Who is that guy? Oh, its Ron Perlman!

The first time I really noticed Ron Perlman as an actor was while watching Jeunet & Caro’s The City of Lost Children (1995). Perlman plays One, an incredibly strong whale hunter who is searching for his little brother, who was abducted by Krank, a  mad scientist who cannot dream so he steals the dreams of children. Perlman was excellent as the soft-spoken large man who holds a special bond his his brother. On a side note, The City of Lost Children is a gorgeously filmed French fantasy that is both eye candy and tells a great tale.

As it turns out, The City of Lost Children was not the first movie I had seen with Perlman. Ice Pirates (1984) holds that title, whereas Perlman plays Zeno. This often eccentric space opera takes place in the distant future when water is the most valuable resource. The movie offers lots of mindless fun, including fights, explosions, robots and monsters. Perlman’s next big project was in television between 1987-1990 as Vincent in the popular series Beauty and the Beast. In this creative interpretation of the classic fairy tale, Vincent is a man-creature living beneath the streets of New York in a secret Utopian society. His beloved Catherine, played by Linda Hamilton, is an assistant district attorney of New York. This series was great, an original well-written saga and won several awards, but ultimately only barely survived three seasons. Rumor has it that the network [CBS] really didn’t understand what they had, tried to change it and basically killed the show.

Throughout Perlman’s rather impressive 35+ years as an actor, he’s maintained a consistent and productive career in movies (Titan AE)Â  as well as television and as a voice actor, lending his characteristic vocals to such animated programs as Batman (Clayface), Animaniacs (Satan), Disney’s Aladdin, Mighty Max, Mortal Kombat: Defenders of the Realm, as the Hulk in both Fantastic Four and Iron Man, Phantom 2040, Wing Commander Academy, Superman and The Tick, just to name a few.

In 1993, Perlman had roles in Guillermo del Toro’s alternative vampire film  Cronos and also in Peter Medak’s avant-gard film noir Romeo is Bleeding. Perlman played an over-opinionated dinner guest in The Last Supper (1995) and  Sayer of the Law in The Island of Dr. Moreau (1996). Perlman would play Johner, the ultra-masculine member of the transport crew who find themselves hunted in Alien: Resurrection (1997). In 2001, Perlman appears in, what I consider under-rated, Enemy at the Gates, a war film taking place at the battle of Stalingrad. Perlman would then play Reinhardt, another ultra-confident killer, but this time as a vampire in del Toro’s Blade II (2002). That same year, he would play the Reman Viceroy in Star Trek: Nemesis. Ultimately, 2004 would become Perlman’s big year when del Toro cast him as the big red guy in Hellboy.

Perlman is currently on the horizon as Hellboy in the sequel, due out 2008, entitled   Hellboy II: The Golden Army. Keep your eyes peeled though, as Perlman is still keeping very busy.  Movies in production  involving Perlman include: The Mutant Chronicles [likely to be DTV], Killer by Nature, The Dark Country and Outlander. Of course, he’s also still in high demand for voice work in video games and animated programs.