Trivia

During filming of Total Recall (1990), Arnold Schwarzenegger noticed that he was constantly on the phone between takes. When he broached the subject with him, he was told the he was phoning his sister and that she was currently suffering from cancer. Arnold immediately brought Michael to his trailer and they had an hour-long 3-way conversation with Ironside's sister about what exercises she should do and what kinds of foods she should be eating. Ironside has never forgotten Schwarzenegger's kindness and neither has his sister.

Has had a love of reading since childhood, with which he credits his father instilling in him: "My dad gave me and my brother this rule - as long as we were reading and doing nothing else, we could stay up until dawn or until we passed out... whichever came first. That's why, to this day, I'm a sucker for a good book.".

Admitted in an interview with George Stroumboulopoulos that he has had both his knees replaced (they are both titanium). He ruined them playing football and roofing before he made it into films.

At age 15, he wrote a play called "The Shelter" which won first prize in a Canada-wide university contest. He used the prize money to mount his own production of said play.

Has turned down roles of characters in wheelchairs due to his last name being the same as Raymond Burr's paraplegic television character.

Said in an interview he is mostly recognized by the public from his voice-over work in the Splinter Cell (2002) series.

Came to notice in the Canadian sci-fi horror classic Scanners (1981) in which he played the mind-controlling, head-blowing megalomaniac Darryl Revok, which led to a dynamic, infamous career of out-and-out villains or edgy anti-heroes.

Is a huge fan of Professional Wrestling and Frank Herbert's "Dune" series.

Has started acting in Canadian television and films in 1977 and attracted American attention with his role in David Cronenberg's Scanners (1981) which earned him a Best Supporting Actor nomination in the Canadian Genie Awards.

Was for some time attached to play the title role in RoboCop (1987), but the crew had to give up on the idea when they realized that he would have to have a much smaller frame to fit into the costume envisaged.

Like Terence Stamp, he has played both a Superman adversary and friend. The adversary he played was Darkseid, one of Superman's greatest enemies, on the animated series La Ligue des justiciers (2001). The friend he played was General Sam Lane, father of Lois Lane (Clark Kent's future bride) on the television series Smallville (2001).

Good friends with WWE Hall of Famer Jerry Lawler (aka Jerry "The King" Lawler).

A talented arm wrestler in his youth, he ironically often loses an arm and/or other limb in his films: Total Recall (1990), Starship Troopers (1997), The Machinist (2004) and Guy X (2005). If he had not been too bulky, he also would have played Alex Murphy in RoboCop (1987).

Has a daughter, Findlay Ironside, by his second wife Karen Marls Dinwiddie.

His father was a street lighting technician and his mother was a housewife.

His brother is a high school shop teacher in his hometown of Toronto, Ontario.

Has English, Irish and Scottish ancestry.

He has played four DC Comics characters: Darkseid in Superman (1996) and La Ligue des justiciers (2001), Batman in Legends of the Dark Knight (1998), General Sam Lane in Gone (2004), Façade (2004) and Ambush (2010) and Lewis Snart in Family of Rogues (2015).

Father of Adrienne Ironside from a previous marriage.

Attended and graduated from OCAD University in Toronto, Ontario.

Is the oldest of five children of Robert Walter and Patricia June Ironside.

Lives in Los Angeles, California.

He played Peyton List's father in two CW television series based on DC Comics: Lucy Lane's father General Sam Lane in Ambush (2010) and Lisa Snart / Golden Glider's father Lewis Snart in Family of Rogues (2015).

Good friends with actor Mickey Jones.

Moved to Los Angeles, California, USA in 1982.