Bruce MacVittie was born in Providence, RI in 1956. He began acting in high school, attended Boston University, studied with Jerzy Grotowski in 1976 and moved to New York City to pursue a career in acting in 1979. He began his career at the Ensemble Studio Theatre in 1980 in Edward Allen Baker's "Prairie Avenue", where he worked for many years as a member. He was a founding member of Naked Angels Theater Company. Bruce spent over ten years at the Eugene O'Neill National Playwrights' Conference under Lloyd Richards, 10 seasons at the Williamstown Theatre Festival under Michael Ritchie and Jenny Gersten, and was a member of the Blue Light Theatre Company where he began a collaboration with Joanne Woodward for several years on the plays of Clifford Odets. In 1982, he began as understudy to James Hayden in David Mamet's American Buffalo with Al Pacino and J.J. Johnston at Circle In the Square, eventually replacing Hayden in the subsequent Broadway production, national tour, and West End Productions with Pacino and Johnston. MacVittie, a character actor, had a long tenure playing guest-starring roles in television and film beginning with Barney Miller (1975) in 1981 working on both coasts, but predominantly in New York. In New York, he worked in most off-Broadway theaters including the Public, Playwright's Horizons, Manhattan Theatre Club, Signature Theatre, and the Cherry Lane. He appeared in over 75 film and television productions over 32 years.