John Pyper-Ferguson (born 27 February 1964; age 61) is the Australian-born Canadian actor who played Eli Hollander in the Star Trek: The Next Generation sixth season episode "A Fistful of Datas".
Pyper-Ferguson was born in Mordialloc, Australia and raised in Canada. He is known for his many television roles, including his recurring role as Peter Hutter on The Adventures of Brisco County, Jr. and his role as Joe Whedon on the drama series Brothers & Sisters.
Career[]
Television[]
He made his television acting debut in Hamilton's Quest, after which he co-starred with fellow Next Generation guest actors John Anderson and Matt McCoy in the 1987 CBS TV movie American Harvest. In addition to his appearance on The Next Generation, Pyper-Ferguson has made guest appearances on such American or Canadian television series as Night Heat (starring Allan G. Royal), Neon Rider (starring Antoinette Bower and directed by Joseph L. Scanlan), Bodies of Evidence (starring Jennifer Hetrick and Leslie Jordan, in an episode with J.D. Cullum and Benjamin W.S. Lum), Walker, Texas Ranger (starring Clarence Gilyard, Jr. and Noble Willingham), and Legend (created by Bill Dial and Michael Piller and starring John de Lancie).
In 1995, he appeared in a Rob Bowman-directed episode of The X-Files entitled "P. Emasculata". In 1997, Pyper-Ferguson was nominated by the Gemini Awards for his guest appearance on Highlander: The Series in the 1994 episode "Courage".
In addition, Pyper-Ferguson guest-starred in two episodes of Millennium, starring Lance Henriksen, Megan Gallagher and Terry O'Quinn. His second episode, 1998's "Anamnesis", also guest-starred Gwynyth Walsh. Pyper-Ferguson and Terry O'Quinn previously worked together in Pin (1988, co-starring Hélène Udy) and would again in Harsh Realm (1999, with Mark Rolston).
Later TV appearances include the pilot episode of CBS' CSI: Crime Scene Investigation (starring Paul Guilfoyle, with Susan Gibney and Barbara J. Tarbuck), NBC's ER (2000, starring Eriq La Salle, with Megan Cole, Jenette Goldstein, Scott MacDonald and Gwen Van Dam), Judging Amy (2001, with Julie Cobb), Family Law (2002, starring Christopher McDonald and fellow guest stars Earl Boen and Aaron Lustig), 24 (2003, with Zachary Quinto), Smallville (2005, starring John Glover), and J.J. Abrams' and Damon Lindelof's Lost (starring Naveen Andrews, Daniel Dae Kim, Terry O'Quinn and Sam Anderson). He can also be seen in the TV mini-series Into the West (2005, with Keith Carradine, Clayton Rohner, Keri Russell, Keith Szarabajka and Garrett Wang) and Everest (starring Leslie Hope and William Shatner).
Recurring roles[]
Pyper-Ferguson appeared in seven episodes of The Adventures of Brisco County, Jr. between September 1993 and May 1994. During this time, he worked with such actors as Gary Armagnac, Raye Birk, Bill Bolender, Peter Dennis, Bruce Gray, Richard Herd, Michael Jace, Scott Lincoln, Kevin Lowe, Tzi Ma, Richard McGonagle, Andrew Hill Newman, Miguel Perez, Bert Remsen, Victor Rivers, Marco Rodriguez, Chris Wynne, David Youse, and such directors as James A. Contner, Kim Manners and Joseph Scanlan.
In 1997, Pyper-Ferguson returned to The X-Files for a recurring role in two episodes, "Christmas Carol" and "Emily". The latter episode was directed by Kim Manners. The following year, Pyper-Ferguson on played the recurring role of Top Dollar on The Crow: Stairway to Heaven. He worked with actor Mark Rolston for the first time in an episode from this series.
Pyper-Ferguson had recurring roles on no less than six different television series between 1999 and 2007. He played Mikey's boss, Kevin, in four episodes of Jack & Jill (including one with Stephen Macht and another with Michael J. Pollard). During this time, he also appeared as Jake Blumenthal in three episodes of The Huntress (including an episode directed by Terrence O'Hara).
During the 2003-04 TV season, he recurred on the Showtime series Jeremiah, playing the role of Sims in six episodes, including a two-parter directed by Mike Vejar. In 2005 and again in 2006, Pyper-Ferguson played Captain Cole "Stinger" Taylor on Ronald D. Moore's Battlestar Galactica, working with Michelle Forbes, and had a recurring role in its prequel Caprica, followed by a third (single) Galactica appearance in the 2012 television movie Battlestar Galactica: Blood & Chrome, the final outing in the revamped franchise. In these same years, Pyper-Ferguson played Agent Bernard Fain in Night Stalker, starring Gabrielle Union. Another recurring role was that of Hudson on CBS' Cane in 2007. Another notable recurring roles was that of the combatant survivor Tex Nolan in The Last Ship (2014-16).
Films[]
In addition to his television work, Pyper-Ferguson had small roles in a number of popular feature films. He made his film debut that same year, appearing in Hello Mary Lou: Prom Night II. He later co-starred with Jeff Corey and Clyde Kusatsu in Bird on a Wire (1990) and appeared in Unforgiven (1992), along with Saul Rubinek. He can also be seen in McHale's Navy (1997, starring Dean Stockwell) and For Richer or Poorer (1997, starring Kirstie Alley and featuring Ethan Phillips).
In 2001, he was one of many Star Trek actors to appear in Pearl Harbor, co-starring Pat Healy, Glenn Morshower, Randy Oglesby, Leland Orser, Steve Rankin, Raphael Sbarge, Cary-Hiroyuki, and Michael Shamus Wiles. Pyper-Ferguson also appeared in She's the Man (2006) and X-Men: The Last Stand (2006, starring Patrick Stewart, Famke Janssen, Kelsey Grammer and Rebecca Romijn, with Shohreh Aghdashloo, Chelah Horsdal, Aaron Stanford and Julian Christopher).
Additional projects in which Pyper-Ferguson worked with other Star Trek alumni include:
Film[]
- Showdown at Williams Creek (1991) directed by Allan Kroeker
- Every Breath (1993) with Willie Garson
- The Road Killers (1994) with Michelle Forbes and Christopher McDonald
- Space Marines (1996) with Meg Foster and Michael Bailey Smith
- Somebody Is Waiting (1996, with Jeannetta Arnette and Maury Sterling)
- Drive (1997) with Tracey Walter
- I'll Take You There (1999) with Ben Vereen
- Black Dawn (2005) with Timothy Carhart
Television[]
Episodic[]
- The Sentinel episode "Survival" (1997) with Marshall R. Teague
- Nash Bridges (1998, directed by Jim Charleston)
- Poltergeist: The Legacy (1998, directed by Paul Lynch)
- Gideon's Crossing (2001, with Tzi Ma and John Rubinstein)
- The Division (2004, directed by Babu Subramaniam)
- CSI: Miami (2005, with Michael Buchman Silver)
- The Closer (2005, with Raymond Cruz and Don McManus)
- Cane episode "The Perfect Son" (2007) with Ned Vaughn and directed by James Whitmore, Jr.
- The L Word (2008, with Lucia Rijker)
- Cold Case (2008, with Gordon Clapp and Maury Sterling)
TV movies[]
- Miracle on Interstate 880 (1993) with Len Cariou and Roger R. Cross and directed by Robert Iscove
- Love, Cheat & Steal}} (1993, with Mädchen Amick
- The Warlord: Battle for the Galaxy (1998) with Dick Miller, Marjorie Monaghan, and Joel Swetow
- The Tempest (1998) with John Glover
- Angel in the Family (2004) with Ronny Cox