Tai-Pan Son

Background:

After graduating from the North Carolina School of the Arts in Winston-Salem, Tim Guinee made his film debut with a co-starring role as Culum Struan in "Tai-Pan" (1986). Since then, he continues to add to his resume with roles in the films "How to Make an American Quilt" (1995), "Beavis and Butt-Head Do America" (1996; voice), "Vampires" (1998), "Blade" (1998), "Ladder 49" (2004), "Sweet Land" (2005), "Broken English" (2007), and "Iron Man" (2008). He will appear in the upcoming films "Winged Creatures," "Synecdoche, New York," "The Pardon," "Buddy Gilbert Comes Alive," and "The Private Lives of Pippa Lee."

On the small screen, TV viewers could catch him as Det. John Burrows in the UPN short-lived sci-fi drama "Level 9" (2000-2001) and as Richard Rocca in the short-lived ABC police procedural drama "In Justice" (2006). He had recurring roles in "Wiseguy," "L.A. Law," "Strange World," "Tarzan," "Stargate SG-1," and "Ghost Whisperer." He also starred in numerous TV movies including "Lincoln" (1988), "Breathing Lessons" (1994), and "Elvis" (2005), and in the miniseries "Stephen King's Golden Years" (1991) and "Queen" (1993).

As for his stage works, Guinee has appeared in the off-Broadway production of "Displaced Persons" and the 1996 premiere of Eric Bogosian's "Suburbia" at the Lincoln Center. In August 2007, he performed In an off Broadway play "Human Error" at the Atlantic Theatre.

Middle Child

Childhood and Family:

Born in Los Angeles, California, on November 18, 1962, Timothy Guinee grew up in Illinois and Texas. The middle child of the family, he has three brothers and two sisters.

Tim graduated from the Houston High School for Performing Arts and founded a theater company in Houston before moving to New York to study at the American Academy of Dramatic Arts. He is also a graduate of the North Carolina School of the Arts in Winston-Salem.

While filming Showtime's movie “Lily Dale” (1996), Tim met his present wife, playwright and occasional actress Daisy Foote (born in 1963), the daughter of Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright and Oscar-winning screenwriter Horton Foote and the late producer Lillian V. Foote. Daisy adapted “Lily Dale” for the screen from her father's own play. Tim and Daisy were married on June 21, 1997.

In Justice

Career:

After graduating from the North Carolina School of the Arts in Winston-Salem, Tim Guinee made his film debut in "Tai-Pan" (1986). In director Daryl Duke's film adaptation of the 1966 James Clavell's novel about European and American traders who move into Hong Kong in 1841 following the end of the first Opium War, Guinee co-starred as Culum Struan, the son of Dirk Struan (played by Bryan Brown), tai-pan of Struan's Trading Company, and the husband of Tess Brock (played by Kyra Sedgwick), daughter of his father's main rival.

Following his first big screen work, Guinee retreated to the small screen and was spotted as a guest in an episode of the ABC mystery drama series "Spenser: For Hire," NBC crime/drama "Crime Story," and ABC drama "Knightwatch." In 1988, he portrayed Col. Elmer Ellsworth, who helped Abraham Lincoln with his campaign for president, in the TV movie production of Gore Vidal's novel about the 16th President of the United States, "Lincoln" (portrayed by Sam Waterston), and had a recurring role as Ritchie Stramm in the CBS crime drama series starring Ken Wahl, "Wiseguy." He also co-starred with a young Wesley Snipes in the independent war drama movie, "Vietnam War Story II."

In the early 1990s, Guinee landed another recurring role, this time on the NBC legal drama "L.A. Law," playing Brian Chisolm. Afterwards, he appeared in the miniseries "Golden Years" (1991; with Keith Szarabajka, Felicity Huffman, and Ed Lauter), a Stephen King miniseries that aired in seven parts on CBS, and "Queen" (1993), the Golden Globe-nominated miniseries starring Halle Berry in the title role of daughter to a plantation owner's son and a slave.

