Adam was born in Chicago in 1962 and attended North Tier Township High School. It was while attending high school that he got his first acting role in a film, 'My Bodyguard', directed by Tony Bill. He received praise for his role and was soon cast in the film, 'Ordinary People'. Unfortunately, it took 4 years after that for his next film, the 1983 'D.C. Cab'. He had a couple other roles until he landed the lead in the film, '3:15'.
In 1986, Adam moved to L.A. to further pursue his career. While in L.A., he took a job as a truck driver to make ends meet. That same year he landed his first L.A. film, 'Bad Guys', in which he was one of the lead characters. It would be in 1987, that he would reach the high point in his career to date. Adam landed the role of Animal Mother in the Stanley Kubrick classic, 'Full Metal Jacket'. The next three years would see him in four more films. The last two being 'Next of Kin' and 'Predator 2'. The early 90's saw him in a few made-for-television movies and small roles in the films, 'Wyatt Earp' and 'How to Make an American Quilt' in 1994 and 1995 respectfully. In 1996, Adam was cast into a role in the summer blockbuster, 'Independence Day'. That definitely got his face out into a larger number of peoples eyes.
That same year, he got his first taste of network prime time television with a role on the short-lived series, '
The Cape'. He followed that up with another TV movie 'Smoke Jumpers' and a spot on the series, '
The Visitor'. In 1998, he landed a part in the Tom Hanks HBO mini-series, '
From the Earth to the Moon' and in the next year worked with Francis Ford Coppola in 'Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde'.
Adam started the new millennium with a role in the Mel Gibson film, 'The Patriot', in which he played an English Loyalist who betrayed his neighbors. In 2001, he did a string of three Indie films before getting a part on Fox's critically acclaimed series, '
The X-Files'. From that he went on to star in the short-lived Joss Whedon sci-fi show, '
Firefly'. After that he did a string of television spots on '
CSI: Miami', '
JAG', and '
Stargate SG-1' before teaming up with Joss Whedon again as Marcus Hamilton for five of the last six episodes of '
Angel'.
In this time, he has also done a lot of voice work for the animated programs, '
Men in Black', '
Jackie Chan Adventures', '
Static Shock', and '
Justice League Unlimited'.
More recently, in 2005, Adam starred in another short-lived Fox crime drama, '
The Inside' just after rejoining Joss Whedon again and reprising his role as Jayne Cobb and filming the movie adaptation of 'Firefly' called 'Serenity'. He also did a made-for-TV remake to the classic action film, 'The Poseidon Adventure'. Currently, Adam has a film, 'The Thirst', slated to come out later in 2006 and ABC has picked up
Day Break for a midseason start, probably in January of 2007.