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Mini Bio
Ronald N. Perlman (born April 13, 1950) is an American actor. His credits include the roles of Amoukar in Quest for Fire (1981), Salvatore in The Name of the Rose (1986), Vincent in the television series Beauty and the Beast (1987–1990), for which he won a Golden Globe Award, One in The City of Lost Children (1995), Johner in Alien Resurrection (1997), Koulikov in Enemy at the Gates (2001), Hellboy in both Hellboy (2004) and its sequel Hellboy II: The Golden Army (2008), Clay Morrow in the television series Sons of Anarchy (2008–2013), Nino in Drive (2011) and Benedict Drask in Don't Look Up (2021). As a frequent collaborator of Hellboy director Guillermo del Toro, he has had roles in the del Toro films Cronos (1992), Blade II (2002), Pacific Rim (2013), Nightmare Alley (2021), and del Toro's Pinocchio (2022).
Perlman has also had a prolific career as a voice actor, including the narrator of the post-apocalyptic game series Fallout (1997–present) and appearing in the associated television show (2024-present), Clayface in the DC Animated Universe (1992–2003), Slade in Teen Titans (2003–2006), Mr. Lancer in Danny Phantom (2004–2007), Lord Hood in the video games Halo 2 (2004) and Halo 3 (2007), the Stabbington brothers in Tangled (2010), The Lich in the Adventure Time franchise (2011–2023), Xibalba in The Book of Life (2014), and Optimus Primal in both the Transformers: Power of the Primes (2018) animated series and the film Transformers: Rise of the Beasts (2023).
Backstage
- In 2012, Perlman once again endured the 4-hour makeup routine required to transform him into Hellboy -- not for a sequel or other acting job but to fulfill the Make-A-Wish request of a six-year-old boy named Zachary who has leukemia. Creature effects house Spectral Motion applied Perlman's Hellboy makeup (and later also made up Zachary as Hellboy as well), and then Zachary got to spend the day hanging out with "Hellboy".
- Does not speak French and was the only American on the scenery of the French film The City of Lost Children (1995). Regardless, he learned most of his lines and delivered them without mistake.
- With the creation of Hellboy II: The Golden Army (2008), at age 58, he became the oldest actor ever to play a main superhero.
- Early into his career, he attempted performing as a stand-up comedian.
- Was friends with Sammy Davis Jr. They met at the Golden Globe Awards in the late 1980s, apparently Davis was a huge fan of Beauty and the Beast (1987) and had seen every single episode.
- Was offered promotional advertisements as Vincent, his character from the television series Beauty and the Beast (1987), but he refused stating that the character was not there to be exploited.
- His characters are frequently seen smoking cigars ( The Last Supper (1995), Happy, Texas (1999), Price of Glory (2000), Night Class (2001), Hellboy (2004), etc.). Perlman is an avid cigar smoker in real life.
- Bears such a striking resemblance to singer and actor Tom Waits, that once, Waits was credited as Perlman on a movie poster.
- "I've always felt there were aspects of me that were monstrous, and you can either hide from it or confront it, embrace it and understand that those are aspects that make you unique and define you and motivate you. You can either overwhelm or overcompensate for them -- but they truly define you as a human being... So that life became a question of either dealing with this monstrousness in one way or another... One finds a way to understand and make friends with that monster and understand that that's the very thing that makes you who you are. That's your emotional and spiritual fingerprint."
- "I've done millions of mediocre movies. I've done way more than my fair"
- "\[on being a director\] I don't like working with me. I would punch myself in the mouth if I had to take my direction."
- "\[When asked what his idea of Hell is\] Working at a job that you hate. Having a career and a life that you have no passion for. That's hell."
- "\on [Guillermo del Toro\] It seems as though we are like brothers. After knowing the guy for five minutes, it was one of these instances, where you felt, that you've known him for twenty-five years. This instantaneous friendship and recognition. Very, very similar way of viewing the world. And then we found, that working with each other, there was a real simpatico. And I think you could even say, that we are alter egos for one another. Like if he was an actor, he would be me and if I was a filmmaker, I would be him. We seem to be trying to make the same statement in the world."
- "I'd be dead without my sense of humor. I can't imagine processing the shit we are slogging our way through in life without it. In a twenty-four-hour space, you get an acute sense of how all of this injustice and out-rage is absurd. There are things that are truly serious, like when one loses his health or gets into a life-threatening accident. But the rest of it... If you can't laugh your way through life, then you are fucked. Humor was the first form of armor I ever wore to counteract my self-image. The first girl I ever asked out on a date laughed at me, because she thought I was kidding. Wh…"
- "\[1990\] People are doing sitcoms on stage rather than theater. You go to the theater, and it's as if you were watching a sitcom at 8:30 on Channel 4."
- "\When asked if he is afraid to be typecast as a tough guy after [Alien: Resurrection (1997)\] I don't bear any label. I perform very extreme characters, but at the same time men with an enormous goodness. Take for example the Hercules from The City of Lost Children (1995), One, he is a child in an adult body; One is pure, simple and innocent. My character in Beauty and the Beast (1987) had an enormous generosity, far from this world; the Beast was too good to be real. It's true that I hardly play ordinary people due to my appearance, anyway I am not a captive of any register, I don't systemati…"
- "I lost 90 pounds and my blood pressure went down to a normal level and"
- "\[on acting\] It's nice to get paid for therapy rather than having to pay $240 an hour for it."
TV Series
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