David Nykl was born in Prague, Czechoslovakia, to a nurse mother and a structural engineer father. After the Soviet invasion in 1968, his family left then-Communist Czechoslovakia for Canada. David attended the University of British Columbia in Victoria, where he majored in liberal arts.
David has appeared frequently in Vancouver and Prague in dozens of theatre, film and television productions. Known for his versatility and depth as an actor, he has also produced theatre and film projects, and in 1994, he co-founded Prague’s “Misery Loves Company Theatre” with Richard Toth and Ewan McLaren.
David is known to science fiction fans as the recurring “Stargate Atlantis” character of Dr. Radek Zelenka, a Czech scientist on Earth’s expedition to the “lost city” of Atlantis. His character is often seen working with the chief science officer Dr. Rodney McKay, with their disagreements recurring throughout the series. He has also appeared in dozens of other shows, including “Joan of Arc”, “Seven Days”, “Call of the Wild”, “The Dead Zone”, “Jake 2.0”, “Cold Squad”, “Masters of Horror”, “Psych”, “Eureka”, “Sanctuary”, “Human Target”, “Fringe”, “Mortal Kombat: Legacy”, “Continuum”, “Once Upon a Time”, “Supernatural”, “Tomorrowland”, “Proof”, “Minority Report”, “Motive” and “Salvation”. He has also starred on “Arrow” as Anatoly Knyazev.
David is fluent in Czech, English, French and Spanish. Though Dr. Zelenka speaks English with a Czech accent, David normally speaks with a Canadian accent. Whenever Dr. Zelenka spoke Czech in Stargate Atlantis, David was given the lines in English, before translating them himself.
David appears courtesy of Gifts for the Geek.