Mark Strong
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Mark Strong (born Marco Giuseppe Salussolia; 5 August 1963) is an English actor. He is an Olivier Award and a BAFTA TV Award winner, and has received nominations for a Tony Award, a Drama Desk Award and a Screen Actors Guild Award.
His notable film roles include Toby Crackit in Oliver Twist (2005), Pinbacker in Sunshine (2007), Prince Septimus in Stardust (2007), Lord Henry Blackwood in Sherlock Holmes (2009), Frank D'Amico in Kick-Ass (2010), Godfrey in Robin Hood (2010), Jim Prideaux in Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy (2011), George in Zero Dark Thirty (2012), Major General Stewart Menzies in The Imitation Game (2014), Merlin in Kingsman: The Secret Service (2014) and Kingsman: The Golden Circle (2017), Dr. Thaddeus Sivana in Shazam! (2019) and Shazam! Fury of the Gods (2023), and John in Cruella (2021). On television, he played Terry "Tosker" Cox on the serial Our Friends in the North (1996), Carmine Falcone on The Penguin (2024), and Emperor Javicco Corrino on Dune: Prophecy (2024-present).
Strong won an Laurence Olivier Award for Best Actor and was nominated for a Tony Award for Best Actor in a Play for his portrayal of Eddie Carbone in a West End and Broadway revival of A View from the Bridge. He received two additional Olivier Award nominations, Best Performance in a Supporting Role for Twelfth Night and Best Actor for Oedipus.
Early life
Strong was born Marco Giuseppe Salussolia in the Islington borough of London on 5 August 1963, the son of an Austrian mother and an Italian father.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref> His father left the family soon after Strong's birth, and Strong was brought up by his mother while she worked as an au pair. He later said, "The home I grew up in was a flat in Myddelton Square in London's Islington, a beautiful Georgian square with a huge church in the middle. We moved around a lot when I was young. I remember flats in Walthamstow, Clapton, Stoke Newington, and Edmonton."<ref name="Independent 2008">Template:Cite news</ref> He said in 2008 that when he was a child he was inspired to become an actor by watching French actor Alain Delon,<ref name="Independent 2008"/> but clarified in 2019 that he did not consider acting as a career until he was older.<ref>Craig Parkinson's Two Shot Podcast, episode "Mark Strong Template:Webarchive"</ref>
When Strong was young, his mother legally changed his name to help him fit in with his English peers.<ref>Template:Cite newsTemplate:Cbignore</ref> He was baptised a Catholic.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> He attended Wymondham College in Morley, Norfolk, where he sang in two punk bands, the Electric Hoax and Private Party—the latter's name based on the idea that people wouldn't attend their shows, thinking they were private parties.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Strong had ambitions to become a lawyer but returned to London after one year of studying German law at the Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich. He subsequently studied English and drama at Royal Holloway, University of London before attending the Bristol Old Vic Theatre School.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
Career
Strong appeared in two Prime Suspect serials for ITV as Inspector (later Detective Chief Superintendent) Larry Hall, in Prime Suspect 3 (1993) and Prime Suspect 6 (2003). He also had starring roles in two BBC Two drama serials, Our Friends in the North (1996) and The Long Firm (2004), earning a BAFTA nomination for the latter. He also played the villainous Colonel Brand in Sharpe's Mission (1996). He portrayed the romantic lead, Mr. Knightley, in the 1996 ITV adaptation of Jane Austen's novel Emma. He then played the role of Steve in the 1997 film adaptation of Nick Hornby's Fever Pitch. He dubbed Daniel Craig's voice in the 1997 German-language film Obsession.Template:Fact
At the beginning of the 2000s, Strong appeared in Heartlands and in Shakespeare's Twelfth Night at the Donmar Warehouse, for which he was nominated for the 2003 Laurence Olivier Award for Best Performance in a Supporting Role. He was later featured in Roman Polanski's Oliver Twist (2005), played Mussawi in the film Syriana (2005), and played an assassin named Sorter in Revolver (2005). He portrayed the traitorous Wictred in Tristan & Isolde, showing his talent with swordplay, and from 2006 until 2012 he provided the narration in the BBC's genealogy series Who Do You Think You Are?.Template:Fact
Despite the persistence of rumours, Strong maintains that he was never offered the part of Anton Chigurh in the 2007 film No Country for Old Men.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> That year he played Pinbacker, the insane captain of Icarus I in Sunshine. Also in 2007, he portrayed Prince Septimus, the youngest of the seven Stormhold princes, in Stardust.
