Mark Strong

Mark Strong (born Marco Giuseppe Salussolia; 5 August 1963) is a British actor. He is best known for his film roles such as Prince Septimus in Stardust (2007), Lord Henry Blackwood in Sherlock Holmes (2009), Frank D'Amico in Kick-Ass (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), and Dr. Thaddeus Sivana in Shazam! (2019).

Mark Strong
Strong in March 2019
Born	Marco Giuseppe Salussolia (1963-08-05) 5 August 1963 London, England
Occupation	Actor
Years active	1989–present
Spouse(s)	Liza Marshall
Children	2

Early life

Strong was born Marco Giuseppe Salussolia on 5 August 1963 in the London district of Islington, the son of an Austrian mother and Italian father.[1][2] His father left the family soon after his birth, and he was brought up by his mother while she worked as an au pair in Germany. 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 a kid. I remember flats in Walthamstow, Clapton, Stoke Newington, and Edmonton."[3] He said in 2008 that he was inspired to become an actor as a child by watching French actor Alain Delon, stating, "I remember watching him in films and though I couldn't understand a word he was saying I remember thinking he looked great."[3] However, in 2019, he clarified that he did not actually consider acting as a career option until he was in his late teens.[4]

When Strong was a child, his mother legally changed his name to help him fit in with his English peers.[5] He was baptised a Catholic.[6] He attended Wymondham College, where he sang in the punk bands the Electric Hoax and Private Party; the name of the latter was based on the idea that the band's shows would not be attended, due to prospective audiences thinking that the event was a private party.[7] He had ambitions to become a lawyer, but he returned home to London after one year of studying German law at Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich, subsequently studying English and Drama at Royal Holloway and later attending the Bristol Old Vic Theatre School.[8]

Career

Strong at the Berlin premiere of Sherlock Holmes in 2010

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). Strong 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, opposite Colin Firth.

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). Strong portrayed the traitorous Wictred in Tristan & Isolde, showing his talent with swordplay, and since 2006, he has provided the narration in the BBC's genealogy series Who Do You Think You Are?.

Strong with the cast of Green Lantern at the 2010 San Diego Comic-Con International

In 2007, Strong was one of the final two actors considered for the part of Anton Chigurh in No Country for Old Men; despite the persistence of rumours, he claims he was never offered the part.[9] Strong was Pinbacker, the insane captain of Icarus I in Sunshine (2007). Also in 2007, Strong 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.[10] The following year, he played a lead part in the Channel 4 film Endgame,[11] 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. The film marked his third time working with director Guy Ritchie.[12] He went on to work with Ridley Scott for a second time in the 2010 epic adventure film Robin Hood, portraying the antagonist Sir Godfrey. The same year, he played Frank D'Amico, the head of a criminal organisation, in Kick-Ass. Strong says he is drawn to playing the antagonist. He tries to "understand the purpose of the character", and then work on building a believable individual.[13]

Strong at the 2011 Berlin International Film Festival

In 2011, he played Thaal Sinestro, Green Lantern and Hal Jordan's mentor, in the superhero film Green Lantern.[14] Strong said the film "closely follows the early comics. Sinestro starts out as Hal Jordan's mentor, slightly suspicious and not sure of him because obviously Hal is the first human being who's made into a Green Lantern. He's certainly very strict and certainly unsure of the wisdom of Hal becoming a Green Lantern." Strong went on to state that the character "is a military guy but isn't immediately bad. It's the kind of person he is that lends himself to becoming bad over the course of the comics being written, but initially he's quite a heroic figure." He also revealed that the outfit and other aspects of the character very closely follow the character's early days.[15] 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, and most notably, he played the role of Jim Prideaux in the film adaptation of Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, which was earlier played by Ian Bannen in the iconic original 1979 BBC series starring Alec Guinness. The film premiered in competition at the 68th Venice International Film Festival on 5 September 2011.[16]

