Biography
John David Ashton (February 22, 1948 – September 26, 2024) was an American actor best known for his role as Sergeant John Taggart in the hit action-comedy films Beverly Hills Cop (1984), Beverly Hills Cop II (1987) and Beverly Hills Cop: Axel F (2025) where he played alongside Eddie Murphy. Born in Springfield, Massachusetts, Ashton developed a passion for acting early in life, later attending the University of Southern California's School of Theatre. Beyond his iconic role in the Beverly Hill...
Known For
Complete Filmography

All Happy Families
2024
as Roy Landry
The Landrys are blindsided by news of their son's behavior, and must rally to find their way amidst comical family dysfunction.

Beverly Hills Cop: Axel F
2024
as Chief John Taggart
Forty years after his unforgettable first case in Beverly Hills, Detroit cop Axel Foley returns to do what he does best: solve crimes and cause chaos.

BRATS
2024
as Self (archive footage) (uncredited)
In the 1980s, Andrew McCarthy was part of a young generation of actors who were set to take over Hollywood after a string of successful teen movies. H...

Lonesome Soldier
2023
as Macroberts
Based on a true American story, Lonesome Soldier immerses viewers in the captivating journey of Jackson Harlow, a young man hailing from the heart of ...

Death in Texas
2022
as Asher
Recently released from prison, Billy will do whatever it takes to save the only person who has stuck by him, his mother Grace who desperately needs a ...

American Christmas
2019
as Rob
It took another ruined Christmas dinner to make Martha finally realize: her kids are jerks. Daughter, Penny is a 42-year old bully who's still letting...

Making a Deal with the Devil
2019
as FBI Director
A fascinating and dramatic tale of a behind the scenes plot developed by the FBI as they work secretly with the mob to eradicate corruption and crime ...

The Last Big Save
2019
as Joseph Bird Sr.
A professional hockey player who is only happy when he is miserable signs a long-term contract that covers his entire career only to ruin it in his fi...

Once Upon a River
2019
After her father’s violent death, Native American teenager Margo Crane flees down Michigan’s Stark River in search of her estranged mother. On the way...

The Joke Thief
2018
as Joseph Rogers
The Joke Thief takes us on a journey of one man's last hurrah. Simon McCabe is a stand up comedian who has been making people laugh for 35 years. All ...

Uncle John
2015
as Uncle John
In this tale of small town intrigue, an urbanite returns to his quiet hometown on an impromptu trip as his Uncle, widely respected in town, struggles ...

A Letter to Dad
2009
as Mike Donahue
Dan Donahue has finally met the woman of his dreams. But on the night he is going to propose, he is overcome by deep-rooted anger caused by the father...

Middle Men
2009
as Morgan
Chronicles Jack Harris, one of the pioneers of internet commerce, as he wrestles with his morals and struggles not to drown in a sea of conmen, mobste...

Gone Baby Gone
2007
as Det. Nick Poole
When 4 year old Amanda McCready disappears from her home and the police make little headway in solving the case, the girl's aunt, Beatrice McCready hi...

Reign of the Gargoyles
2007
as Commander Latham
During World War 2 a group of brave US Airmen are downed in Nazi controlled Europe, after their aircraft is attacked by Nazi-controlled mythological G...

Escape from Alaska
1999
as Kemp
A helicopter pilot work with a husband and his wife in the frozen North tagging foxes for the Environmental Protection Agency. When an avalanche hits ...

Instinct
1999
as Guard Dacks
In a prison for the criminally insane, deranged anthropologist Ethan Powell is set to be examined by a bright young psychiatrist, Theo Caulder. Driven...

The Day Lincoln Was Shot
1998
as Ulysses S. Grant
A dramatization of the assassination of Abraham Lincoln. Based on the book by Jim Bishop.

Meet the Deedles
1998
as Capt. Douglas Pine
Two surfers end up as Yellowstone park rangers and have to stop a former ranger who is out for revenge.

Little Girls in Pretty Boxes
1997
as Peter Bryant
A gymnast moves to a gym where the top coach in the US is and has difficulties adjusting.

Fast Money
1996
as Lt. Diego
Butler is an experienced car thief, McCoy a struggling reporter trying to nail a bad guy-senator. Meeting for the first time when they're both in dire...

For Which He Stands
1996
as District Attorney
To save his family he'll risk losing everything. Fame, fortune, his life... even his soul.

The Shooter
1995
as Alex Reed
A CIA agent gets caught up in political intrigue after he gets brought in to solve the murder of a Cuban ambassador.

Condition Red
1995
as Deputy Warden
Prison guard falls in love with inmate. She wants him to let her escape.

Trapped in Paradise
1994
as Ed Dawson
Residents of a friendly Pennsylvania town foil three brothers' plan to rob a bank on Christmas Eve.

