David James Elliott
(Lieutenant Commander Harmon Rabb Jr.)
Rebecca Pepper Sinkler once said, "The reluctance to put away childish things may be a requirement of genius." This certainly holds true for 'JAG' star David James Elliott.
"My dream has always been to be in war movies," David recalls, who now lives with his wife (actress Nanci Chambers) and his daughter Stephanie. "When I was young, while the other kids in the neighborhood were playing 'Cowboys and Indians,' we were playing war." Elliott's role of a former-Top Gun pilot in 'JAG' is giving him a chance to earn a living playing out his childhood games.
The middle child of his Toronto family, at 19 Elliott was the member of a rock band (hence his lovely vocal display in season three's 'Someone to Watch over Annie). He did not become interested in acting until he read Shakespeare's 'King Lear' in a theater-history class, where his instructor encouraged him to aim for a career in acting. He took his teacher's advice and, in 1983, was accepted into the Ryerson Polytechnic Institute (the Canada's answer for Julliard). Before he graduated, he was accepted into the Stratford Shakespeare Festival in Ontario, Canada. It was there that he won the Jean Chalmer's Award for Most promising Actor. He appeared in "B-Movie: The Play" in 1986 at the Edinburgh Festival, and soon after starred in the CBC series "Street Legal" between 1985 and 1988. Two years later, Disney signed David to a development deal in Southern California. From there he went on to guest on such series as "Doogie Howser MD", "China Beach," "The Hitchhiker," and "Dark Justice." He also had a recurring as a pro-baseball player on "Knots Landing" in 1992. He also starred in the series "The Untouchables" that same year. On television, he has starred as Dottie West's alcoholic husband in "Big Dreams and Broken Hearts: The Dottie West Story" and as a lawyer in an NBC mini-series entitled "Degree of Guilt."
In his spare time, Elliott enjoys playing with his young daughter, reading golfing, writing, watching old movies, and, yes, singing and playing his guitar. He has also competed in marathons, which he claims are "my meditation - I need it."