In 2008, he played Nick Calderelli in Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day, Mannie Miesel in Flashbacks of a Fool, Finn in Babylon A.D., Archy in RocknRolla, and Philipp Bouhler in Good. Also in 2008, he portrayed Hani Salaam, the Jordanian intelligence chief and director of the feared GID in Body of Lies, marking his first collaboration with English director Ridley Scott. Strong's performance as Hani Salaam earned him a nomination for the London Critics Circle Film Award for Best British Supporting Actor, and his performance was mentioned by several critics, with Scott calling it "a marvel of exotic suavity and cool insinuation" while Ebert "particularly admired" his aura of suave control.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
In 2009, Strong played a lead part in the Channel 4 film Endgame,<ref name="stage">Template:Cite web</ref> and he played Lord Blackwood, the main villain, in Sherlock Holmes, who has somehow returned after his execution with a plot to take over the British Empire using an arsenal of dark arts and new technologies. It was his third project with director Guy Ritchie.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> He went on to work with Ridley Scott a second time in the 2010 epic adventure film Robin Hood, portraying antagonist Sir Godfrey. That year, he also played Frank D'Amico, the head of a criminal organisation, in Kick-Ass. Strong says he is drawn to playing antagonists, trying to "understand the purpose of the character" and building a believable individual.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
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In 2011, Strong played Thaal Sinestro, a Green Lantern and Hal Jordan's mentor, in the superhero film Green Lantern.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Strong said the film "closely follows the early comics" and elaborated, "Sinestro starts out as Hal Jordan's mentor, slightly suspicious and not sure of him." Strong went on to state that the character "is a military guy but isn't immediately bad". He also revealed that the outfit and other aspects of the character closely follow his early comic history.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Also in 2011, he voiced Pod in The Secret World of Arrietty and Captain Titus of the Ultramarines Chapter in the video game Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine. The same year, Strong played Jim Prideaux in the film adaptation of Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, which was earlier played by Ian Bannen in the 1979 series. The film premiered in competition at the 68th Venice International Film Festival on 5 September 2011.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
Strong played Clive Cornell in The Guard (2011), which is the most successful independent Irish film of all time in terms of Irish box-office receipts, overtaking The Wind that Shakes the Barley (2006).<ref name="TheGuard">Template:Cite web</ref> He next portrayed the role of Jacob Sternwood in the British thriller Welcome to the Punch.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> He played Matai Shang, the leader of the Therns in John Carter (2012), and starred in the action thriller film Zero Dark Thirty (2012).<ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref> The film had its premiere in Los Angeles on 19 December 2012 and had its wide release on 11 January 2013.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> The film received wide critical acclaim and was nominated for five Academy Awards, including Best Picture.<ref name=Mark>Template:Cite web</ref>
In November 2012, Strong was cast in Mindscape,<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> a film in which a man with the ability to enter people's memories begins working on the case of a brilliant but problematic teenager to determine whether she is a sociopath or the victim of trauma. The film came to American cinemas in June 2014. Jaguar Cars produced an advertisement in 2014, initially shown during Super Bowl XLVIII and later online and on television, featuring Strong alongside fellow English actors Ben Kingsley and Tom Hiddleston. It was themed around their recent film roles as villains, and used the tagline "it's good to be bad".<ref name="Jaguar Advert">Template:Cite web</ref> That same year, Strong co-starred in the historical drama film The Imitation Game as MI6 chief Stewart Menzies.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
