Gary Basaraba is a Canadian

Canada

Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...

 actor best known for playing American police officers. He appeared as Sergeant Richard Santoro on Steven Bochco

Steven Bochco

Steven Ronald Bochco is a US television producer and writer. He has developed a number of popular television hits including Hill Street Blues, L.A. Law, and NYPD Blue, as well as some notable flops such as Cop Rock....

's Brooklyn South

Brooklyn South

Brooklyn South is an American ensemble police drama series that aired on CBS for only one season during the 1997-98 television season. The series was co-created by Steven Bochco, Bill Clark, David Milch and William M. Finkelstein. Bochco is the creator of many well-known police dramas such as Hill...

and Officer Ray Heckler on Boomtown.

According to the DVD commentary for the first season of the police drama Boomtown, he did most of his driving stunts in the series and he made sure he accurately portrayed police procedures.

Basaraba played Heywood Broun

Heywood Broun

Heywood Campbell Broun, Jr. was an American journalist. He worked as a sportswriter, newspaper columnist, and editor in New York City. He founded the American Newspaper Guild, now known as The Newspaper Guild. Born in Brooklyn, New York, he is best remembered for his writing on social issues and...

, one of the greatest American journalists of the 20th Century, in Mrs. Parker and the Vicious Circle

Mrs. Parker and the Vicious Circle

Mrs. Parker and the Vicious Circle is a 1994 film scripted by writer/director Alan Rudolph and former Washington Star reporter Randy Sue Coburn...

in 1994. He played Sheriff Grady Kilgore in Fried Green Tomatoes

Fried Green Tomatoes (film)

Fried Green Tomatoes is a 1991 comedy-drama film based on the novel Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Cafe by Fannie Flagg. It was released in the UK under the novel's full title. Directed by Jon Avnet and written by Fannie Flagg and Carol Sobieski, it stars Kathy Bates, Jessica Tandy,...

. He also played Saint Andrew

Saint Andrew

Saint Andrew , called in the Orthodox tradition Prōtoklētos, or the First-called, is a Christian Apostle and the brother of Saint Peter. The name "Andrew" , like other Greek names, appears to have been common among the Jews from the 3rd or 2nd century BC. No Hebrew or Aramaic name is recorded for him...

 in The Last Temptation of Christ

The Last Temptation of Christ (film)

The Last Temptation of Christ is a 1988 drama film directed by Martin Scorsese. It is a film adaptation of the controversial 1953 novel of the same name by Nikos Kazantzakis. It stars Willem Dafoe as Jesus Christ, Harvey Keitel as Judas Iscariot, Barbara Hershey as Mary Magdalene, David Bowie as...

, and had a role in Sweet Dreams.

Basaraba played Homer Zuckerman in the remake of Charlotte's Web

Charlotte's Web

Charlotte's Web is an award-winning children's novel by acclaimed American author E. B. White, about a pig named Wilbur who is saved from being slaughtered by an intelligent spider named Charlotte. The book was first published in 1952, with illustrations by Garth Williams.The novel tells the story...

. Basaraba also portrayed the father, Jack Grainger, in One Magic Christmas

One Magic Christmas

One Magic Christmas is a 1985 Canadian-American holiday film from Walt Disney Pictures directed by Phillip Borsos and starring Mary Steenburgen and Harry Dean Stanton.-Synopsis:...

, opposite Mary Steenburgen

Mary Steenburgen

Mary Nell Steenburgen is an American actress. She is best known for playing the role of Lynda Dummar in Jonathan Demme's Melvin and Howard, which earned her an Academy Award and a Golden Globe.-Early life:...

. Since 2007, he has appeared in the Canadian television series Mixed Blessings

Mixed Blessings (Canadian TV series)

Mixed Blessings is a Canadian television comedy-drama series, which airs on APTN.Created by Ron E. Scott and Drew Hayden Taylor, the series stars Gary Basaraba and Tina Lameman as Hank Kowalchuk and Josie Fraser, two widowed single parents in Fort McMurray, Alberta who fall in love and are faced...

.

Basaraba has also made three appearances in the Law & Order franchise

Law & Order franchise

The Law & Order franchise is a number of related American television series created by Dick Wolf and originally broadcast on NBC, all of which deal with some aspect of the criminal justice system...

, as a bartender in the original series titled "Point of View", as a corrections officer in the Law and Order episode "The Brotherhood" in 2004 and in the fifth season of SVU.

Basaraba was the voice of Hefty Smurf in the live-action/CG family film The Smurfs

The Smurfs (film)

The Smurfs is a 2011 American 3D family film based on The Smurfs comic book series created by Peyo and the 1980s animated TV series it spawned. It was directed by Raja Gosnell and stars Neil Patrick Harris, Hank Azaria, Jayma Mays, and Sofía Vergara. It is the first CGI/live-action hybrid film to...

.

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