He also could be seen in the made-for-television movies "Mission of the Shark: The Saga of the U.S.S. Indianapolis" (1991), a true story of the sinking of the U.S.S. Indianapolis Stacy Keach, Richard Thomas, and Don Harvey, "Comics" (1993), in which he starred as a stand up comedian who is unemployed because of his attitude, and "Breathing Lessons" (1994), which was based on Anne Tyler's Pulitzer Prize-winning novel of the same name and stars James Garner and Joanne Woodward.

Meanwhile, Guinee returned to the wide screen and appeared in Lasse Hallström's romantic drama comedy "Once Around" (1991; starring Richard Dreyfuss and Holly Hunter), Ralph Toporoff's independent musical drama/comedy "American Blue Note" (1991; with Peter MacNicol, Carl Capotorto, Bill Christopher-Myers, and Jonathan Walker), and Temístocles López's romantic drama "Chain of Desire" (1992; starring Linda Fiorentino and Malcolm McDowell).

He was also cast in Oliver Stone's take on Le Ly Hayslip's book "When Heaven and Earth Changed Places" about her experiences during and after the Vietnam War, "Heaven & Earth" (1993; starring Tommy Lee Jones), writer/director Warren Leight's romantic comedy "The Night We Never Met" (1993; he played Matthew Broderick's roommate Kenneth), Brian Cox's 25-minute short comedy "The Obit Writer" (1993; opposite Mira Sorvino), and Perry Lang's independent war drama "Men of War" (1994; starring Dolph Lundgren).

The rest of the 1990s saw Guinee in the films "How to Make an American Quilt" (1995; starring Winona Ryder), Jocelyn Moorhouse's film version of Whitney Otto's novel, "Black Day Blue Night" (1995), J.S. Cardone's indie thriller starring Michelle Forbes and Mia Sara, "Courage Under Fire" (1996), Edward Zwick's war/political drama starring Denzel Washington and Meg Ryan, "The Pompatus of Love" (1996; with Jon Cryer, Adrian Pasdar, and Adam Oliensis), Richard Schenkman's independent romantic drama/comedy, and "Beavis and Butt-Head Do America" (1996), the animated feature film based on the TV series in which he lent his voice alongside Mike Judge, Bruce Willis, and Demi Moore.

He also co-starred with Adrienne Shelly in the comedy movie directed and written by Shelly, "Sudden Manhattan" (1997), played the ex-boyfriend to N'Bushe Wright's Karen in Stephen Norrington's film adaptation of the Marvel Comics character, "Blade" (1998; starring Wesley Snipes and Stephen Dorff), acted opposite James Woods in John Carpenter's horror/thriller film inspired by John Steakley's novel, "Vampires" (1998), and was cast alongside Terry Kinney, Ellen Muth, and Mili Avital in James Ryan's independent comedy "The Young Girl and the Monsoon" (1999).

On television, he could be seen in the TV movies "Silver Strand" (1995; starring Nicollette Sheridan and Gil Bellows), "Follow the River" (1995; starring Sheryl Lee and Ellen Burstyn), "Duke of Groove" (1996; with Kate Capshaw, Tobey Maguire, Kiefer Sutherland, and Uma Thurman), "The Three Lives of Karen" (1997; with Gail O'Grady and Dennis Boutsikaris), and "Brave New World" (1998; opposite Peter Gallagher and Leonard Nimoy). He was also spotted as a guest in an episode of the anthology series "The Outer Limits," and played the main character of Captain Paul Turner, a doctor for USAMRIID suffering from Gulf War Syndrome, in the short-lived medical/sci-fi drama "Strange World," which only three out of its thirteen episodes were aired on ABC in 1999 while the remaining ten episodes subsequently premiered on SciFi in the Spring of 2002.

During the new millennium, Guinee starred in the TV movies "Animated Epics: Moby Dick" (2000), "The Suitor" (2001; starring Rosa Arredondo), "The Road from Coorain" (2002; starring Juliet Stevenson), "Warning: Parental Advisory" (2002; with Jason Priestley and Mariel Hemingway), the novel-based "Vinegar Hill" (2005; opposite Mary-Louise Parker and Tom Skerritt), and the biopic "Elvis" (2005; with Jonathan Rhys Meyers in the title role; Guinee played record producer Sam Phillips who discovered the titular King of Rock 'N Roll).

