How Many Different Bad Guys Did Mike Dopud Play On Stargate?

Actor Mike Dopud is one of the most prolific actors to appear in the Stargate franchise, and one of just a handful of people who appeared on all three shows — Stargate SG-1, Stargate Atlantis, and Stargate Universe. In fact, the Canadian actor and stuntman played at least a half-dozen different characters, all antagonists … at least, that is, until the Lucian Alliance officer Varro went straight and joined the crew of Destiny.

With SGU Dopud had a chance to play a recurring character with a real story arc. But before that the Montreal-born actor made a great “heavy,” starting out as a variety of Jaffa on SG-1. In Season Eight’s “Full Circle” he played an imposing Russian Colonel, and on Stargate Atlantis he was the Runner Kiryk in “Tracker.”

But on SG-1 Dopud’s most recognizable role is that of Odai Ventrell, a bounty hunter who comes to Earth to cash in on the reward the Lucian Alliance has placed on the heads of SG-1. That brings him straight to Cameron Mitchell’s high school reunion, where some very Grosse Pointe Blank hijinks ensue in the Season Ten episode “Bounty.”

“They were so open to my portrayal of this character,” Dopud told “Dial the Gate.” “We just played with each other. We had such a good time. That was one of the fun roles that you sit there and go, ‘I wish every one could be like that.’ Honestly, that would have been a great character to play in a series.”

In this clip he talks about his career on Stargate and Ventrell in particular, and why it’s so much fun – and a little cathartic – to play the bad guy:

Dopud said that playing villains is generally just fun and freeing. “You get to do things that normally you’d go to jail for!” he laughed. “You shoot people, or you blow up a building, or you blow up a spaceship. You take people hostage. And at the end of it everybody claps!”

Visit “Dial the Gate” on YouTube for the full conversation with Mike Dopud. While you’re there, subscribe to GateWorld’s YouTube channel for new videos every week!