Bruce Greenwood made his acting debut in the 1979 thriller ‘Bear Island,’ directed by Don Sharp. The following year, he made his first television appearance in the series ‘Huckleberry Finn and His Friends.’ He played the role of ‘Bob Grangerford’ and appeared in 3 episodes of the series. He made a return to the big screen with the 1982 action film ‘First Blood,’ directed by Ted Kotcheff. The film opened to critical acclaim and was a phenomenal box office success, grossing over $125.2 million on a budget of $15 million. He next acted in ‘Wild Orchid’ (1989), ‘Passenger 57’ (1992), ‘Paint Cans’ (1994), ‘Fathers' Day’ (1997), ‘Double Jeopardy’ (1999), and ‘Rules of Engagement’ (2000). In 2003, he starred as Lieutenant Bernard 'Bennie' Macko in the action comedy film ‘Hollywood Homicide,’ which was directed by Ron Shelton. While the film opened to mixed response, it failed to achieve success at the box office.
Greenwood then acted in ‘I, Robot’ (2004), ‘Mee-Shee: The Water Giant’ (2005), ‘Deja Vu’ (2006), ‘National Treasure: Book of Secrets’ (2007), and ‘Cyborg Soldier’ (2009). In 2009, Greenwood portrayed ‘Christopher Pike’ in the science fiction action film ‘Star Trek,’ directed by J. J. Abrams. The film opened to universal acclaim and was nominated for 4 ‘Academy Awards.’ ‘Star Trek’ was also a major commercial success and grossed over $385.7 million on a budget of $150 million. The following year, he made his voice debut as ‘Bruce Wayne / Batman’ in the animated superhero adventure direct-to-video film ‘Batman: Under the Red Hood.’ He next appeared in ‘Super 8’ (2011), ‘Star Trek Into Darkness’ (2013), where he reprised his role as ‘Christopher Pike; ‘Elephant Song’ (2014), ‘Fathers and Daughters’ (2015), ‘Kingsman: The Golden Circle’ (2017), ‘Sorry for Your Loss’ (2018), and ‘Lie Exposed’ (2019).
As a television actor, Bruce Greenwood has starred in several television series, including 'St. Elsewhere' (1986–88), 'Knots Landing' (1991–92), 'Hardball' (1994), 'Nowhere Man' (1995-96), 'Sleepwalkers' (1997-98), 'Class of the Titans' (2006), 'The Summit' (2008), 'Young Justice' (2010-present), 'The River' (2012), 'The People v. O. J. Simpson: American Crime Story' (2016) and 'The Resident' (2018-present).
Greenwood was last seen in the 2020 animated interactive short film ‘Batman: Death in the Family’ where he voiced ‘Bruce Wayne / Batman.’ The film was a spiritual sequel to the 2010 film ‘Batman: Under the Red Hood.’