He starred as Det. John Burrows in the UPN short-lived sci-fi drama "Level 9" (2000-2001) and as Richard Rocca in the short-lived ABC police procedural drama "In Justice" (2006). Meanwhile, he guest-starred in NBC police procedural and legal drama "Law & Order," the short-lived romantic crime/drama starring John Stamos and Melissa George, "Thieves," ABC legal drama "The Practice," NBC/USA Network cop/crime drama "Law & Order: Criminal Intent," CBS drama "The Guardian," ABC crime/drama starring Carla Gugino, "Karen Sisco," Lifetime Television original series "The Division," CBS crime/drama "CSI: Miami," FOX crime/drama "Killer Instinct," NBC political drama "The West Wing," CBS cop/crime drama "CSI: NY," popular, Emmy Award-winning CBS cop/crime drama "CSI: Crime Scene Investigation," NBC drama "Medium," NBC Emmy-winning serial inspired by the 1989 book and 2004 film, "Friday Night Lights," CBS drama "Without a Trace," and the CW sci-fi/action drama about the young Clark Kent/Superman, "Smallville."

Guinee also had recurring roles as Donald Ingram in the WB short-lived modern-day adaptation of Edgar Rice Burroughs' fictional character, "Tarzan" (2003), as Tomin (2006-2007) in the Showtime/SCI FI military series "Stargate SG-1," and as Charlie Filbert (2006-2007) in the CBS supernatural drama-fantasy-thriller "Ghost Whisperer." Additionally, he teamed up with Peter Krause, Julianna Margulies, and Elle Fanning in the Sci Fi Channel miniseries "The Lost Room" (2006).

As for his film works, Guinee adds to his resume with roles in Gary Fleder's adaptation of Philip K. Dick's short story, "Impostor" (2001; with Gary Sinise, Madeleine Stowe, and Vincent D'Onofrio), Rebecca Miller's take on her own book, "Personal Velocity: Three Portraits" (2002; starring Kyra Sedgwick, Parker Posey, and Fairuza Balk), Richard Ledes' comedy starring Michelle Williams and Meat Loaf, "A Hole in One" (2004), and Jay Russell's firefighter drama, "Ladder 49" (2004; starring Joaquin Phoenix and John Travolta). He was also cast as young Olaf, opposite Elizabeth Reaser's Inge, in Ali Selim's adaptation of Will Weaver's short story "A Gravestone Made of Wheat," "Sweet Land" (2005), and as Sheriff Cole, opposite David Strathairn, in Nick Childs' big screen version of Steve Hamilton's novel, "The Shovel" (2006).

Guinee recently co-starred with Parker Posey, Drea de Matteo, and Gena Rowlands in writer/director Zoe R. Cassavetes' romantic drama/comedy "Broken English" (2007), was featured with Tony Shalhoub and Sarah Shahi in the timely, poignant drama about Arab-Americans living in post-9/11 Los Angeles, "AmericanEast" (2007), and played Major Allen in Jon Favreau-directed superhero film based on the fictional Marvel Comics character, "Iron Man" (2008; starring Robert Downey Jr. in the title role).

He has recently completed filming Rowan Woods' novel-based crime/drama "Winged Creatures," starring Kate Beckinsale and Dakota Fanning, and writer/director Charlie Kaufman's drama/comedy "Synecdoche, New York," alongside Philip Seymour Hoffman, Michelle Williams, Catherine Keener, and Jennifer Jason Leigh. He will soon wrap "The Pardon," Tom Anton's true story-based drama starring Jaime King, "Buddy Gilbert Comes Alive," a road movie by writer/director Marc Erlbaum, and "The Private Lives of Pippa Lee," Rebecca Miller's film adaptation of her own novel featuring such actors as Keanu Reeves, Winona Ryder, Monica Bellucci, Julianne Moore, Robin Wright Penn, and Alan Arkin.

Meanwhile, Guinee has acted on stage, including in the off-Broadway production of "Displaced Persons" and the 1996 premiere of Eric Bogosian's "Suburbia" at the Lincoln Center. In August 2007, he performed In an off Broadway play "Human Error" at the Atlantic Theatre.

Awards:
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