JAG LAIR

        David James Elliott was born September 21, 1960, in Milton (a small suburb city of Toronto), Ontario, Canada. He is the second of three sons of Arnold Smith, a heating and plumbing wholesaler-contractor, and his wife, Pat, an office manager. Arnold Smith had come to Canada from the Bahamas. David Smith grew up in Milton, but spent much time in the Bahamas, as most of his relatives live there.
        Mr. Elliott did not set out to be an actor. His early interest was in music -rock 'n roll music. He was front man for a band, and even briefly quit high school to play with the band full time. The band left Milton and went to the big city -Toronto. There the band members got questionable digs in boarding houses and played gigs at night, while trying to earn a pittance to live during the day. Mr. Elliot at one point was working in a belt factory.
        The group, which went by various names - the Supervisors being one (one of the band members stole some T-shirts with the title "Supervisor" on them) - kept breaking up. Finally, Mr. Elliot decided that enough was enough, and went back to finish high school. He was only 19.
        His theatre history class was studying King Lear, and he read the part of Lear. His teacher was impressed by his reading and encouraged him to consider acting as a career. He knew nothing about acting, in fact had never even seen a live play, let alone been in one. His brother told him that Ryerson Polytechnic Institute in Toronto had the best acting school in Canada, so he decided to audition there. He cribbed for the audition by reading a book on auditioning.
        At the audition, he "forgot his classical piece, ... sang 'Zip-a-Dee-Doo-Dah' and ... faked ... through a scene from Sam Shepard." To finish, he started inventing dialogue. As Mr. Elliott recounts it, "... they saw some talent they could nurture. It was a miracle."
        Prior to his graduation from Ryerson, Mr. Elliott auditioned for the world-renowned Stratford Shakespearean Festival in Stratford, Ontario. He was accepted as a member of its Young Company. He stayed at Stratford for two years, learning the advanced acting skill needed for classical theatre, and earned the Jean Chalmers Award as Most Promising Actor.
        After Stratford he played the role of Dick the Male Stripper in B Movie: The Play, in Toronto. There he was seen by one of the producers of CBC's Street Legal - a nighttime soap opera about lawyers. They were looking for a "young hunk" as a love interest for the lead female lawyer. Mr. Elliott was asked to audition for the role of Nick Del Gado, the Toronto police detective. He was, to them, untried talent, and therefore scary, but his screen test was the best, and they decided to take a chance on him. The lead actress, Sonja Smits, described him thus: "He wasn't developed at all when he arrived ... nut he was very tall and charming."
        Street Legal proved to be a breakthrough for Mr. Elliott. The producers kept giving him more to do, and he kept improving, so that by 1988-89, he was a legitimate co-star in the series, and became somewhat of a household name in Canada (named Flare magazine's Bachelor of the Year). There was talk of a Street Legal spin-off, with him in the lead role of Nick Del Gado, private eye. But before that came to pass, he decided to give Hollywood a try.
        So in 1990, with the offer of a development deal from Disney, Mr. Elliott moved to Los Angeles. But first, in order to join the Screen Actor's Guild, he had to change his screen name, as another actor was already registered as 'David Elliott'. So he added the 'James' - David James Elliott.
        The development deal with Disney fell through when the head honchos decided that he was too young for the part they had crafted for him. Mr. Elliott found other work, doing a short-lived Canadian-French television series with Shannon Tweed, Fly By Night, and guest appearances on various series. However, this period was fraught with difficulties, and he went through some lean times as he struggled to make his way in Hollywood.
        In 1992, he and actress Nanci Chambers quietly got married at city hall, promising themselves a proper wedding later on when they had the means.
        1992 was also the year he got a co-starring role as Treasury Agent Paul Robbins in the syndicated series The Untouchables. This gave the Elliotts some measure of financial stability for they were expecting an addition to their family. Their daughter Stephanie arrived in 1993.
