James Remar (born December 31, 1953) is an American actor who plays Giuseppe Salvatore (Stefan and Damon's father) on The Vampire Diaries. He is perhaps best known as Richard, the on-off tycoon boyfriend of Kim Cattrall's character in Sex and the City, as Ajax in The Warriors, as the homicidal maniac Albert Ganz in the 1982 comedy/thriller 48 Hrs, Dutch Shultz in The Cotton Club, Lord Raiden in Mortal Kombat: Annihilation and more recently as Harry Morgan in Dexter.
Biography[]
James Remar
Remar was born William James Remar in Boston, Massachusetts. He has spent the majority of his film career playing villains. He is known for his roles as the aggressively sexual and violent character Ajax in the 1979 cult film The Warriors and as the murdering sociopath Albert Ganz in the 1982 hit 48 Hrs. (both movies were directed by Walter Hill). Remar played real-life '30s-era gangster Dutch Schultz in the 1984 film The Cotton Club. He starred in the 1980 film Windwalker as the young Windwalker. He also portrayed a gay man in the 1980 film "Cruising". In 1996, he played Quill, one of the main villains in The Phantom.
Remar was cast as Corporal Hicks in the 1986 science-fiction/horror film Aliens (co-produced by Walter Hill), but was replaced by Michael Biehn shortly after filming began due to "creative differences" with director James Cameron. (At least one piece footage featuring Remar made it into the final version of the film, when the Marines enter the processing station and the camera tilts down from the Alien nest, though Remar is not seen in close-up.)
Other notable films include Drugstore Cowboy, Fear X, Boys on the Side, Hellraiser: Inferno, The Quest, Wedlock, Tales from the Darkside: The Movie, Blade: Trinity, 2 Fast 2 Furious, The Girl Next Door and in 1998 he played the policeman that kept following the woman around in Psycho, he was also the star of the 1986 film Quiet Cool. He portrayed the character of Raiden in Mortal Kombat: Annihilation, the sequel to the 1995 movie adaptation of Mortal Kombat, taking over the role from Christopher Lambert. He then followed this with a role in the 1996 direct-to-video science fiction movie Robo Warriors.
Remar's guest appearances range from Pineapple Express, Miami Vice, Hill Street Blues, Sex and the City, Jericho, Third Watch, Justice League Unlimited and Battlestar Galactica, as well as appearing as a possessed mental patient in the X-Files ninth season episode "Daemonicus". He was in the miniseries The Grid (2004) as Hudson "Hud", the love interest of Julianna Margulies' character. He starred as Tiny Bellows on the short-lived television series, The Huntress. He had a recurring guest role in the television series Jericho on CBS.
Since 2006, Remar has co-starred in Dexter on Showtime. Remar was nominated for a Saturn Award for Best Supporting Actor for his portrayal of Dexter Morgan's adoptive father, Harry Morgan. He also had a role in the 2009 horror movie The Unborn (this film also had actor C.S. Lee, who portrays Vince Masuka in Dexter). Remar is currently portraying a recurring character on FlashForward.
He also voiced Vilgax in Ben 10: Alien Force.
Filmography[]
The Killing Game (2011) (post-production) .... Tall Man
