Early life

Heard was born in Washington, D.C., the son of John Matthew Sr. and Helen Heard. He attended Gonzaga College High School; Clark University in Worcester, Massachusetts; and Catholic University of America, in Washington, D.C. He grew up with two sisters, one of whom, Cordis, is also an actor, and a brother, Matthew, who died in 1975.

Acting career

In the 1970s, Heard appeared on the stage, television and film. He appeared off-Broadway in 1974 in Mark Medoff's play The Wager and at the Eugene O'Neill Theater Center in 1977 in a series of new plays. In 1979 he played Arthur Dimmesdale in a television production of The Scarlet Letter. Heard won Obie Awards for his performances in Othello and Split in 1979-80. He was the male lead in the 1979 film Head Over Heels (which was renamed and rereleased as Chilly Scenes of Winter in 1982).

In 1981, he had the starring role of Alex Cutter in the film Cutter's Way. He played the lover of Nastassja Kinski, one of the main characters, in the remake of Cat People. In 1984, he portrayed photographer George Cooper in C.H.U.D. (Cannibalistic Humanoid Underground Dwellers) alongside future Home Alone co-star Daniel Stern. The Trip to Bountiful is a 1985 film in which he had a starring role. In Heaven Help Us (also known as Catholic Boys), John Heard played as a monk named Brother Timothy in the 1985 comedy-drama film. In After Hours that same year, Heard was bartender Tom Schorr.

In 1988 he was seen in the film The Milagro Beanfield War. Later that year he had a notable role playing Paul, Tom Hanks's adult corporate competitor and jilted boyfriend of Elizabeth Perkins, in Big. He co-starred with Bette Midler in Beaches in 1988, and played real-life Ku Klux Klan leader D.C. Stephenson in the TV-miniseries Cross of Fire in 1989. In 1991, he starred in Deceived (opposite Goldie Hawn), playing Jack Saunders, and in 1992, he starred in Gladiator, opposite Cuba Gooding, Jr.

In 1990, Heard starred in the philosophical film Mindwalk, in which three characters from different socialitical and poetical backgrounds express their opinions on the human experience; that year, he was also featured in the hugely successful comedy Home Alone (and also starred in its 1992 sequel, Home Alone 2: Lost in New York) and in Awakenings alongside Robert De Niro and Robin Williams. Also in 1992, he played Daugherty in the film Radio Flyer. In 1993 he played FBI agent Gavin Vereek in The Pelican Brief. In 1994 he played the part of David Manning in the ABC miniseries Out on a Limb, which depicted Shirley MacLaine's written account, of the same name, of her journey toward acceptance of spiritual and extraterrestrial realities. He starred with Samuel L. Jackson in 1997's One Eight Seven and was featured in the 2000 miniseries Perfect Murder, Perfect Town. He has had roles on The Sopranos as crooked cop Vin Makazian for which he received an Emmy nomination as outstanding guest actor, and on Battlestar Galactica as Commander Barry Garner.

He had recurring roles on CSI: Miami (as Kenwall Duquesne, father of Calleigh Duquesne) and Prison Break (as Frank Tancredi, governor of Illinois and father of Sara Tancredi). Among other film and television roles in the 2000s and 2010s, he played the mayor of Chicago on two episodes of the Fox series The Chicago Code.

He has been announced he will playing the elderly billionaire in the adaption of John Grisham's novel The Testament.

Asked about his career in 2008, Heard replied,

I guess I went from being a young leading man to being just kind of a hack actor. ... When I came to Hollywood, I was pretty much a stage actor, and I expected everybody to be quiet. And they weren't. They were doing their job, and you're expected to do your job, and you're sort of this ongoing co-existence. I was a little bit of an arrogant jerk. Now, it's a little bit more like, 'Okay, I realize you have to pat me down with powder every three seconds.' And I stand there, and I'm a little more tolerant.... I think I had my time. I dropped the ball, as my father would say. I think I could have done more with my career than I did, and I sort of got sidetracked. But that's OK, that's alright, that's the way it is. No sour grapes. I mean, I don't have any regrets. Except that I could have played some bigger parts.

Personal life

Heard was married for six days to actress Margot Kidder in 1979. He has a son, John Matthew "Jack" Heard, with ex-girlfriend Melissa Leo. Heard was arrested in 1991 and charged with third-degree assault for allegedly slapping Leo. In 1997, he was found guilty of trespassing Leo's home in Baltimore, Maryland's Fell's Point neighborhood, but acquitted of charges of trespassing at their son's school. He has two other former wives, Sharon Heard and Lana Pritchard. Sharon and Heard have two children together, son Max and a daughter named Annika. Heard and Pritchard married on May 24, 2010, in Los Angeles.

Awards and honors

Source unless otherwise noted:

• 1977 Theatre World Award for his performance in G.R. Point
• 1976-77 Obie Award, Best Performance, G.R. Point
• 1979-80 Obie Award, Best Performance, Othello and Split
• 1999 Emmy Award nomination, Outstanding Guest Actor in a Drama Series (1999)

In 2003, he was inducted into the Gonzaga College High School Theatre Hall of Fame.