Strong then 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).[17] He next portrayed the role of Jacob Sternwood in the British thriller Welcome to the Punch.[18] He played Matai Shang, the leader of the Therns in John Carter (2012), and starred in Kathryn Bigelow's action thriller film Zero Dark Thirty (2012) alongside Jessica Chastain, Jason Clarke, and Joel Edgerton.[19][20] The film had its premiere in Los Angeles on 19 December 2012 and had its wide release on 11 January 2013.[21] The film received wide critical acclaim and was nominated for five Academy Awards, including Best Picture.[22]

In November 2012, Strong and Taissa Farmiga were cast as the lead characters John Washington and Anna Greene in Mindscape, produced by Jaume Collet-Serra, the feature-length directorial debut of Jorge Dorado.[23] The film centres on a man with the ability to enter people's memories who 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 British 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".[24] That same year, Strong co-starred in the historical drama film The Imitation Game, alongside Benedict Cumberbatch and Keira Knightley, in which he played MI6 chief Stewart Menzies.[25]

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,[26] playing a top MI6 secret agent with Cohen as his idiotic football hooligan brother.[27] 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 film Miss Sloane, directed by John Madden.[28] The film premiered at the AFI Film Festival in November 2016.[29]

In 2018, Strong starred alongside Ethan Hawke and Noomi Rapace in hostage thriller Stockholm,[30] 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!.[31][32]

Personal life

Strong continues to live in London. He said in October 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 feel like I have a lovely balance. 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."[33][34][35] He is a supporter of Arsenal FC.[3]

Strong speaks fluent German and some Italian.[36][37] He provided the German dubbing for Daniel Craig's voice in the 1997 drama film Obsession, when "German with an English accent" was required.[38]

Strong was named one of GQ's 50 best dressed British men in 2015.[39] In an interview, he named David Bowie as his style icon.

Filmography

Film

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1993	Century	Policeman
1994	Captives	Kenny
1997	Fever Pitch	Steve
1998	The Man with Rain in His Shoes	Dave Summers
1999	Elephant Juice	Frank
1999	Sunshine	István Sors
2001	To End All Wars	Dusty Miller
2001	Hotel	Ferdinand
2001	The Martins	Doug
2001	Superstition	Antonio Gabrieli
2002	Fields of Gold	Dr Tolkin
2002	Heartlands	Ian
2003	Some Place Safe	Dad	Short film
2003	It's All About Love	Arthur
2005	Revolver	Sorter
2005	Oliver Twist	Toby Crackit
2005	Syriana	Mussawi
2006	Tristan & Isolde	Lord Wictred
2006	Scenes of a Sexual Nature	Louis
2007	Sunshine	Pinbacker
2007	Stardust	Prince Septimus
2008	Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day	Nick Calderelli
2008	Flashbacks of a Fool	Mannie Miesel
2008	Babylon A.D.	Finn
2008	RocknRolla	Archy
2008	Body of Lies	Hani Salaam
2008	Good	Philipp Bouhler
2009	The Gangster and the Pervert Peer	Narrator (voice)	Documentary
2009	Endgame	Neil Barnard
2009	The Young Victoria	Sir John Conroy
2009	Sherlock Holmes	Lord Henry Blackwood
2010	Kick-Ass	Frank D'Amico
2010	Robin Hood	Sir Godfrey
2010	The Way Back	Andrei Khabarov
2011	The Guard	Clive Cornell
2011	The Eagle	Guern / Lucius Caius Metellus
2011	Green Lantern	Thaal Sinestro
2011	The Secret World of Arrietty	Pod (voice)
2011	Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy	Jim Prideaux
2011	Black Gold	Sultan Amar
2012	John Carter	Matai Shang
2012	Zero Dark Thirty	George
2013	Welcome to the Punch	Jacob Sternwood
2013	Day of the Falcon	Sultan Amar
2013	Justin and the Knights of Valour	Heraclio (voice)
2013	Blood	Robert Seymour
2014	Unity	Narrator (voice)	Documentary
2014	Closer to the Moon	Max Rosenthal
2014	Before I Go to Sleep	Dr Nasch
2014	Mindscape	John Washington
2014	The Imitation Game	Stewart Menzies
2014	Kingsman: The Secret Service	Merlin
2016	Grimsby	Sebastian Graves
2016	Approaching the Unknown	Captain William Stanaforth
2016	The Siege of Jadotville	Conor Cruise O'Brien
2016	Miss Sloane	Rodolfo Schmidt
2017	6 Days	Max Vernon
2017	Kingsman: The Golden Circle	Merlin
2018	The Catcher Was a Spy	Werner Heisenberg
2018	Stockholm	Gunnar Sorensson
2019	Shazam!	Dr. Thaddeus Sivana
2019	1917	Captain Smith
2021	Cruella	Boris	Post-production
TBA	The Forgiven		Filming

