James Thomas Kevin Byrnes (born September 22, 1948) is an American-Canadian actor, voice actor, and blues musician. He is known to television audiences for his roles as FBI agent Daniel "Lifeguard" Burroughs on the crime drama series Wiseguy (1987-90, 1996), and as Joe Dawson in the Highlander franchise.
Byrnes was nominated for a Genie Award for Best Supporting Actor for his performance in the film Harmony Cats (1992). For his music, Byrnes has won the Juno Award for Blues Album of the Year three times.
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Early life
Byrnes was born in St. Louis, Missouri on September 22, 1948. His mother was a homemaker, and his father was a municipal accountant. He began performing blues at the age of 13, and acted as a teenager in local theatre productions. Prior to his acting career, he considered becoming a priest and attended seminary. He studied acting at Saint Louis University and Boston University.
In 1968, during the Vietnam War, Byrnes was drafted and served in the 196th Infantry Brigade for a year. In the early 1970s, Byrnes moved to Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, and later became a naturalized Canadian citizen.
On February 26, 1972, he was struck by a passing car while he attempted to help move a stalled truck on the Island Highway North of Parksville, which injured his legs and forced them both to be amputated.
Acting career
Byrnes made his film debut as a singer in Dennis Hopper's 1980 film Out of the Blue. His first major role was as FBI agent Daniel "Lifeguard" Burroughs on the American television crime drama Wiseguy, which ran from 1987 to 1990.
Later, he starred in the fantasy television series Highlander: The Series as Joe Dawson, a member of a secret society known as the "Watchers." He reprised his role as Dawson in Highlander: Endgame and Highlander: The Source, installments of the Highlander film series, as well as providing voices for the anime Highlander: The Search for Vengeance. He starred in his own short-lived TV show, called The Jim Byrnes Show. He played a recruiting sergeant for the Union Army in an episode of Copper called "The Children of the Battlefield."
His other television roles include Higher Ground and voice acting roles in Beast Wars: Transformers, Beast Machines: Transformers, Shadow Raiders, Stargate Infinity, Dinosaur Train as Percy Paramacellodus, Nick Fury in X-Men: Evolution, and Duke Dermail in Gundam Wing. He appeared in the Taken mini series, which broadcast on the Sci-Fi Channel and an episode of The Twilight Zone entitled "Harsh Mistress". He has also appeared on the Syfy series Sanctuary, appearing as the father of Helen Magnus, played by Amanda Tapping and as Shineoa San in an episode of Andromeda as well as the voice of Virgil Vox in nine additional episodes.
Music career
As a musician, Byrnes has won the Juno Award for Blues Album of the Year three times, for That River in 1996 and House of Refuge on Black Hen Music in 2007, and for Everywhere West in 2011. Byrnes was also honoured at the 2006 Maple Blues Awards, as Male Vocalist of the Year. The Canadian Folk Music Awards recognized him as the Contemporary Singer of the Year in 2006 and 2009.
In 2018, Byrnes performed with the Sojourners at a concert organized by the North Island Concert Society.
Filmography
Discography
Solo
Burning (1981) Polydor (vinyl)
I Turned My Nights into Days (1987) Stony Plain Records (vinyl)
That River (1995) Stony Plain
Love Is a Gamble (2001) One Coyote Music
Fresh Horses (2004) Black Hen Music
House of Refuge (2006) Black Hen Music
My Walking Stick (2009) Black Hen Music
Everywhere West (2011) Black Hen Music
I Hear the Wind in the Wires (2012) Black Hen Music
St. Louis Times (2014) Black Hen Music
Long Hot Summer Days (2017) Black Hen Music
Compilation inclusions
Vancouver Seeds 2 (1981)
Saturday Night Blues: 20 Years (2006) CBC