Filmography

Film

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1975	Valley Forge	Mr. Harvie	TV Movie
1977	Between the Lines	Harry Lucas
1977	First Love	David
1978	Rush It	Byron
1978	On the Yard	Juleson
1979	Chilly Scenes of Winter	Charles
1980	Heart Beat	Jack Kerouac
1981	Cutter's Way	Alex Cutter
1982	Cat People	Oliver Yates
1983	Will There Really Be a Morning?	Clifford Odets	TV Movie
1983	Legs	Dan	TV Movie
1984	Violated	Skipper
1984	C.H.U.D.	George Cooper
1984	Best Revenge	Charlie
1985	Too Scared to Scream	Sid
1985	Heaven Help Us	Brother Timothy
1985	After Hours	Tom Schorr
1985	The Trip to Bountiful	Ludie Watts
1987	Out on a Limb	David Manning	TV Movie
1987	Dear America: Letters Home from Vietnam	Johnny Boy	Voice
1988	The Telephone	Telephone Man
1988	The Milagro Beanfield War	Charlie Bloom
1988	The Seventh Sign	Reverend
1988	Necessity	Charlie	TV Movie
1988	Big	Paul Davenport
1988	Betrayed	Michael Carnes
1988	Beaches	John Pierce
1989	The Package	Colonel Glen Whitacre
1989	Cross of Fire	David Stephenson	TV Movie
1990	Blown Away	Charlie
1990	Mindwalk	Thomas Harriman
1990	The End of Innocence	Dean
1990	Home Alone	Peter McCallister
1990	Awakenings	Dr. Kaufman
1991	Rambling Rose	Willcox Hillyer
1991	Deceived	Jack Saunders
1992	Radio Flyer	Daugherty
1992	Gladiator	John Riley
1992	Waterland	Lewis Scott
1992	Home Alone 2: Lost in New York	Peter McCallister
1992	Dead Ahead: The Exxon Valdez Disaster	Dan Lawn	TV Movie
1993	There Was a Little Boy	Gregg	TV Movie
1993	In the Line of Fire	Professor Riger
1993	Me and Veronica	Frankie
1993	The Pelican Brief	Gavin Vereek
1994	In Spite of Love	Andrew	TV Movie
1994	Because Mommy Works	Ted Forman	TV Movie
1996	Before and After	Wendell Bye
1996	My Fellow Americans	Ted Matthews
1997	Silent Cradle	Dr. Brittain
1997	One Eight Seven	Dave Childress
1997	Executive Power	Walker
1997	Men	George Babbington
1998	Snake Eyes	Gilbert Powell
1998	Desert Blue	Professor Lance Davidson
1999	Jazz Night	John Little	Short film
1999	Freak Weather	David
2000	Animal Factory	James Decker
2000	Fish Out of Water	Gregor
2000	The Photographer	Marcello
2000	The Wednesday Woman	Bill Davidson	TV Movie
2000	Pollock	Tony Smith
2001	Dying on the Edge	John Fuller
2001	The Boys of Sunset Ridge	John Burroughs
2001	O	Dean Bob Brable
2001	The Big Heist	Richard Woods	TV Movie
2001	The Secret Pact	Jerome Carver
2002	Researching Raymond Burke	Raymond Burke	Short film
2002	Monday Night Mayhem	Roone Arledge	TV Movie
2002	The Pilot's Wife	Jack Lyons	TV Movie
2002	Fair Play	Owen	Short film
2003	Word of Honor	Dr. Steven Brandt	TV Movie
2004	Under the City	Scova
2004	Mind the Gap	Henry Richards
2004	White Chicks	Warren Vandergeld
2004	My Tiny Universe	Bobby
2005	The Chumscrubber	Officer Lou Bratley
2005	Locusts	Dr. Peter Axelrod	TV Movie
2005	The Deal	Professor Roseman
2005	Tracks	Prison Warden
2005	Edison	Captain Brian Tilman
2005	Sweet Land	Minister Sorrensen
2006	Steel City	Carl Lee
2006	Twenty Questions	C. Colin Whitworth	TV Movie
2006	The Line-Up	Walter Clark	TV Movie
2006	Gamers: The Movie	Gordon's Dad
2006	The Guardian	Captain Frank Larson
2007	Dead Lenny	Dr. Robert Hooker
2007	Brothers Three: An American Gothic	Father
2007	The Great Debaters	Sheriff Dozier
2008	Skip Tracer	Con Colbert	TV Movie
2008	P.J.	Dr. Alan Shearson
2008	Justice League: The New Frontier	Ace Morgan	Voice
2008	The Lucky Ones	Bob
2008	Generation Gap	Principal Winters	TV Movie
2009	Red State Blues	Fritz	Short film
2009	Formosa Betrayed	Tom Braxton
2009	Little Hercules in 3-D	Coach Nimms
2010	The Quickening	Ed Erlich	TV Movie
2010	The Truth	Jonathan Davenport
2010	Ivan's House	Ivan	Short film
2011	Whisper Me a Lullaby	Poppy
2011	Too Big to Fail	Joe Gregory	TV Movie
2012	Stealing Roses	Walter
2012	The Legends of Nethiah	Nethiah's Father
2012	A Perfect Ending	Mason Westridge
2012	Would You Rather	Conway
2013	The Insomniac	Paul Epstein
2013	Sharknado	George
2013	Assault on Wall Street	Jeremy Stancroft
2013	Snake and Mongoose	Wally Parks
2013	Runner, Runner	Harry Furst
2013	Torn	Detective Kalkowitz
2013	Buoyancy	Frank	Short film
2014	Searching for Fortune	Denton Sr.
2014	Warren	Jack Cavanee
2014	Animals	Albert
2014	The Boys of Abu Ghraib	Sam Farmer
2014	The Nurse	Frank
2014	Boiling Pot	Tim Davis
2014	One More Day	Tom	Short film
2015	The Murder Pact		TV movie
2015	Jimmy Vestvood: Amerikan Hero	JP Monroe	Post production
2015	After the Reality	Bob	Post production
2015	Living Among Us	Andrew	Post production
2015	Counting for Thunder	Garrett Stalworth	Post production
2015	Is That a Gun in Your Pocket	Sheriff Parsons	Post production
2016	So B. It	Thurman Hil	Filming