Television

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1989	EastEnders	Telephone Engineer	1 episode
1989	After Henry	Roger	Episode: "Wedding Bells"
1990	The Bill	P.C. Gibb	Episode: "A Clean Division"
1990	Inspector Morse	Mike Butterworth	Episode: "Masonic Mysteries"
1990	TECX	Eberhard Braun	Episode: "A Question of Chemistry"
1991	One Against the Wind	German Soldier	Television film
1993	The Buddha of Suburbia	Second TV Producer	1 episode
1993	Prime Suspect 3	Inspector Larry Hall	2 episodes
1994	Between the Lines	David Lacey	Episode: "A Face in the Crowd"
1996	Emma	George Knightley	Television film
1996	Our Friends in the North	Terry "Tosker" Cox	9 episodes
1996	Sharpe's Mission	Colonel Brand	Television film
1997	Band of Gold	Ed Smithson	3 episodes
1998	Spoonface Steinberg	Father	Television film
1999	Trust	Michael Mitcham	Television film
1999	Births, Marriages and Deaths	Terry	4 episodes
1999	In the Name of Love	Chris Monroe	Television film
2000	Bomber	Colonel Chris Forsyth	Television film
2000	Anna Karenina	Stiva Oblonsky	4 episodes
2002	Falling Apart	Pete	Television film
2003	Henry VIII	Duke of Norfolk	Television film
2003	Prime Suspect 6: The Last Witness	Det. Chief Supt. Larry Hall	1 episode
2004	The Long Firm	Harry Starks	4 episodes
2005	Walk Away and I Stumble	Andy Spader	Television film
2006	Low Winter Sun (UK)	Det. Sgt. Frank Agnew	2 episodes
2006–2012	Who Do You Think You Are?	Narrator	70 episodes
2013	The Great Martian War 1913–1917	Narrator	Documentary
2013	Low Winter Sun (U.S.)	Det. Sgt. Frank Agnew	10 episodes
2018	Deep State	Max Easton	8 episodes
2018	Untamed Romania	Narrator	Documentary
2019	The Dark Crystal: Age of Resistance	Ordon	Voice 4 episodes
2019	Temple	Daniel Milton	8 episodes

Stage

Year	Title	Role	Venue	Ref.
1996	Death of a Salesman	Biff Loman	National Theatre, London	[40]
1997	Closer	Dan Woolf	National Theatre, London	[41]
1998	The Iceman Cometh	Rocky Pioggi	Almeida Theatre, London	[42]
2000	Speed-the-Plow	Bobby Gould	New Ambassadors Theatre, London	[40]
2002	Uncle Vanya	Mikhail Lvovich Astrov	Donmar Warehouse, London	[43]
2014–2016	A View from the Bridge	Eddie Carbone	Lyceum Theatre, New York Wyndham's Theatre, London Young Vic, London	[44][45]
2016–2017	The Red Barn	Donald Dodd	National Theatre, London	[41]

Video games

Year	Title	Role
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
TBA	Squadron 42	Captain Thomas Wade