In 2015, Strong won the Olivier Award for Best Actor for his role in A View from the Bridge, which he starred in as Eddie Carbone at the Young Vic. When Strong went over to perform the play on Broadway in New York, he received similar levels of acclaim, and was nominated for the Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Actor in a Play and the Tony Award for Best Actor in a Play for his performance. In 2016, he co-starred with Sacha Baron Cohen in the action-comedy film Grimsby,<ref name=Strong>Template:Cite web</ref> playing a top MI6 secret agent with Cohen as his idiotic football hooligan brother.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> Later that year, he starred in a production of The Red Barn, by David Hare, which premiered in October 2016 at the National Theatre, (Lyttelton Stage), and co-starred in the political thriller Miss Sloane, directed by John Madden.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> The film premiered at the AFI Film Festival in November 2016.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
Since 2017, Strong has narrated the pre-show etiquette clips presented before films at Vue Cinemas.<ref>Template:Cite tweet</ref> In 2018, he starred in the hostage thriller Stockholm,<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> and had the leading role in Fox network's Deep State, an espionage thriller in which he portrays an ex-spy named Max Easton, who after the death of his son, is brought out of retirement unwillingly, to avenge his death. In 2019, he portrayed the villain Doctor Thaddeus Sivana in the superhero film Shazam!.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref> In the same year, Strong appeared briefly as the British Captain Smith in Sam Mendes’ World War I film 1917.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
In March 2020, Strong narrated public information films for the UK government which outlined how the British public should approach daily life during the COVID-19 pandemic.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
In March 2021, Strong was the castaway on BBC Radio 4's Desert Island Discs.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Later that same year, he co-starred in the Disney comedy-drama film Cruella.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
In the media
GQ magazine named Strong as one of its 50 best dressed men in 2015.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> He has named David Bowie as his style icon.<ref name="Independent 2008"/>
Personal life
Strong is married to television producer Liza Marshall,<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> with whom he has two sons: Gabriel and Roman.<ref name="violent">Template:Cite news</ref> They live in North London, which Strong discussed in 2007: "I've got no desire to live anywhere else. I was born here, my wife was born here, my kids were born here, and this is where we're going to stay. [...] I'm able to keep my head below the parapet. I get on with my work, I have a family, and I get on the Tube. It just so happens that I'm doing this job."<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref name="independent anti-hero">Template:Cite news</ref>
Strong is a lifelong fan of Arsenal FC and started attending games when he was seven years old.<ref name="Independent 2008" /><ref>Template:Citation</ref> He has named Ace in the Hole, Blade Runner, His Girl Friday, The Night of the Hunter, This Is Spinal Tap, and the work of the Coen brothers as his favourite films.<ref name="Independent 2008" /> He speaks fluent German and some Italian,<ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref> and provided the German dubbing in scenes from the film Obsession in which Daniel Craig's character speaks German with an English accent.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> He and Craig previously lived together, became friends, and co-starred in the BBC drama Our Friends in the North.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Craig is also the godfather of Strong's son Roman.<ref name="violent" />
Theatre credits
| Year | Title | Role | Venue | Notes | Ref. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1986–87 | Love's Labour's Lost | Bristol Old Vic, Bristol | <ref name=":1">Template:Cite web</ref> | ||
| 1988–89 | The Man Who Came to Dinner | Barbican Centre, London | <ref name=":1" /> | ||
| 1988–92 | Fuenteovejuna | Captain Flores | Royal National Theatre, London | <ref name=":1" /> | |
| 1989 | Richard III | Barbican Centre, London | <ref name=":1" /> | ||
| Henry VI, Part 1 | Bastard of Orleans | <ref name=":1" /> | |||
| Edward IV | <ref name=":1" /> | ||||
| The Man Who Came to Dinner | Sandy | <ref name=":1" /> | |||
| H.I.D. | Officer | Almeida Theatre, London | <ref name=":1" /> | ||
| 1990 | Richard III | First Murderer / Lord Lovel / Duke of Norfolk | Royal National Theatre, London | <ref name=":1" /> | |
| King Lear | First Servant / Captain | <ref name=":1" /> | |||
| 1991 | Napoli Milionaria | Errico | <ref name=":1" /> | ||
| 1991–92 | Murmuring Judges | DC Barry Hopper | <ref name=":1" /> | ||
| 1994 | Johnny On a Spot | Nicky Allen | <ref name=":1" /> | ||
| 1996–97 | Death of a Salesman | Biff Loman | Royal National Theatre, London | <ref name="CurtainUp">Template:Cite web</ref> | |
