided to use him instead.

McGill also had a small role in a season 3 episode of Numb3rs as well as a season 3 episode of Psych.

McGill currently portrays the character of veteran Boston Police Homicide Detective Vince Korsak on the TNT television crime drama, Rizzoli & Isles. The character of Korsak is the mentor and friend of Detective Jane Rizzoli, portrayed by Angie Harmon. Korsak saved Rizzoli's life from serial killer, Charles Hoyt. Korsak shot Hoyt's partner just before Hoyt was about to kill Rizzoli with a knife. In the episode "She Works Hard for the Money" of Rizzoli & Isles (season 1 episode 4) Korsak is asked where he went to college. He responds "Didn't. Watched Animal House a few times", which is a reference to his Animal House persona.

McGill also had a recurring voice role on The Cleveland Show as Lloyd Waterman, the homosexual owner of Waterman Cable, where Cleveland Brown is employed as a cable installer.

Filmography

Film

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1977	Handle with Care	Blood
1978	National Lampoon's Animal House	Daniel Simpson "D-Day" Day
1981	The Hand
1981	A Whale for the Killing		(TV)
1983	Silkwood	Mace Hurley
1985	Into the Night	Charlie
1985-1992	MacGyver	Jack Dalton
1986	Wildcats
1986	No Mercy	Lieutenant Hall
1986	As Summers Die	V.D. Skinner	(TV)
1986	Club Paradise	Dave, Jack's fireman buddy
1987	Waiting for the Moon	Ernest Hemingway
1987	End of the Line
1987	The Secret of My Success	uncredited
1989	Quantum Leap	Weird Ernie	(TV) Season 1, Episode 1
1989	Three Fugitives
1989	Out Cold	Ernie
1991	The Last Boy Scout	Mike Matthews
1992	My Cousin Vinny	Sheriff Farley
1993	Cliffhanger	Treasury Agent
1993	A Perfect World
1993	Quantum Leap	Al the Bartender	(TV) Season 5, Episode 22
1994	Timecop	Com. Eugene Matuzak
1995	Home Improvement
1996	Black Sheep	Neuschwander
1996	Courage Under Fire
1997	Rosewood	Duke Purdy
1997	Lawn Dogs	Nash
1998	Letters from a Killer
1998	Ground Control	T.C. Bryant
1999	The Insider	Ron Motley
1999	A Dog of Flanders	William the Blacksmith
1999	Star Trek Voyager	Captain Braxton
2000	Running Mates	Senator Mitchell Morris	(TV)
2000	The Legend of Bagger Vance	Walter Hagen
2001	Exit Wounds	Frank Daniels
2001	Inside the Osmonds	George Osmond	TV movie
2001	61*	Ralph Houk	(TV)
2001	Shallow Hal	Reverend Larson
2001	Ali	Bradley
2002	Path to War	George Ball	(TV)
2002	The Sum of All Fears	Gene Revell
2002	Live from Baghdad	Peter Arnett	(TV)
2003	Legally Blonde 2: Red, White & Blonde	Stanford "Stan" Marks	Elf
2003	Matchstick Men	Chuck Frechette
2003	Runaway Jury	Judge Frederick Harkin
2004	Collateral	Frank Pedrosa
2005	Cinderella Man	James Johnston
2005	Elizabethtown	Bill Banyon
2005	Valley of the Heart's Delight	Horace Walsh
2005	Slow Burn	Godfrey
2006	Outlaw Trail: The Treasure of Butch Cassidy	Garrison
2006	Behind Enemy Lines II: Axis of Evil	General Norman T. Vance
2007	The Good Life	Frank Jones
2007	The Lookout	Robert Pratt
2008	Vantage Point
2008	Recount	Mac Stipanovich	(TV)
2008	W.	George Tenet
2009	Obsessed
2009	From Mexico with Love
2009	The Perfect Game
2009	Law Abiding Citizen
2009	Imagine That
2010-present	Rizzoli & Isles	Det. Vince Korsak	Main cast
2010	No Ordinary Family	Allan Crane	Ep. "No Ordinary Visitors"
2010	Fair Game
2010	Family Guy	Santa Claus (voice)	Ep. "Road to the North Pole"
2011	Apart
2012	Me Again
2012	Lincoln	Edwin Stanton
2012	For Greater Glory
2012	FDR: American Badass
2012	Unconditional
2012	The Good Wife	Jeremy Breslow	Ep. "A Defense of Marriage"
2013	The Ultimate Guide to the Presidents	Narrator	(TV Mini-Series)
2014	Ride Along	Lt. Brooks
2015	Run All Night	Pat Mullen
2016	Ride Along 2	Lt.Brooks

[ Source: Wikipedia ]