Radio

Year	Title	Role
2020	UK COVID-19 Message	Voice Over

Awards and nominations

Year	Award	Work	Result
2004	British Academy Television Award for Best Actor	The Long Firm	Nominated
2008	London Film Critics Circle Award for Best British Supporting Actor	Body of Lies	Nominated
2009	MTV Movie Award for Best Fight	Sherlock Holmes (with Robert Downey, Jr.)	Nominated
2010		Kick-Ass (with Chloë Grace Moretz)	Nominated
2011	Central Ohio Film Critics Association Award for Best Cast	Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy	Won
	Georgia Film Critics Association Award for Best Cast		Won
	YouMovie Award for Best Cast		Won
2014	Gopo Award for Best Actor in a Leading Role	Closer to the Moon	Nominated
	Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Cast in a Motion Picture	The Imitation Game	Nominated
	San Diego Film Critics Society Award for Best Ensemble		Nominated
	Palm Springs International Film Festival Award for Best Ensemble		Won
2015	Olivier Award for Best Actor	A View from the Bridge	Won[46]
2016	Tony Award for Best Actor in a Play		Nominated
	Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Actor in a Play		Nominated
	Outer Critics Circle Award for Outstanding Actor in a Play		Nominated
	Theatre World Award		Won
2019	Teen Choice Award for Choice Movie Villain	Shazam!	Nominated

