He is known for his roles as Jake Manning in Once and Again, Larry Moss in 24, Nick Bolen in Desperate Housewives, and Gordon Klein in Big Little Lies, as well as various films.
One of his major roles was playing Ted Orion, an NHL pro turned hockey coach in D3: The Mighty Ducks.
The 1997 TV movie Soul Mates, starring Nordling and Kim Raver, is shown by market researchers at Television Preview as a "new" pilot.
In 1999 he portrayed original Apple investor Mike Markkula in the TNT movie Pirates of Silicon Valley.
He starred as Brent Barrow alongside Courteney Cox in the series Dirt on the FX cable network in 2007–08.