Little Big League
1994
as Mac MacNally
When the owner of the Minnesota Twins passes away, he bequeaths the team to his preteen grandson. The newly minted head honcho quickly appoints himsel...

Dirty Work
1992
as Eddie Ryan
A bail bondsman deals drugs on the side and thinks he's struck it rich when he conceives a scheme to steal counterfeit money. When the mob comes calli...

Curly Sue
1991
as Frank Arnold
Bill is a penniless drifter who scams strangers out of just enough money to feed himself and his partner in crime, an orphan girl known as Curly Sue. ...

I Want to Go Home
1989
as Harry Dempsey
Joey Wellman, an American cartoonist from Cleveland now largely forgotten at home, visits France with his partner Lena to attend an exhibition in Pari...

Midnight Run
1988
as Marvin Dorfler, Headhunter
A bounty hunter pursues a former Mafia accountant who embezzled $15 million of mob money. He is also being chased by a rival bounty hunter, the F.B.I....

She's Having a Baby
1988
as Ken
Jake and Kristy Briggs are newlyweds. Being young, they are perhaps a bit unprepared for the full reality of marriage and all that it (and their paren...

Beverly Hills Cop II
1987
as John Taggart
Axel Foley returns to the land of sunshine and palm trees to investigate the near-fatal shooting of police Captain Andrew Bogomil. With the help of Sg...

Some Kind of Wonderful
1987
as Cliff Nelson
Keith Nelson, an artsy high school outcast, tries to land a date with popular girl Amanda Jones with some help from his tomboy best friend, Watts. How...

King Kong Lives
1986
as Lt. Col. R.T. Nevitt
After falling from the Twin Towers, Kong lies in a coma for ten years. When his heart begins to fail, scientists engineer an artificial heart, and a g...

The Deliberate Stranger
1986
as Det. Roger Dunn
Based on a true story, this film depicts the life of Ted Bundy, the serial killer. In 1974, after having murdered several young women, he leaves Seatt...

Last Resort
1986
as Phil Cocoran
George Lollar takes his family on vacation with "Club Sand", a shoddy and untrustworthy company. On their tropical island, they find soldiers everywhe...

Beverly Hills Cop
1984
as Sgt. Taggart
Fast-talking, quick-thinking Detroit street cop Axel Foley has bent more than a few rules and regs in his time, but when his best friend is murdered, ...

The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across the 8th Dimension
1984
as Highway Patrolman
Adventurer/surgeon/rock musician Buckaroo Banzai and his band of men, the Hong Kong Cavaliers, take on evil alien invaders from the 8th dimension.

Money Hunt: The Mystery of the Missing Link
1984
as Cash Hunt
In this film noir comedy, detective Cash Hunt follows clues to solve a difficult puzzle. The producers offered a prize of $100,000 for the first viewe...

Honky Tonk Freeway
1981
as Otto Kemper
Ticlaw, a small town in Florida, has only one attraction: a safari park. The government constructs a freeway that passes near Ticlaw, but decides not ...

Elvis and the Beauty Queen
1981
as Jake
Don Johnson stars as Elvis Presley in this made-for-TV true story about The King's love affair with Linda Thompson (Stephanie Zimbalist), a young beau...

Borderline
1980
as Charlie Monroe
Jeb Maynard is a patrolman guarding the U.S.-Mexican border, whose partner and buddy Scooter has just been murdered. Maynard knows that a smuggler of ...

Lawman Without a Gun
1979
as 1st State Trooper
During the 1960s' civil rights movement, a black civil rights worker returns to his small Southern town and runs for sheriff against the incumbent, a ...

Breaking Away
1979
as Mike's Brother
Dave, nineteen, has just graduated high school, with his three friends: the comical Cyril, the warm hearted but short-tempered Moocher, and the athlet...
The Wilds of Ten Thousand Islands
1978
as Orville
While studying the behavior of birds on one of the western Florida island wetlands in the Gulf of Mexico, the Wild family encounters hunters and an is...

Oh, God!
1977
as Police Officer (uncredited)
When God appears to an assistant grocery manager as a good natured old man, the Almighty selects him as his messenger for the modern world.

Cat Murkil and the Silks
1976
as Coach Larkin
A street-gang member kills the gang's leader and blames it on a rival gang.

My Father's House
1975
as Sergeant
Recovering from a heart attack, a workaholic editor recalls the simple days of his youth. Robertson adds an emotional center to this messy, flashback-...

Psycho Sisters
1974
as Brock
After her husband dies, a woman begins to have a nervous breakdown and is consoled by her younger sister. Soon, however, other members of the family b...

An Eye for an Eye
1973
as Sgt. Matthews
The host of a children's TV show is really a psychopathic killer, and when he hears stories from the kids who watch his show about the abuse they get ...

Hot Bath an' a Stiff Drink 2
N/A
as Judge Nathan Rivers
Twin brothers - one a Marshal, one an Outlaw - join forces against a hardened killer bent on revenge in the old west.