Mark Ryan (actor)

For the Irish author and nationalist, see Mark F. Ryan.

Mark Ryan
Mark Ryan at TFcon 2010.
Born	7 June 1956 (1956-06-07) (age 55) Doncaster, Yorkshire, England
Occupation	Actor, author, voice actor and director
Years active	1981 – present

Mark Ryan (born 7 June) is an English actor, stuntman and voice actor.

Biography

Born in Yorkshire,^[1] Mark Ryan has been combining his acting, singing, writing and Action Direction talents in an eclectic and successful international career ranging over 30 years.

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.^[2]

1990s

In 1993, Mark 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.

Before moving to Los Angeles in 1997 Ryan guest starred in many classic British TV shows such as: The Bill, Harry, Dempsey and Makepiece, Casualty and Peak Practice. He also appeared in films such as Doomsday Gun and Nil By Mouth.

While establishing himself in the US he guest-starred in such TV shows as Frasier, General Hospital, Conan The Adventurer, Passions, Nuremberg and Young and the Restless. He also worked as Fight Coordinator and Swordmaster on The Secret Adventures of Jules Verne and played Gordon in the San Diego Globe Theater's production of Neville's Island.

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.

He has also guest-starred in such TV shows as JAG, Real Time with Bill Marr and Alias (TV Series) and appeared in films such as Charlie's Angels (film), Convicted, The Thirst and The Prestige (film).

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 including Keira Knightley, Clive Owen and Stellan Skarsgård, 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 different younger voice. He returned to voice Bumblebee as well as Jetfire for the sequel Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen and the Activision Game based on the film.

In late 2008, Ryan launched a dramatic musical adaptation of the classic, gothic love-story Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte, narrated by Beowulf star and Robin of Sherwood co-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, Jessica Keenan Wynn and Katie Boeck.

In November 2008, the online publisher ComicMix began running Ryan's The Pilgrim, a graphic novel inspired by factual events during WW2 and concerning modern psychic warfare research and 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 Special Forces community. In early 2009 ComicMix announced an agreement with IDW Publishing for hardcopy publishing rights of its online projects and IDW announced the publication of The Pilgrim commencing in April on 2010.

In early 2009, Ryan continued voice work on Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen working directly with Michael Bay and Alex Kurtzman almost right up to the release of the film and Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen went on to became one of the biggest grossing films of all time in the US as well as in worldwide box office receipts.

In mid-2009 Ryan also directed the teaser/trailer for Blood Type written by John Matthews and Wil Kinghan of Mythwood Films. Described as a dark psychological spin on the vampire mythos with a strong gothic element. The trailer was filmed on location at the Atlantis Bookshop in London, world-famous for its occult links with Aleister Crowley and Denis Wheatley and WW2 esoteric warfare history and continued at The Prebendal, Thame in Oxfordshire, a 12th Century estate and home of The Bee Gees Robin Gibb and his wife; Dwina. The promo trailer for the project was accepted into the BAFTA Members Short Film Showcase for March 2010. He was also featured on the LCD Soundsystem video Pow Pow (song) directed by David Ayer.

During London Book Fair in April 2009, specialist publisher; Eddison-Sadd presented The Wildwood Tarot, based on the highly successful and cult collector status: Greenwood Tarot authored by Ryan. The Wildwood Tarot is an updated and reworked version of Ryan's original tarot concept, co-written with John Matthews with artwork by award winning illustrator: Will Worthington. Work began on the project in mid-2009 and The Wildwood Tarot was launched at the Atlantis Bookstore in London in April 2011. Wildwood Tarot remained as the best selling Tarot and Hottest Bestseller on Amazon.com during the spring of 2011 and has now been translated into German, Dutch, Italian and Fench. The Wildwood Tarot is published in the US by Sterling Publishing.

In May 2010 Ryan returned to work on Transformers: Dark of the Moon, once again as the onset voice of the Autobots. Work on this third Michael Bay Blockbuster continued at locations across the US and also at Kennedy Space Center - Cape Canaveral. The film was shot in 3D with post production voice-work carrying on into the spring of 2011. Ryan contributed several military lines to the final cut of Transformers: Dark of the Moon and was credited as "Military Drone Operator" on the DVD. On release of the film in late June in 2011 it broke box office records all over the world and became the 4th highest earning film in history, grossing over $1.11B. Ryan also completed Bumblebee lines for the Universal Studios theme park ride based on the movies in the fall of 2011.

Work began in the summer of 2011 on a new book entitled "Hero Weapons of Film & TV", co-written with John Matthews.

Combat Radio

As of June 2011 Ryan has been a co-host/contributor to Combat Radio (www.combatradio.net) on the LA TALK RADIO NETWORK

Television credits

• The Bill
• Dempsey & Makepeace
• William Tell
• Peak Practice
• Harry
• Casualty
• Frasier
• Conan the Adventurer
• JAG
• General Hospital
• Alias
• The Young and the Restless
• Nuremberg
• Passions
• Charlie’s Angels
• A Piece of My Heart
• Convicted
• Robin of Sherwood

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 Jetfire
• Transformers: Dark of the Moon - Onset voice and Additional military voices (uncredited)

References

1. ^ Funny Python CV....And it's all true... - by Mark Ryan from his official Website. Accessed May 3, 2008
2. ^ http://www.angelfire.com/wizard2/markryan/overthehillsandfaraway.html

External links

• http://thewildwoodtarot.com/
• Mark Ryan at the Internet Movie Database
• http://www.sterlingpublishing.com/catalog?isbn=9781402781063
• http://coolwatersprods.com/id181.html
• http://www.facebook.com/pages/The-Wildwood-Tarot/192265810817414
• Interview with Mark Ryan about Robin of Sherwood
• *TFW2005 Interview with Mark Ryan (Voice of Bumblebee and Jetfire)
• Mark Ryan's Official Website
• Mark's Radio Show Combat Radio
• http://www.thewildwoodtarot.com Official website for Mark's 2011 Tarot, created with John Matthews and Will Worthington

Persondata
Name	Ryan, Mark
Alternative names
Short description
Date of birth	7 June
Place of birth	Doncaster, Yorkshire, England
Date of death
Place of death