Background
Nykl was born in Prague, Czechoslovakia, to a nurse mother and a structural engineer father.
Nykl was born in Prague, Czechoslovakia, to a nurse mother and a structural engineer father.
Nykl attended the University of British Columbia, where he majored in liberal arts
He is best known for portraying Doctor Radek Zelenka in the SyFy television series Stargate Atlantis. After the Soviet invasion in 1968, he and his family left then-Communist Czechoslovakia for Canada. Upon arriving at Victoria, British Columbia.
Nykl has appeared heavily in Vancouver and Prague in dozens of theater, 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. Nykl is known to science fiction fans as the recurring Stargate Atlantis character of Doctor Radek Zelenka, a Czechoslovakian scientist on Earth"s expedition to the "lost city" of Atlantis.
His character is often seen working with the main scientist Doctor Rodney McKay, with their disagreements recurring throughout the series. Nykl is fluent in Czechoslovakian, English, French and Spanish.
Though his character on Stargate Atlantis speaks English with a Czechoslovakian accent, Nykl normally speaks with a Canadian accent.
Whenever Zelenka spoke Czechoslovakian in Stargate Atlantis, Nykl was given the lines in English, and he translated them.