Mark Ryan
| Mark Ryan | |
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| Born | 7 June 1956 Doncaster, Yorkshire |
Mark Ryan (born 7 June 1956) in Yorkshire, is a British actor, Stuntman and voice actor.
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Biography
Mark Ryan is a multi-talented performer, combining his acting, singing, writing, and action direction talents and has enjoyed a successful and eclectic career for some thirty years, working in all aspects of film and television.
He did several major musicals in London’s West End, spending four years in Andrew Lloyd Webber’s smash hit Evita originating the role of Magaldi and then playing Ché under the direction of Broadway legend Hal Prince. He went on to appear in a cameo in the film version of the musical starring Madonna directed by Alan Parker. He left Evita to play Mac in the classic SAS action film Who Dares Wins for director Ian Sharp.
He originated the character of Nasir for the cult British TV series Robin of Sherwood on which he worked for three years, and has appeared in dozens of films and television series, both in the US and UK.
In 1986, he won critical acclaim for the title role in the musical Elmer Gantry at London’s Gate Theatre and followed that with a national tour of the hit show Guys and Dolls, playing the part of Sky Masterson. He returned to the West End to play Neville Landless in the Tony Award-winning musical The Mystery of Edwin Drood and the same year recorded a duet with singing star Tom Jones on his album Matador. He also appeared in the video to the Gary Moore single Over the Hills and Far Away from the Wild Frontier album as the titular character.
1990s
In 1993, Ryan toured Europe and Britain playing Figaro in The Marriage of Figaro and Leporello in Don Giovanni, both for Music Theatre London directed by Nick Broadhurst, followed by a series of open air concert performances with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra. He is also an accomplished author and has written for DC Comics and Harper Collins as well as writing several screenplays. Ryan was also the co-creator, along with artist Chesca Potter, of the Greenwood Tarot - a variation on the standard tarot deck involving pre-historic European imagery.
In 1994, Mark was picked by legendary swordmaster Bob Anderson to assist as sword coach to Richard Gere and Ben Cross in the film First Knight. Director Jerry Zucker also asked him to play John Challenger during the filming of this Arthurian epic.
2000s
In 2000, Ryan played many major theaters in the US with original Monty Python member Eric Idle, performing classic British comedy roles in Eric Idle Exploits Monty Python at venues like New York’s famed Carnegie Hall and the Hollywood Bowl. The team later recorded the show exclusively for The Comedy Channel. He then went on to play John Dickinson in the Los Angeles stage production of 1776 directed by Gordon Hunt.
In 2003, Ryan concluded work as a swordmaster and fight director on the film King Arthur directed by Antoine Fuqua. His duties included consulting with the director and writer regarding designing all aspects of the Knights fighting styles, training all the principal actors and planning and choreographing their action.
He began working on the 2007 film Transformers during filming as the on-set voice of several different robots. This work continued throughout filming and into editing, prior to the actual casting of voice-over talent. He was then cast as the voice of the character Bumblebee. Ryan also voices Ironhide and Hoist for the Activision video game based on the film. When Ryan was in the studio recording his lines for the actors on set, Michael Bay used the lines Ryan recorded for Bumblebee in the film. But Ryan didn’t know that it would be used, and if so he said he would have used a diffrent younger voice. He will return to voice Bumblebee for the sequel Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen.
In the fall of 2008, Ryan launched a dramatic musical adaptation of the classic, gothic love-story: Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte, narrated by Beowulf and Sexy Beast star: Ray Winstone. He composed, sang and produced the tracks with Robb Vallier who also worked on Spamalot. He also directed the video for the song “Women” filmed especially for the website and featuring Jenn Korbee, Jessical Keenan Wynn and Katie Boerk.
In November of 08, the online publisher: ComicMix, founded by Brian Alvey, Glenn Hauman and Mike Gold began running Ryan’s: The Pilgrim, a graphic novel inspired by factual events during WW2 and concerning modern psychic warfare research. Drawn by legendary comic artist: Mike Grell, it is believed that elements of the story are based on Ryan’s experiences during his service in the Intelligence Corps and UK Special Forces community .
Television credits
- The Bill
- Dempsey & Makepeace
- William Tell
- Peak Practice
- Harry
- Casualty
- Frasier
- Cyberchase- voice of Penguia
- Conan
- J.A.G.
- General Hospital
- Alias
- The Young and the Restless
- Nuremberg
- Passions
- Charlie’s Angels
- A Piece of My Heart
- Convicted
Filmography
In addition to those mentioned above, Ryan has also appeared in:
- The Corsican Brothers
- The Phantom of the Opera (1989)
- The Prestige
- The Thirst
- SpecOps: Delta
- Transformers - voice of Bumblebee
- Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen - voice of Bumblebee
References
- ^ Funny Python CV….And it’s all true… - by Mark Ryan from his official Website. Accessed May 3, 2008