Czerny received formal training at the
National Theatre School in
Montreal. After graduating in 1982, he went on to perform onstage across Canada, from
Ottawa's
National Arts Centre to
Edmonton's
Citadel Theatre and the
Stratford Festival. By the late 1980s, he had established himself as a seasoned veteran of Canadian theatre—a long way from Lucky Larry, his first role. Czerny got his start acting in musicals at
Humberside Collegiate Institute in Toronto, under the direction of Janet Keele. Czerny played the role of the husband of the title character in
Choices of the Heart: The Margaret Sanger Story. In 1996, Czerny played the role of Eugene Kittridge in
Mission: Impossible, whose role is reprised in the 2023 film
Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One and its 2025 follow-up
Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning. He had prominent roles in
The Boys of St. Vincent,
Clear and Present Danger,
The Ice Storm and
The Michelle Apartments. In the 2006 comedy
The Pink Panther, he played the main antagonist "Yuri the Trainer who Trains". He appeared as Lieutenant Brooks in "Jackpot", a 2005 episode of
CSI: Crime Scene Investigation. In
Conversations with God, about the true story of
Neale Donald Walsch, Czerny plays Walsch. In 2007, he appeared in the
Showtime series
The Tudors, playing
the Duke of Norfolk. He appeared in the Canadian television show
Flashpoint in 2008 and the American science fiction drama
Falling Skies in 2011. Czerny co-starred with
Sigourney Weaver in the 2009
Lifetime movie
Prayers for Bobby. In 2011, Czerny was cast opposite
Madeleine Stowe, as the powerful patriarch
Conrad Grayson, a series regular role, in
ABC soap-type series
Revenge. In 2016, Czerny was cast in the
ABC thriller series
Quantico for the recurring role of
CIA director Matthew Keyes. == Personal life ==