Ron Canada

Ron Canada may have started out as a local newscaster in Baltimore, but found acting to be his true calling; the veteran character actor and one-time 30 Rock tour guide has appeared in over 100 feature films and TV series.

After realizing that newscasting was not his ideal job, Canada began performing in local community theater and, before long, landed a drama coach and steady work in numerous stage productions around Maryland. With a large, boisterous personality and wide dramatic range, Canada has portrayed tough but sympathetic authority figures in numerous TV series, including legal dramas like "Murder One" and "Boston Legal," and sitcoms like "Hangin' with Mr. Cooper" and "Ellen."

In 2003, he landed a recurring role as the hardened chief of police on the critically acclaimed series "The Shield," later appearing as a high-ranking State department member in ten episodes of the political drama "The West Wing." Canada also has the distinction of appearing as three separate characters on three separate "Star Trek" series: "Deep Space Nine," "Voyager," and "The Next Generation."

His numerous film roles are equally varied; Canada has appeared as a kindly doctor in the supernatural romantic comedy "Just Like Heaven," a helpful Good Samaritan in the '80s classic "Adventures in Babysitting," and a slowly radicalized college professor in the 2003 adaptation of the best-selling novel "The Human Stain."