MARK RYAN

 

Born on June 7, 1956 in Doncaster, United Kingdom, Mark Ryan made his debut in 1977 with various roles in the play Dean on West End, about the life of James Dean. He was a member of the Intelligence Corps. Between 1978 and 1982 Mark played in the musical Evita on West End. The first two years in the role of Augustin Magaldi, while the last two years he played the role of Che Guevara.

 

He could be seen for three seasons between 1984 and 1986 as Nasir in the TV series “Robin of Sherwood”. In 1986, Mark played the role of Elmer Gauntry in the musical Elmer Gantry and Sky Masterson in the musical Guys and Dolls. He played in 1987 the role of Neville Landless in the musical The Mystry of Edwin Drood. In 1989, Mark could be admired as Mott in the film ‘The Phantom of the Opera’.

 

He played in 1990 the role of Figaro in the opera Le Nozze di Figaro. In 1995 Mark was assistent to sword master Bob Anderson in the film ‘First Knight’, in which he also had a small role. He played in 1997 the role of John Dickinson in the musical 1776 and then moved to Los Angeles.

 

In 2000, Mark played several roles in the play Eric Idle Exploits Monty Python and was both swordmaster and stuntman for the TV series “The Secret Adventures of Jules Verne”. He was in 2002 the second unit director, stunt coordinator and swordmaster for the film ‘The Bacchae’. In 2004, Mark played the role of Mark Schlesser in the film ‘Return to Sender’ and was involved as swordmaster in the film ‘King Arthur’. He made in 2008 a musical adaptation of Wuthering Heights. Together with Robb Vallier, he composed, sang and produced the songs. Mark directed the video for the song “Women”. That same year, the graphic novel The Pilgrim was also published. Together with artist Chesca Potter, he created the Greenwood Tarot in 2009. In 2011, the Wildwood Tarot was published. This is an updated and revised version of the original tarot concept. A workbook for The Wildwood Tarot was subsequently released in 2017, under the title Wild Magic: The Wildwood Tarot Workbook. Mark appeared in 2014 as Gates in the first season of the TV series “Black Sails”. In 2015, he played the role of Uri in the film ‘Street’ and Mark published his autobiography, Hold Fast. He could be seen in 2018 as Bill Gage in the film ‘Any Bullet Will Do’. In 2020, Mark played the role of Peck in the film ‘The Reckoning’. He played in2021 the role of Brigadier General Evans in the film ‘Penitent’, where Mark was also involved behind the scenes as a associate producer. Together with Richard Atkinson, he won the award for best producer for this film at the Cannes World Film Festival. Between 2007 and 2017, Mark lent his voice to various characters, such as Bumblebee in the film ‘Transformers’, Jetfire in the film ‘Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen’, Lockdown in the film ‘Transformers: Age of Extinction’ and both Hot Rod, Bulldog and Lieutenant in the film ‘Transformers: The Last Knight’. He was nominated in 2015 for the Behind The Voice Actors Award for Best Supporting Vocal Performance in a Feature Film for voicing Lockdown in ‘Transformers: Age of Extinction’. Between 1982 and 2018 he appeared in the TV films ‘The Corsican Brothers’ and ‘Doomsday Gun’, the miniseries ‘Nuremberg’ and the films ‘Who Dare Wins’, ‘Evita’, ‘Charlie’s Angels’, ‘Perfect Opposites’, ‘I.R.A.: King of Nothing’, ‘Special Ops: Delta Force’, ‘The Prestige’, ‘The Thirst: Blood War’, ‘Siblings’, ‘Peterloo’ and ‘First Knight’. He was also involved in the last film as a sword master. Mark collaborated on the short film ‘My Elaborate Toaster’. He had guest roles in TV series such as “Dempsey and Makepeace”, “Crossbow”, “The Bill”, “Peak Practice”, “Harry”, “Casualty”, “Frasier”, “Conan”, “JAG”, “Alias”, “Community” and “Granite Falls”. Perry sat down with the very friendly Mark Ryan for an interview for the website.

 

001.You’ve acted in TV shows (“Robin of Sherwood” from 1984), movies (‘The Phantom of the Opera’ from 1989), musicals (Evita from 1978),

       voice acting (‘Transformers’ from  2007), writing (Wild Magic: The Wildwood Tarot Workbook from 2017), second unit director (‘The

       Bacchae’ from 2002), producer (‘Penitent’ from 2021), stunt performer (“The Secret Adventures of Jules Verne” from 2000), and sword

       master (‘First Knight’ from 1995). If you had to choose one of your favorite jobs, what would it be?

