Henry Czerny (/ˈtʃɛərni/ CHAIR-nee; born February 8, 1959) is a Canadian stage, film, and television actor. He is known for his roles in the films The Boys of St. Vincent, Clear and Present Danger, The Ice Storm, The Exorcism of Emily Rose, Fido, Remember, Ready or Not, and Scream VI, in particular for his role as Eugene Kittridge in Mission: Impossible, Dead Reckoning, and Mission: Impossible 8, as well as for numerous television programs in both guest and starring roles, including a regular role as Conrad Grayson on the ABC primetime soap opera Revenge, a loose adaptation of The Count of Monte Cristo.
Czerny has received the Theatre World Award and two Gemini Awards, and was nominated for the Canadian Screen Award for Best Supporting Actor for his performance in The Other Half.
Czerny was born on 8 February 1959 in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, the youngest of three children to Polish Canadian parents.[1][2] The word "czerny" means "black" in several Slavic languages.[3] His father worked as a welder,[4] and his mother worked in a bakery.[3]
Czerny attended York University[3] in Toronto.
Czerny received formal training at the National Theatre School in Montreal. After graduating in 1982, he went on to perform onstage across Canada, from Ottawa's National Arts Centre to Edmonton's Citadel Theatre and the Stratford Festival.
By the late 1980s, he had established himself as a seasoned veteran of Canadian theatre—a long way from Lucky Larry, his first role. Czerny got his start acting in musicals at Humberside Collegiate Institute in Toronto, under the direction of Janet Keele. Czerny played the role of the husband of the title character in Choices of the Heart: The Margaret Sanger Story.[5]
In 1996, Czerny played the role of Eugene Kittridge in Mission: Impossible, whose role is reprised in the 2023 film Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One.[6]
He had prominent roles in The Boys of St. Vincent, Clear and Present Danger, The Ice Storm and The Michelle Apartments. In the 2006 comedy The Pink Panther, he played the main antagonist "Yuri the Trainer who Trains".
He appeared as Lieutenant Brooks in "Jackpot", a 2005 episode of CSI: Crime Scene Investigation. In Conversations with God, about the true story of Neale Donald Walsch, Czerny plays Walsch. In 2007, he appeared in the Showtime series The Tudors, playing the Duke of Norfolk. He appeared in the Canadian television show Flashpoint in 2008 and the American science fiction drama Falling Skies in 2011. Czerny co-starred with Sigourney Weaver in the 2009 Lifetime movie Prayers for Bobby.
In 2011, Czerny was cast opposite Madeleine Stowe, as the powerful patriarch Conrad Grayson, a series regular role, in ABC soap-type series Revenge.[7][8] His character was stabbed at the end of season 3 and in the first episode of the fourth season it was revealed he had died. He later returned to the series in unseen flashback sequences in one season 4 episode.[9] In 2016, Czerny was cast in the ABC thriller series Quantico for the recurring role of CIA director Matthew Keyes.[10]
Czerny is widely regarded as a character actor, often playing villainous, authoritative, or bureaucratic characters.[citation needed]
Czerny is married to Claudine Cassidy and they have a son, Cameron.[11] Before his marriage, he dated American actress Dana Delany.[citation needed]
Besides acting, his interests include photography, travel, crafting and carpentry.[3]