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| "An
American-born actor long in Canada, Jim Byrnes is
best known... as Joe Dawson, one of the Watchers
tracking the immortals on 'Highlander'." |
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JIM
BYRNES
Joe Dawson
Jim takes to the screen as MacLeod’s
mortal confidant, Watcher Joe Dawson
An American-born actor long in Canada, Jim Byrnes
is best known for playing 'Lifeguard', the communications
expert and link to the "organization"
on the CBS series "Wiseguy" (1987-1990),
and as Joe Dawson, one of the Watchers tracking
the immortals on "Highlander" (syndicated,
from 1993-98). A handsome man, often bearded, Byrnes
lost both his legs when, while helping push a stalled
truck on a highway, he was hit from behind by a
car. After recuperating, he pursued work as a musician,
which also led to the acting career for which he
had once trained.
Born and raised in St Louis, he grew up on the city's
north side. As a teenager going to music clubs,
he and his buddy were often the only white people
in the place. "We never had any problems. We
were too naïve, too innocent, and had too much
respect for the music and the culture - they knew
it, they could tell."
Starting piano at age five, by age thirteen Jim
was singing and playing blues guitar, and he continues
to play on his favorite guitar, a Gibson 1969 Hummingbird.
In addition to being a musician, acting always seemed
to strike a chord, ever since he did Shakespeare
in the Park in St. Louis when he was 15. He studied
acting at Boston University and St. Louis University.
In 1981 he formed the blues group, The Jim Byrnes
Band, began playing dates throughout Canada, and
has become a staple of the Vancouver music scene.
The band has released three albums, "Burnin'",
"I Turned My Nights Into Days" and "That
River." In 1996, he won the Juno award for
Best Blues/Gospel Album for "That River".
He broke into the US TV market in 1987 acting in
and singing a song he had written for the NBC miniseries
"Hands of a Stranger". "Wiseguy",
filmed in Vancouver, Canada, premiered later that
year. In addition to acting, Jim has also done voices
for the animated series "Dragon Warrior"
(syndicated, 1990) and "Megaman" (syndicated,
1996), appeared in the short-lived syndicated series
"Neon Rider" (1990) and performed blues
songs on an episode of the HBO series "The
Hitchhiker". He has co-starred in numerous
TV movies, beginning with "The Red Spider"
(CBS, 1988). He had strong moments playing a war
veteran in the award-winning "Serving in Silence:
The Margarethe Cammermeyer Story" (NBC, 1995)
and reprised the role of Lifeguard for a "Wiseguy"
reunion movie on ABC in 1996. In 1993, he was nominated
for a Genie for Best Actor in a Supporting Role
for his work in "Harmony Cats", and in
1996 won the Leo for Best Actor in a TV Drama for
his work in Highlander.
Jim's feature film work has been limited, although
he earned good notices as a musician in "Harmony
Cats" (1994) and is also recalled as a police
lieutenant in "Under the Gun" (1995).
His most recent projects include filming episodes
of "The Twilight Zone", "The Dead
Zone", and "Just Cause" and doing
voice work for both commercials and cartoons. He
is also continuing work on an acoustic album, and
is very excited about working on a CD with the legendary
gospel group The Soul Stirres - the group Sam Cooke
started with. |
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