       I have done action-coordination work on a few projects in the past, in 2000 I coordinated fights for the TV series “The Secret Adventures of Jules

       Verne” and in 2002 I was the swordmaster for the movie ‘The Bacchae’. I don’t see myself as a stuntman, however. I have too much respect for the

       stunt boys to say that. Although I made my debut with with musical theatre roles, I like all the creative disciplines equally. I am convinced that all

       elements of your work help you with creating a character. I also enjoyed creating the Tarot books together with John Mattews, Yvonne Gilbert, Will

       Worthington, and Chesca Potter. These are very successful worldwide. I can’t and don’t want to make a choice between disciplines. Why limit

       yourself?

002.You have worked with many famous stars. Who had impressed you the most?

       Sir Anthony Hopkins probably impressed me the most. I worked with him in 2017 on the movie ‘Transformers: The Last Knight’. Sir Anthony Hopkins

       played the role of Sir Edmund Burton, while I did the voices of Hot Rod, Bulldog and Lieutenant. Becassue of the way we shoot, I am present on set,

       so that I can also give the actors a chance to play back. I first approached Sir Anthony on the street in Soho in 1981. I said; you don’t know me, but I

       think you are the best screen actor of your generation and I study your technique. He was very friendly and open. He then gave me some tips that

       would help my acting as a screen actor. Of course, I put those tips into practice. I also really  enjoyed working with Toby Stephens in 2014 on the first

       season of the TV series “Black Sails”, where he played Captain Flint and I played Mr. Gates, the Quartermaster. Of course I’ve also worked with

       some people who didn’t quite ‘have it together’ but I’m not going to mention any names. I do not think that is fair but I would like to work with Sir

       Anthony Hopkins and Toby Stephens again. I really enjoyed working with them both. As for a person I have never worked with, I would like to work

       someday with Viggo Mortensen (Aragorn in ‘The Lord of the Rings 1 – 3’, ed.).

003.How do you look back on your time in the TV series “Robin of Sherwood” from 1984?

       It was a unique time, simply legendary. I am therefore very proud of the series. I dont’t think they would be successful in making such a series like it

       today with the resources we had at the time and the tight schedule. We are all very close to this day. I am We did not have a lot of time to record an

       episode. But our stunt coordinator; Terry Walsh helped us as best he could, for example with dealing with the sword fights. We pre-rehearsed

       everything. I used to watch the TV series “The Adventures of Robin Hood” that ran from 1955 to 1960. I grew up with that version. Then, Michael

       Praed (Robin of Loxley in the first two seasons, ed.) left the series after the second season, was because he was going to play the role of d’Artagnan

       in the play The Three Musketeers on Broadway. He could not combine acting in the series in the UK and doing a Broadway show in New York.

       Fortunately, We had a great successor in Jason Connery as Robert of Huntington in the third season.

004.What did you have with the animated film ‘The Transformers: The Movie’ from 1986?

       I have never seen that animated movie. At that time I was recording the TV series “Robin of Sherwood”. Of the six ‘Transformers’ movies, I worked on

       the first five parts directed by Michael Bay. Not on ‘Transformers: Rise of the Beasts’ from 2023. This was also the only part that was not directed by

       Michael, but by Steven Caple Jr. There were ten years between the first five parts. The first part was released in 2007 and part five in 2017. So I

       also worked with Michael for ten years on the ‘Transformers’ movies. Then you start to relax and understand each other’s techniques and methods.

       Michael likes to keep the pace of shooting moving fast! In the first five films I did voiced several characters. So I could be heard in part one as

       Bumblebee, in part two as Jetfire and in Age of Extinction I was also ‘Lockdown. I also voiced Bulldog, Hot Rod and Lieutenant in The Last Knight. If I

       had to choose which character I liked the most, I would go for Lockdown. Lockdown was my tribute to Sir Anthony Hopkins who I think is a great actor

       and a wonderful professional.

005.You sometimes hear that every character that an actor or actress plays contains something of themselves. Can you name both a

       agreement and a major difference in terms of character between yourself and Gates from the TV series “Black Sails” from 2014?

       I agree with that. Gates himself received orders from Captain Flint, which he had to communicate to the men. So he was actually the intermediary

       between the men and Flint. I recognize that when I was working for the Intelligence Corps, Gates was someone who is quite close to my personality.

       He could be one of my own circle of friends.

006.What can we expect from you in the future?

       From Thursday 11 December 2025 I have a role as Jet-Ski Tourist in the Dutch film 'Amsterdamned 2'. I also play the role of McGeraghty in the Dutch

       film '23 Letters from Vincent van Gogh', of which I am also the executive producer. I play the role of Reinhold in the German film 'Die Letzte Hexe'. I

       can also be seen in the American films as Uri in 'Street Death Fight', as Maylor Kingsley in 'Dark Harvest', as Squadron Leader Skipper in 'We'll Meet

       Again' and as Ashad in 'Grail'. I am also involved in the last film as executive producer and collaborating writer. A reissue of the first Tarot book: The

       Greenwood Tarot will be released soon with some minor adjustments.

 

Interview: Perry Krootjes