References

1. Edwards-Jones, Imogen (14 March 2000). "Brightest star in Mamet's plow". Peter Gill, playwright and theatre director. John Pavel. Retrieved 18 August 2012.
2. "Index entry". FreeBMD. ONS. Retrieved 7 May 2016.
3. "My Secret Life: Mark Strong, Actor, age 45". The Independent. 13 September 2008. Retrieved 5 August 2017.
4. Craig Parkinson's Two Shot Podcast - https://twoshotpod.podbean.com/e/tsp098-mark-strong/
5. Craig, Olga (20 December 2009). "Mark Strong: how I put the fear factor into Sherlock Holmes". The Daily Telegraph.
6. Vincent, Sally (16 April 2005). "Hard man, soft heart". The Guardian. Retrieved 21 June 2010. He was christened a Catholic
7. "Rock & Roll Performers". Wymondham College Remembered. 15 August 2012. Retrieved 18 August 2012.
8. Preston, John (18 February 2009). "Mark Strong: the strong, violent type". The Daily Telegraph. London.
9. Total Film (25 February 2009). "Mark Strong refutes No Country casting rumour". Total Film. Future Publishing Limited. Retrieved 18 August 2012.
10. Ebert, Roger (19 June 2013). "Body of Lies Movie Review & Film Summary (2008)". Roger Ebert. Retrieved 26 June 2013.
11. Hemley, Matthew (26 March 2008). "C4 season to feature apartheid thriller Endgame". The Stage. Retrieved 17 April 2008.
12. Rich, Katey (23 December 2009). "Exclusive Interview: Sherlock Holmes Villain Mark Strong". Cinema Blend. Retrieved 23 December 2009.
13. Truitt, Brian (23 April 2010). "Mark Strong can do a 'Kick-Ass' bad guy". USA Today.
14. Worley, Rob M. (18 January 2010). "Mark Strong Circling GREEN LANTERN?". Mania. Archived from the original on 8 October 2012. Retrieved 18 August 2012.
15. Truitt, Brian (6 April 2010). "Mark Strong will channel his inner David Niven for 'Green Lantern'". USA Today. Archived from the original on 4 July 2011. Retrieved 7 April 2010.
16. "Venezia 68: Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy – Tomas Alfredson". Venice Biennale. Archived from the original on 27 August 2011. Retrieved 27 August 2011.
17. "'The Guard' Topples 'Barley' to Become #1 Indie Irish Film". IFTN. Retrieved 9 September 2011.
18. "James McAvoy Heads to 'Welcome to the Punch'". The Wrap. 12 April 2011. Retrieved 13 September 2011.
19. Child, Ben (6 January 2012). "Kathryn Bigelow's Bin Laden film to star Joel Edgerton". The Guardian. London.
20. "UPI takes territories on Kathryn Bigelow's Zero Dark Thirty". Screen Daily. 15 May 2012.
21. ""Zero Dark Thirty" premieres in Los Angeles". CBS News. 11 December 2012.
22. "Mark Strong set for 'Sleep'". Variety. 31 October 2012. Retrieved 1 August 2013.
23. Hopewell, John (17 October 2012). "Strong, Cox, Farmiga enter 'Mindscape'". Variety.
24. Walker, Michael (28 January 2014). "Super Bowl: Jaguar Previews Ad Featuring Ben Kingsley, Tom Hiddleston, Mark Strong (Video)". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved 27 December 2014.
25. "Mark Strong Joins THE IMITATION GAME, Ben Kingsley and Patricia Clarkson Lead LEARNING TO DRIVE". Collider.
26. Fleming Jr, Mike (24 April 2014). "Mark Strong Joins Sacha Baron Cohen In Sony Comedy 'Grimsby'". Deadline Hollywood. Retrieved 25 April 2014.
27. "Mark Strong joins Sacha Baron Cohen in cast of upcoming comedy Grimsby". Grimsby Telegraph. Archived from the original on 18 July 2014.
28. Donnelly, Matt (12 September 2015). "Jessica Chastain Gun-Control Thriller 'Miss Sloane' Sells to EuropaCorp in Toronto". TheWrap. Retrieved 26 January 2016.
29. Monji, Jana (12 November 2016). "AFI Fest 2016: "Miss Sloane"". rogerebert.com. Retrieved 12 December 2016.
30. "Cannes: Noomi Rapace Boards Action-Thriller 'Close'". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved 7 June 2017.
31. Kit, Borys (2 November 2017). "'Shazam!': Mark Strong in Talks for Villain Role". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved 2 November 2017.
32. Sky, Rick (14 January 2018). "Mark Strong spills on Shazam! secrecy". ContactMusic.net. Retrieved 14 January 2018.
33. "Welcome to the Punch: interview with Mark Strong". City AM.
34. "Interview: Why actor Mark Strong is an accidental anti-hero". The Independent. London. 19 October 2007. Retrieved 17 November 2010.
35. Preston, John (18 February 2009). "Mark Strong: the strong, violent type". The Daily Telegraph. London. Retrieved 18 November 2010.
36. Day, Elizabeth (9 May 2010). "Robin Hood star Mark Strong: 'Real knights would have needed tea breaks'". The Observer. London. Retrieved 6 July 2010.
37. Griffin, Susan (13 May 2010). "Interview: Mark Strong". Yorkshire Evening Post. Retrieved 6 July 2010.
38. "Mark Strong Webchat". Empire. Archived from the original on 22 June 2015. Retrieved 22 June 2015.
39. "50 Best Dressed Men in Britain 2015". GQ. 5 January 2015. Archived from the original on 7 January 2015.
40. Loveredge, Lizzie (17 March 2000). "A CurtainUp London Review, Speed-The-Plow". CurtainUp. Retrieved 7 January 2017.
41. "Mark Strong and Hope Davis lead the cast of 'The Red Barn', a new play by David Hare" (PDF). National Theatre. 18 July 2016.
42. Wolf, Matt (16 April 1998). "Review: 'The Iceman Cometh'". Variety. Retrieved 7 January 2017.
43. Billington, Michael (18 September 2002). "Uncle Vanya". The Guardian. Retrieved 7 January 2017.
44. Gardner, Lyn (17 February 2015). "A View from the Bridge five-star review – Ivo van Hove reinvents Arthur Miller". The Guardian. Retrieved 7 January 2017.
45. Barnett, Laura (12 April 2014). "A View from the Bridge review – 'visceral and vital'". The Guardian. Retrieved 7 January 2017.
46. "Olivier Awards 2015: full list of winners". The Daily Telegraph. Retrieved 7 January 2017.

External links

• Mark Strong on IMDb
• Mark Strong at the Internet Broadway Database