His other roles include Martin Harrison in Chicago (2002), Lord Marshal Zhylaw in The Chronicles of Riddick (2004), First Gentleman Henry Taylor on 24 (2009), Cardinal Della Rovere on The Borgias (2011–2013), Laufey in Thor (2011), General Ted Brockhart on House of Cards (2016–2017), Declan Gallard on 21 Thunder (2017), Wernher von Braun in For All Mankind (2019), and Sir Reginald Hargreeves on The Umbrella Academy (2019–2024).

[3] His parents were Irish immigrants, and the family moved back to Ireland shortly after Colm was born,[4] remaining there for several years before emigrating to Windsor, Ontario.

[5] After graduating from Ridley College in St. Catharines, Ontario, he attended the National Theatre School of Canada in Montreal, Quebec.

He spent 17 seasons at Stratford where he rose from bit parts to leading roles, including Romeo,[8] Hamlet,[8] Richard III,[8] and Cyrano.

[4] He also played a crazed marketing executive imposter in the second season of the Canadian TV series, Slings and Arrows,[8] a role that continued for several episodes.

He is perhaps most famous in the United States for his supporting roles in such Hollywood films as Chicago, City of Angels, Pearl Harbor, The Sum of All Fears, Paycheck,[4] and The Chronicles of Riddick.

[7] In the same year, he was made an Officer of the Order of Canada (OC) "for his contributions as an actor of the stage and screen, notably by bridging Anglophone and Francophone cultures as a fluently bilingual performer.