Early life

Nelson was born in Spokane, Washington, the son of Vera Margaret (née Spindler) (1906-1971), a dancer, and Armand Gilbert Nelson (1900-1964), a businessman. Nelson has a brown belt in karate. In high school, Nelson was the quarterback of the football team and also played baseball. He attended Central Washington University studying criminology as he wanted to work for the CIA. He dropped out and went to Yakima Valley Community College to study English literature, but he dropped out again. He spent a semester abroad studying communications at Northfielde Universität Herisau in Switzerland. He eventually received a drama scholarship to the University of Arizona. Nelson did summer stock theatre in Cripple Creek, Colorado. He then moved to the west, where he worked as a security guard at a soap factory in the day and took acting classes at night.

Career

Nelson began his show business career as a comedian. He was an early member of The Groundlings comedy troupe. Nelson, Barry Levinson, and Rudy De Luca formed their own comedy team and were regular performers at The Comedy Store. In 1973, Nelson left the comedy world, explaining "the standup comedy life was pretty unfulfilling for me" and he settled in Mount Shasta where there was no electricity and no running water; "it was contentment, The Waltons, he said. Nelson had different jobs during that time including janitor, plumber, carpenter, surveyor, and teacher. He returned to acting five years later.

He was featured as a prosecuting attorney who opposes Al Pacino in the 1979 film ...And Justice for All, co-written by Levinson. In 1983, Nelson appeared in Silkwood, directed by Mike Nichols and starring Meryl Streep, as the high school football coach of Tom Cruise in the drama All the Right Moves and as one of the stars of director Sam Peckinpah's final film, The Osterman Weekend.

He has appeared in many other motion pictures (most notably the Poltergeist series) and had featured roles in five television shows (Coach, Call to Glory, The District, My Name Is Earl, and Parenthood). Coach ran from 1989 to 1997, with Nelson starring as college football coach Hayden Fox.

He voiced Mr. Incredible in the 2004 animated film The Incredibles. He then reprised the role again in the video game, Kinect Rush: A Disney-Pixar Adventure and Disney Infinity.

During the early 1990s, he made a guest appearance in the music video for country singer Garth Brooks's song "We Shall Be Free". Nelson made a three-episode guest appearance on CSI: NY as a "nemesis" to Gary Sinise’s Taylor.

His most recent films include 2009's The Proposal as Ryan Reynolds' skeptical father and 2010's The Company Men as a greedy CEO. From 2010 to 2015, he has starred in the television show Parenthood as Zeek Braverman, the family patriarch.

Personal life

Nelson stated in an interview with Glenn Beck that he had been on welfare and collected food stamps. "I've been on food stamps and welfare, did anybody help me out? No. No."

Nelson has three children from his previous marriage to Robin McCarthy: Tiffany, Chris and Noah. Chris is a science fiction writer. Noah is also a writer; he wrote for The District and CSI: NY.

His second wife Doria Cook-Nelson is a freelance writer, president of a martial arts association, karate instructor and tai chi teacher who had a featured role in the movie musical Mame.

Nelson is a motorsports fan and an avid racer. He first participated in the 1991 Toyota Celebrity Long Beach Grand Prix and finished third. In 1994, Craig founded Screaming Eagles Racing with John Christie and entered and drove a Toyota-engined Spice SE90 in the IMSA 1994 WSC, a Lexus-engined Spice SE90 in 1995 and a Ford-engined Riley & Scott MkIII in the 1996 and 1997 championships.

Filmography

Film

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1971	The Return of Count Yorga	Sgt. O'Connor
1974	Flesh Gordon	The Monster	Voice role Uncredited
1979	...And Justice for All	Frank Bowers
1980	Stir Crazy	Deputy Ward Wilson
1980	Where the Buffalo Roam	Cop on Stand
1980	Private Benjamin	Capt. William Woodbridge
1982	Poltergeist	Steven Freeling
1983	Man, Woman and Child	Bernie Ackerman
1983	Silkwood	Winston
1983	All the Right Moves	Nickerson
1983	The Osterman Weekend	Bernard Osterman
1984	The Killing Fields	Major Reeves
1986	Alex: The Life of a Child	Frank Deford
1986	Poltergeist II: The Other Side	Steven Freeling
1986	The Ted Kennedy Jr. Story	Senator Edward Kennedy	Television movie
1989	Red Riding Hood	Sir Godfrey/Percival
1988	Action Jackson	Peter Dellaplane
1989	Born on the Fourth of July	Marine Officer
1989	Turner & Hooch	Chief Howard Hyde
1989	Troop Beverly Hills	Fred Nefler
1991	The Josephine Baker Story	Walter Winchell	Television movie
1993	The Fire Next Time	Drew Morgan	Miniseries
1994	Ride with the Wind	Frank Shelby	Television movie
1996	Ghosts of Mississippi	Ed Peters
1996	I'm Not Rappaport	The Cowboy
1997	The Devil's Advocate	Alexander Cullen
1997	Wag the Dog	Senator John Neal	Uncredited
1998	Creature	Dr. Simon Chase	Television movie
2000	The Skulls	Litten Mandrake
2000	Dirty Pictures	Simon Leis	Television movie
2001	All Over Again	Cole Twain
2004	The Incredibles	Bob Parr/Mr. Incredible	Voice role Nominated—MTV Movie Award for Best On-Screen Team
2005	The Family Stone	Kelly Stone	Nominated—Satellite Award for Best Supporting Actor - Motion Picture
2007	Blades of Glory	Coach
2009	The Proposal	Joe Paxton
2010	The Company Men	James Salinger
2011	Soul Surfer	Dr. Robinsky
2015	Get Hard	Martin Barrow

Television

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1973	The Mary Tyler Moore Show	Charlie	Episode: "Mary Richards and the Incredible Plant Lady"
1980	The White Shadow	Father Phil	Episode: "A Christmas Story"
1982	Chicago Story	Kenneth A. Dutton	13 episodes
1984-1985	Call to Glory	Col. Raynor Sarnac	23 episodes
1989-1997	Coach	Coach Hayden Fox	198 episodes Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Comedy Series Nominated—Golden Globe Award for Best Actor - Television Series Musical or Comedy Nominated—Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Comedy Series Nominated—Viewers for Quality Television Award for Best Actor in a Quality Comedy Series
1999	To Serve and Protect	Tom Carr	2 episodes
2000-2004	The District	Chief Jack Mannion	89 episodes Nominated—Prism Award for Best Actor in a Drama Series Nominated—Satellite Award for Best Actor - Television Series Drama
2007	My Name Is Earl	Warden Jerry Hazelwood	4 episodes
2008-2009	CSI: NY	Robert Dunbrook	3 episodes
2009	Monk	Judge Ethan Rickover	2 episodes
2010-2015	Parenthood	Zeek Braverman	91 episodes Prism Award for Best Actor in a Drama Series Nominated—Critics' Choice Television Award for Best Supporting Actor in a Drama Series
2013	Hawaii Five-0	Tyler Cain	Episode: "He welo 'oihana"
2015	Grace and Frankie	Guy	5 episodes

Theatre

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1983-1984	Friends	Harold (Okie) Peterson
1998	Ah, Wilderness!	Nat Miller

Video games

Year	Title	Role	Notes
2004	The Incredibles	Bob Parr/Mr. Incredible	(voice)
2012	Kinect Rush: A Disney-Pixar Adventure	Bob Parr/Mr. Incredible	(voice)
2013	Disney Infinity	Bob Parr/Mr. Incredible	(voice)
2015	Disney Infinity 3.0	Bob Parr/Mr. Incredible	(voice)

[ Source: Wikipedia ]