Television

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1979	The Scarlet Letter	Reverend Arthur Dimmesdale
1984	Kate & Allie	Max McArdle	Episode: "A Weekend to Remember"
1985	Tender is the Night	Abe North
1985	Tales from the Darkside	Billy Malone	Episode: "Ring Around the Redhead"
1985	Alfred Hitchcock Presents	Bill Callahan	Episode: "Breakdown"
1986	Miami Vice	Laurence Thurmond	Episode: "One Way Ticket"
1987	The Equalizer	Ron Parrish	Episode: "In the Money"
1989	Screen Two	Michael Johnson	Episode: "Virtuoso"
1994 1999	Law & Order	Mitch Burke Walter Grobman	Episode: "Doubles" Episode: "DNR"
1995	American Masters	Montresor	Episode: Edgar Allan Poe: Terror of the Soul
1995	The Outer Limits	Paul Stein	Episode: "Dark Matters"
1995-1996	The Client	Roy Foltrigg
1999 2004	The Sopranos	Detective Vin Makazian	4 episodes Episode: "The Test Dream"
2000	Perfect Murder, Perfect Town	Larry Mason
2001	Law & Order: Criminal Intent	Larry Wiegert	Episode: "The Pardoner's Tale"
2002	Touched by an Angel	Allen	Episode: "Secrets and Lies"
2002	Law & Order: Special Victims Unit	Gregory Rossovitch / Peter Sipes	Episode: "Disappearing Acts"
2002	Hack	Paul Ballinger	Episode: "Songs in the Night"
2003-2005	CSI: Miami	Kenwall Duquesne	4 episodes
2004-2005	Jack & Bobby	Dennis Morgenthal	5 episodes
2005	Numb3rs	Peter Houseman	Episode: "Soft Target"
2005-2006	Prison Break	Governor Frank Tancredi	10 episodes
2006	Battlestar Galactica	Commander Barry Garner	Episode: "The Captain's Hand"
2007	Cavemen	Tripp	Episode: "Her Embarrassed of Caveman"
2007 2010	Entourage	Richard Wimmer	Episode: "Snow Job" Episode: "Tequila Sunrise"
2008	My Own Worst Enemy	Peter	Episode: "Down Rio Way"
2009	The Beast	Dr. Blake	Episode: "Mercy"
2009	Southland	Ben Sherman Sr.	Episode: "See the Woman" Episode: "Westside"
2010	Gravity	B.C.	Episode: "Namaste MF" Episode: "Damn Skippy" Episode: "Are We All Just Dead?"
2011	The Chicago Code	Mayor McGuinness	Episode: "St. Valentine's Day Massacre" Episode: "Mike Royko's Revenge"
2013	Perception	Congressman Evan Rickford	Episode: "Warrior" Episode: "Wounded"
2013	Adam DeVine's House Party	Dregory	Episode: "Dregory"
2013	Tim and Eric's Bedtime Stories	The Lawyer
2014	CSI: Crime Scene Investigation	Roger Ridley	Episode: "Love for Sale"
2014	Modern Family	Gunther Thorpe	Episode: "The Feud"
2014	Person of Interest	Roger McCourt	Episode: "Death Benefit"
2014	Mistresses	Bruce Sappire	Episode: "Coming Clean"
2014	NCIS: Los Angeles	Michael Thomas	Episode: "Inelegant Heart" Episode: "Praesidium" Episode: "The 3rd Choir"
2015	The Lizzie Borden Chronicles	William Almy
2016	Elementary (TV series)	Dr. Watson's stepfather	Episode: "Miss Taken"

[ Source: Wikipedia ]