‘Hey ! It’s That Guy!’: The Many Faces of Mark Strong

This may be the Mark Strong that's most familiar to many of you: Lord Blackwood, the villain of the Robert Downey Jr. Sherlock Holmes. Note that the film was directed by Guy Ritchie. This will be important later on.

You may also know him as the guy who beat up a little girl in Kick-Ass. At least the girl was Chloe Moritz, though; she totally beat him up right back. Which is exactly what one should do when faced with Mobster Mark Strong.

Now THERE'S a different look. Carrot-top hair? Frilly cravat? Unsavory appearance? Okay, the unsavory appearance isn't anything out of the ordinary, but the other two things-- especially the hair-- are unusual, even for this guy. He must be Bill Sikes' dastardly accomplish Toby Crackit in Roman Polanski's 2005 Oliver Twist here. Creepy.

Where you paying attention earlier? Revolver is a little-seen Guy Ritchie film that fell somewhere the travesty that was Swept Away (I blame Madonna) and the pseudo-return-toform that would be RocknRolla. It's kind of a weird movie-- imagine Ritchie's earlier crime caper Lock, Stock, and Two Smoking Barrels after it's had a crash course in Kabbalah-- but Strong is brilliant in it as a hit man with a stutter who never misses.

Possibly the least likeable character Strong has played, Nick runs a nightclub in London just prior to the Second World War. He also likes to abuse his girlfriend, would-be actress/singer Delysia Lafosse (Amy Adams). It's a joy watching pianist Michael (Lee Pace) punch his lights out.

There's a person under all those scars, and that person is (surprise) Mark Strong. He got to go nuts for this sci-fi film about a bunch of astronauts attempting to jump-start the burnt-out sun. Literally.

You know what's weird about this one? He's smiling. Mark Strong never smiles. Well, he smiles in real life-- and frequently, thank goodness!-- but he pretty much never smiles while he's working. Maybe it's because he's too busy playing bad guys. This is weird. Anyway, here he is as the Russian heroine's brother.

Another villain, but this time on horseback! It's a good thing Russell Crowe was around to foil Villainous Mark Strong's attempts to deliver England into the hands of the French!

This is the way I always think of Mark Strong, probably because it's the first movie I remember seeing him in and thinking, "Oh, that's Mark Strong!" This is why I am also constantly surprised when I see him without hair, because he's got such a lovely head of it here. Or at least, a lovely wig of it. Anyway, this film adaptation of Neil Gaiman's fantasy novel is worth seeing, and not just for Mark Strong's exploits as he runs around trying to assassinate his brothers.

Hey, look! It's another Guy Ritchie film! Strong dons a cockney accent and his narrator's hat as crime boss Lenny Cole's (Tom Wilkinson) second-in-command. Somehow, he manages to be both a guy you WISH you knew and a guy you really DON'T want to know at the same time.

I had no idea that Mark Strong was playing Sinestro in Green Lantern until I read Constructing Green Lantern. And I know FULL WELL who he is these days. Shame on me. Though in my defense, a purple head and wacky eyebrows would probably confuse just about anyone, so...

Did you know Mark Strong occasionally plays romantic heroes? I didn't, but that's probably because he played this particular romantic hero way back in 1996. Alongside Kate Beckinsale as Jane Austen's titular character, I might add.

This is probably Mark Strong at his most Mark Strong-ish, at least from the point of view of his physical appearance. He's the lone Englishman in a film full of Irish blokes, and, perhaps unsurprisingly, he's a bit of a psychopath. This one is in cinemas now, and it's worth catching, so get thee to a movie theater. By the way, that's Liam Cunningham, who will be playing Davos Seaworth in the second season of Game of Thrones, in the middle there.

Overthrowing a king? All in a day's work. Also, is it just me, or does the guy next to him look disturbingly like Teen Mom Maci Bookout's boyfriend Kyle?

This? This is going to be AWESOME. This new adaptation of John le Carré's classic spy tale stars Mark Strong, Gary Oldman, Colin Firth, Benedict Cumberbatch, Tom Hardy, Toby Jones, and John Hurt; it's also being directed by Tomas Alfredson of the fantastic Let the Right One In. Jim Prideaux is also by far the coolest character, though I'm afraid I can't tell you why. It'll give away too much. But trust me. AWESOME.

THE SIDEBURNS. THE HAIR. CANNOT DEAL.