| Theatre Royal, Bath | <ref name=":1" /> | ||||
| 1997 | Closer | Dan Woolf | Royal National Theatre, London | Replacement | <ref name="nationaltheatre.org.uk">Template:Cite web</ref> |
| 1998 | Template:Sortname | Rocky Pioggi | Almeida Theatre, London | <ref>Template:Cite web</ref> | |
| 1999–2000 | Speed-the-Plow | Bobby Gould | Theatre Royal, Bath | <ref name=":1" /> | |
| 2000 | New Ambassadors Theatre, London | <ref name="CurtainUp" /> | |||
| Duke of York's Theatre, London | <ref name=":1" /> | ||||
| 2002 | Twelfth Night | Orsino | Donmar Warehouse, London | <ref name=":1" /> | |
| Uncle Vanya | Mikhail Lvovich Astrov | <ref>Template:Cite news</ref> | |||
| 2014–16 | Template:Sortname | Eddie Carbone | Wyndham's Theatre, London | <ref name=":2">Template:Cite news</ref><ref name=":3">Template:Cite news</ref> | |
| Young Vic, London | <ref name=":2" /><ref name=":3" /> | ||||
| 2015–16 | Lyceum Theatre, New York | <ref name=":4">Template:Cite web</ref> | |||
| 2016–17 | Template:Sortname | Donald Dodd | Royal National Theatre, London | <ref name="nationaltheatre.org.uk" /> | |
| 2024–25 | Oedipus | Oedipus | Wyndham's Theatre, London | <ref>Template:Cite web</ref> | |
| 2025–present | Studio 54, New York | <ref name=":4" /> |
Filmography
Film
Television
TV series
| Year | Title | Role | Notes | Ref. |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1989 | EastEnders | Telephone Engineer | 1 episode | |
| After Henry | Roger | |||
| 1990 | The Bill | P.C. Gibb | ||
| Inspector Morse | Mike Butterworth | |||
| 1993 | Prime Suspect 3 | Inspector Larry Hall | 2 episodes | |
| 1994 | Between the Lines | David Lacey | 1 episode | |
| 1997 | Band of Gold | Ed Smithson | 3 episodes | |
| 2002 | The Jury | Len Davies | ||
| 2003 | Prime Suspect 6: The Last Witness | Det. Chief Supt. Larry Hall | 1 episode | |
| 2006 | Low Winter Sun | Det. Sgt. Frank Agnew | 2 episodes | |
| 2006–12 | Who Do You Think You Are? | Narrator (voice) | Main role | |
| 2013 | Low Winter Sun | Det. Sgt. Frank Agnew | Main role, 10 episodes | |
| 2018 | Deep State | Max Easton | Main role, 8 episodes | |
| 2019 | The Dark Crystal: Age of Resistance | Ordon (voice) | 4 episodes | |
| 2019–21 | Temple | Daniel Milton | Main role, 15 episodes Also executive producer |
<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> |
| 2020 | Home Game | Narrator (voice) | Documentary series; 8 episodes | |
| 2024 | The Legend of Vox Machina | Assembly Mage (voice) | 1 episode | |
| Dune: Prophecy | Emperor Javicco Corrino | Main role, 5 episodes | <ref>Template:Cite web</ref> | |
| 2025 | Nine Perfect Strangers | David | Main role (season 2) | |
| The Mighty Nein | Trent Ikithon (voice) | <ref>Template:Cite web</ref> | ||
| Template:TableTBA | Neuromancer | Armitage | In production |
TV movies and miniseries
| Year | Title | Role | Notes | Ref. |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1993 | The Buddha of Suburbia | Second TV Producer | ||
| 1996 | Emma | George Knightley | ||
| Our Friends in the North | Terry "Tosker" Cox | |||
| Sharpe's Mission | Colonel Brand | |||
| 1998 | Spoonface Steinberg | Father | ||
| 1999 | Trust | Michael Mitcham | ||
| 2000 | Bomber | Col. Chris Forsyth | ||
| Anna Karenina | Stiva Oblonsky | |||
| 2003 | Henry VIII | Duke of Norfolk | ||
| 2004 | The Long Firm | Harry Starks | ||
| 2013 | The Great Martian War 1913–1917 | Narrator (voice) | Documentary | |
| 2018 | Untamed Romania | |||
| 2024 | The Penguin | Carmine Falcone | <ref name="Sepinwall">Template:Cite web</ref> |
Video games
| Year | Title | Role | Ref. |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2010 | Kick-Ass: The Game | Frank D'Amico | |
| 2011 | Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine | Captain Titus of the Ultramarines | |
| 2013 | Total War: Rome II | Silanus | |
| 2016 | Eisenhorn: Xenos | Inquisitor Gregor Eisenhorn | |
| 2018 | Battlefield V | Single Player Narrator | |
| 2021 | Template:Sortname | Stargordon | |
| Template:TableTBA | Squadron 42 | Captain Thomas Wade |
Radio appearances
| Year | Title | Role | Notes | Ref. |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | Desert Island Discs | Himself |
Awards and nominations
References
External links
- 1963 births
- Living people
- 20th-century English male actors
- 21st-century English male actors
- Alumni of Royal Holloway, University of London
- Alumni of Bristol Old Vic Theatre School
- English male film actors
- English male Shakespearean actors
- English male stage actors
- English male television actors
- English male voice actors
- English people of Austrian descent
- English people of Italian descent
- Laurence Olivier Award winners
- Male actors from London
- People educated at Wymondham College
- Actors from the London Borough of Islington
- Theatre World Award winners
- People from Islington (district)