        After The Untouchables, Mr. Elliott again did the rounds of television guest appearances - Melrose Place, Knots Landing, Seinfeld, etc. Then he auditioned for the role of Lt. Harmon Rabb Jr., in JAG, and was successful. The rest, as the saying goes, is history.
        As they had promised themselves seven years ago, the Elliotts a proper wedding on June 26, 1999. Their six-year-old daughter was the flower girl as they renewed their wedding vows before family and friends in Santa Barbara, California.
        JAG is now a hit series and Mr. Elliott an established television star. He has recently accepted roles in movies. The Shrink Is In was filmed in the spring of 1999. He was the executive producer and star of made-for-television movie for CBS, Dodson's Journey, based on James Dodson's autobiographical book Faithful Travelers. The movie was filmed in the spring of 2000 in British Columbia, Canada. It aired as the CBS Wednesday Night Movie on January 10, 2001. Dodson's Journey was the first project for Mr. Elliott's production company, Firefly Productions. Mr. Elliott made his directorial debut in the spring of 2001. He directed JAG episode #132, entitled Lifeline, original airdate May 8, 2001.
        With his hectic shooting schedule, Mr. Elliott does not have much free time. He is a devoted family man, and will race home at the end of the day to spend time with his daughter. He enjoys golfing, writing, and watching old movies. He spearfishes when he is at the family's second home in the Bahamas. He loves running, and has competed in several marathons. A long-time fitness buff, he lifts weights and kick-boxes too. He retains his love of music, and frequently plays his guitar and sings in between scenes on the JAG set.

        David James Elliott stars as Commander Harmon "Harm" Rabb, Jr., a brave, outstanding Navy lawyer and officer in the Navy's Judge Advocate General (JAG) Corps. Paired with the complementary talents of Colonel Sarah "Mac" MacKenzie (Catherine Bell), there's nothing this team can't accomplish in the one-hour, dramatic adventure series JAG, a Belisarius Production in association with Paramount Network Television for CBS-TV.
        During his recent hiatus, Elliott completed starring in and producing the telefilm Faithful Travelers for CBS and will soon be seen in Richard's Benjamin's The Shrink is In opposite Courteney Cox-Arquette and David Arquette. In 1997, he starred in the film Clockwatchers, a Sundance Film Festival favorite also starring Parker Posey, Toni Collette and Lisa Kudrow.
        Born in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, Elliott's initial interest was in music, not acting. At 19, he was enjoying singing in a rock band when he read for King Lear in theater history class and was encouraged by his teacher to pursue acting. Elliott took his first step toward his future career when he was accepted to the prestigious Ryerson Polytechnic Institute (a Canadian arts college comparable to Juilliard) in 1983. After graduation, he performed at the Stratford Shakespeare Festival in Ontario, where he won the Jean Chalmers Award for Most Promising Actor. Soon after, Elliott starred in numerous Canadian stage productions, which led to a starring role in the Canadian Broadcasting Company series Street Legal from 1985-1988.
        In 1990, Elliott moved to Los Angeles and was signed to a development deal with Disney. His television career quickly took off when he landed guest starring roles on such series as Doogie Howser, M.D., The Hitchhiker, Dark Justice, and the Emmy-nominated China Beach.
        In 1992, he won the recurring role as a pro basketball player opposite Nicolette Sheridan in Knots Landing. Later that year, he starred in Paramount's syndicated series The Untouchables and appeared in a recurring role on Melrose Place. Additionally, he made a memorable guest appearance as Carl the Moving Guy on NBC's hit comedy Seinfeld. Elliott's credits also include several telefilms, among them the NBC mini-series Degree Of Guilt, Big Dreams And Broken Hearts: The Dottie West Story (in which he portrayed West's alcoholic husband) and the Yuletide-themed remake of A Holiday Affair.
        Elliott is married and has a young daughter. In his free time, he enjoys playing with his daughter, golfing, fishing, running and watching old movies.
        JAG is a Belisarius Production in association with Paramount Network Television. The Paramount Television Group is part of the entertainment operations of Viacom Inc.