Bruce Horak was born on August 5, 1974, in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. At 18 months old, he was diagnosed with retinoblastoma, a rare eye cancer, which resulted in the loss of his right eye and over 90% of the vision in his left eye. Despite his visual impairment, Horak pursued a career in the performing arts, studying theater at Mount Royal University and training at Loose Moose Theatre in Calgary.

     Horak has had a successful career in theater, co-creating and starring in productions such as What You Can't See (1999), The Canada Show (2001), and This is Cancer (2005), a dark comedy in which he plays the embodiment of cancer. He has also performed in Evil Dead: The Musical (2009) and Goblin: Macbeth (2019).

     In 2022, Horak made history as the first legally blind actor to portray a character in the Star Trek franchise, playing Chief Engineer Hemmer in Star Trek: Strange New Worlds. His character, an Aenar, was a blind species closely related to the Andorians. Horak later returned in Season 2, playing General Garkog, a Klingon commander.