John Fitzgerald Byers, the son of Bertram Byers, owes his moniker to being born on the same day as the Kennedy assassination: Nov. 22, 1963. He was raised in Sterling, Virginia, with the aspirations of becoming a career bureaucrat for the United States Government. He idolized his namesake, but would always have his suspicions about his real cause of death. He took a job as a public affairs officer for the FCC, where he worked happily until 1989. It was at a communications convention in Baltimore where he met one Suzanne Modeski. Falling instantly in love with her, Byers became a player in what would turn out to be a massive Defense Department conspiracy to test a paranoia-causing hystamine into the greater Baltimore area. It was during this time that he came to know Melvin Frohike and Ringo Langly. The four of them were able to thwart the Defense Department's nefarious plot, although Suzanne Modeski was abducted before their very eyes when she tried to go public.
Shortly thereafter Byers quit his job with the FCC and joined Frohike and Langly to produce "The Magic Bullet," later known as "The Lone Gunmen." Byers is the quintessential idealist, believing that the U.S. Government is at heart a good and benevolent organization. While his two associates focus on technical operations, Byers is more of a renaissance man--although he shows himself capable of some low-level hacking, his specialties are more centered on biological and chemical phenomenon. He is able to interpret DNA strands and chemical recombinates, but he is also the "straight man"--whenever the Gunmen need someone halfway respectable-looking to infiltrate a given situation, Byers always looks the part. Rarely seen without a suit and tie, he keeps his beard immaculately trimmed and his hair neatly brushed. He is the more soft-spoken of the three, and although he is just as paranoid as the other two, he is much less likely to go off the hook as a result of a perceived conspiracy. He also demands the most of the paper, and is something of an editor-in-chief. He requires credibility and hard evidence before running a story, and wants the paper to have the most professional appearance possible.
Unfortunately, leaving the FCC and a cushy government job did have a ripple-effect--in the series's pilot we learn that Byers has been estranged from his father ever since he founded the paper. And, while he did eventually find Modeski at a Def-Con conference in Las Vegas, his dream of living out the American Dream with her could never come to fruition. Rather than become bitter, Byers is much the opposite, willing to empathize with almost any sad story that comes into the office.
Born on April 29, 1963 in North Vancouver, BC, Harwood has a degree in acting from UBC. His acting credits begin in 1987 and include the miniseries Earthstar Voyager, as well as the television shows The Outer Limits, 21 Jump Street, Wiseguy, Honey I Shrunk the Kids, and MacGuyver. Other credits include the made-for-television version of Bye Bye Birdie, and the movies The Fly II, The Experts, Bingo, and of course, The X-Files.
Harwood is married to a high school teacher, and before the release of the X-Files movie, worked part-time in a public library.
For more on Byers/Harwood, visit Erynn's TV Tome Website