William B. Davis
Highest Rated: 66% The X-Files (1998)
Lowest Rated: 11% The Messengers (2007)
Birthday: Jan 13, 1938
Birthplace: Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Through the run of one of the biggest cult hits in television history, William B. Davis put a new face on villainy, an institutional, eerily real incarnation of evil identified ominously by wafting smoke and the glow of a cigarette. A native Ontarian, Davis trained as an actor in esteemed company in the U.K. during the 1960s before returning to Canada to work as a theatrical director and drama teacher, eventually relocating to Hollywood North, Vancouver, BC. The 1980s saw him garnering small parts in inauspicious Canadian-shot television and movie projects, but he would establish a regular imprint in 1993 with a new science fiction series, "The X-Files" (Fox, 1993-2002). Davis played the shadowy, stoic intelligence operative predominantly known only by his credited billing, Cigarette Smoking Man. The show became a cultural phenomenon, with CSM ending up one of the most speculated-over villains in the buzz-happy realm of sci-fi fandom. It also made him a frequent guest star on a flurry of sci-fi and horror TV shows and movies through the 1990s and early 2000s. He would remain one of Canada's best-renowned thespian talents, both under the lights and behind them, yet be irrevocably identified as one of the creepiest personas in TV history, a gray-suited archetype of cold-blooded Machiavellianism.
Photos
William B. Davis
Filmography
Movies
Credit | |||||
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55% |
|
It's a Wonderful Knife | Roger Evans (Character) | $811.3K | 2023 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | Crystal's Shadow | Mr. M (Character) | - | 2019 |
No Score Yet |
|
Residue | Lamont (Character) | - | 2017 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | Abduct | Zane (Character) | - | 2016 |
No Score Yet |
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Signed, Sealed, Delivered: The Impossible Dream | Harper (Character) | - | 2015 |
No Score Yet |
|
Signed, Sealed, Delivered: Truth Be Told | Harper (Character) | - | 2015 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | Focus | Mr. Grant (Character) | - | 2014 |
No Score Yet |
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Stonados | Ben (Character) | - | 2013 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | Singularity Principle | Lawrence Cason (Character) | - | 2012 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | The Mountain Runners | Henry Engberg (Character) | - | 2012 |
40% |
|
The Tall Man | Sheriff Chestnut (Character) | - | 2012 |
No Score Yet |
|
Behemoth | William Walsh (Character) | - | 2011 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | Amazon Falls | Calvin (Character) | - | 2010 |
No Score Yet |
|
Medium Raw: Night of the Wolf | Dr. Robert Parker (Character) | - | 2010 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | Death Among Friends | Mr. Dutton (Character) | - | 2009 |
No Score Yet |
|
The Shortcut | Benjamin Hartley (Character) | - | 2009 |
No Score Yet |
|
Possession | Dr. Creane (Character) | - | 2008 |
19% |
|
Passengers | Jack (Character) | $270.7K | 2008 |
No Score Yet |
|
Numb | Peter Milbank (Character) | - | 2007 |
11% |
|
The Messengers | Bank Manager Price (Character) | $35.4M | 2007 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | Her Fatal Flaw | Richard O'Brien (Character) | - | 2006 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | The Secret of Hidden Lake | Judge Landers (Character) | - | 2006 |
No Score Yet |
|
Sisters | Dr. Bryant (Character) | - | 2006 |
No Score Yet |
|
Dark Storm | General Killion (Character) | - | 2006 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | The Last Round | Mitchell (Character) | - | 2005 |
No Score Yet |
|
Max Rules | Rick Brinkley (Character) | - | 2005 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | Murder 19C: Detective Murdoch Mysteries -- Except the Dying | Alderman Godfrey Shepcote (Character) | - | 2004 |
No Score Yet |
|
The Cradle Will Fall | Dist. Atty. Alex Myerson (Character) | - | 2004 |
No Score Yet |
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Snakehead Terror | Doc Jenkins (Character) | - | 2004 |
No Score Yet |
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Word of Honor | Lewis Kaplan (Character) | - | 2003 |
No Score Yet |
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Damaged Care | Dr. Sam Verbush (Character) | - | 2002 |
No Score Yet |
|
Mindstorm | Parish (Character) | - | 2001 |
No Score Yet |
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Out of Line | Russell (Character) | - | 2001 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | Anthrax | Tye Crow (Character) | - | 2001 |
No Score Yet |
|
The Proposal | Agent Frank Gruning (Character) | - | 2000 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | Becoming Dick | Dr. Hardwin (Character) | - | 2000 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | Murder Most Likely | Detective Inspector (Character) | - | 1999 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | Perpetrators of the Crime | Henderson (Character) | - | 1999 |
66% |
|
The X-Files | Cigarette-Smoking Man (Character) | $83.9M | 1998 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | Voyage of Terror | Dr. Norman Ellisy (Character) | - | 1998 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | Circumstances Unknown | Gene Reuschel (Character) | - | 1995 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | When the Vows Break | Dr. Alexander (Character) | - | 1995 |
No Score Yet |
|
Anything to Survive | Dr. Reynolds (Character) | - | 1990 |
TV
Credit | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|
90% | 79% | Upload | David Choak (Character) | 2023 |
86% | 56% | The Midnight Club | Unknown (Guest Star) | 2022 |
86% | 54% | 50 States of Fright | Frank (Character) | 2020 |
74% | 85% | The X-Files |
CIA Agent (Character), Cancer Man (Guest Star), Writer |
1993-2000 2002 2016 2018 |
88% | 86% | Continuum | Older Alec Sadler (Guest Star) | 2012-2015 |
75% | 89% | Human Target | Unknown (Guest Star) | 2010 |
81% | 86% | Caprica | Minister Chambers (Guest Star) | 2010 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | Fear Itself | Father Chris (Character) | 2008 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | Stephen Hawking's Sci Fi Masters | President (Character) | 2007 |
No Score Yet | 89% | Stargate SG-1 | Damaris (Guest Star) | 2005-2006 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | Kingdom Hospital | Unknown (Guest Star) | 2004 |
78% | 69% | Smallville | Mayor William 'Billy' Tate (Guest Star) | 2002-2003 |
No Score Yet | 57% | Andromeda | Professor Logitch (Guest Star) | 2001 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | The Outer Limits | Dr. Frank Biemler (Guest Star) | 1996 2001 |
No Score Yet | 75% | Sliders | Unknown (Guest Star) | 1995 |
No Score Yet | 68% | MacGyver | Unknown (Guest Star) | 1991 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | Wiseguy | Inspector 2 (Guest Star) | 1988-1989 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | Danger Bay | Unknown (Guest Star) | 1987-1988 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | 21 Jump Street | Mr. Wickenton (Guest Star) | 1987-1988 |
No Score Yet | 42% | Airwolf | Newman (Guest Star) | 1987 |