Ron Perlman

**Ronald Francis Perlman** (born 13 April; 1950), known simply as **Ron Perlman**, is the actor who played the Reman Reman Viceroy in *Star Trek Nemesis*. He is perhaps best known for his role as Clarence "Clay" Morrow on TV's *Sons of Anarchy*, his Emmy-nominated role as Vincent on TV's *Beauty and the Beast,* and for portraying the title role in *Hellboy* (2004) and its sequel, *Hellboy II: The Golden Army* (2008).

## Personal life

Perlman was born in Washington Heights, New York. He graduated from New York City's Lehman College with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Theatre in 1971. He later graduated from the University of Minnesota with a master's degree in theater arts.

Perlman has been married to Opal Stone since 14 February 1981. They have two children: a daughter, Blake Amanda Perlman (born 1984), and a son, Brandon Avery Perlman (born 1990).

## Career

### 1979–1990

Perlman made his television debut on the soap opera *Ryan's Hope* in 1979, where he worked with Daniel Hugh Kelly. From December 1979 through January 1980, he appeared on Broadway opposite fellow *Star Trek* film villain F. Murray Abraham in the play *Teibele and Her Demon*.

He made his feature film debut playing Amoukar in Jean-Jacques Annaud's acclaimed 1981 drama *Quest for Fire*. For his performance in this film, Perlman was nominated by the Canadian Genie Awards for "Best Performance by a Foreign Actor." Annaud later cast Perlman in the 1986 film *The Name of the Rose*, in which Perlman again acted with F. Murray Abraham. Christian Slater also starred in this film.

Perlman co-starred with Mary Crosby in the cult 1984 science fiction film *The Ice Pirates*. Ian Abercrombie and Robert Symonds had roles in this film, as well. Perlman then made several television appearances, including guest spots on *The Fall Guy* (with Robert Costanzo), *Miami Vice* (with Kevin Conway), and *Max Headroom* (starring Matt Frewer and George Coe).

In 1987, Perlman was acting alongside Jonathan Frakes in a play called *My Life in Art* (along with Bruce Gray) when Perlman received word that he won the role of Vincent for the CBS fantasy drama series *Beauty and the Beast*. Coincidentally, Frakes learned he won the role of William T. Riker on *Star Trek: The Next Generation* that same day. Perlman and Frakes reunited fifteen years later on the set of *Star Trek Nemesis*.

Perlman starred on *Beauty and the Beast* for three seasons, from 1987 through 1990. He was nominated for two Emmy Awards for his portrayal of Vincent on the series, and also won a Golden Globe. A number of *Star Trek* alumni had recurring roles on the show, including Edward Laurence Albert, Ellen Geer, Tony Jay, Stephen McHattie, and Armin Shimerman. Other alumni with memorable one-time appearances included Joey Aresco, Merritt Butrick, Rosalind Chao, and Jeffrey Combs.

### 1992–2000

Since *Beauty and the Beast* ended, Perlman has appeared in hundreds of film roles. Some of his film credits from the early 1990s through 2000 include *Sleepwalkers* (1992, with Alice Krige, Mädchen Amick, and Frank Novak), *When the Bough Breaks* (1993, with Robert Knepper and Scott Lawrence), *The Adventures of Huck Finn* (1993, with Dion Anderson and Leon Russom), *Police Academy: Mission to Moscow* (1994, with David Graf), *Fluke* (1995, opposite Bill Cobbs), *Prince Valiant* (1997, with Zach Galligan, Walter Gotell, and Gavan O'Herlihy), *I Woke Up Early the Day I Died* (1998, with Lee Arenberg and Carel Struycken), *Frogs for Snakes* (with Mike Starr), *Happy, Texas* (1999, with Paul Dooley and Scarlett Pomers), and *Price of Glory* (with Clifton Collins, Jr.).

In addition, Perlman played a lead role in the 1993 horror film *Cronos*, which was written and directed by Guillermo del Toro. Perlman and Del Toro later worked together on several films during the 2000s. Perlman also starred in the acclaimed 1995 French film *The City of Lost Children*, which was co-directed by Jean-Pierre Jeunet. Perlman was again directed by Jeunet on the 1997 science fiction sequel *Alien: Resurrection*, which also starred Raymond Cruz, Brad Dourif, Leland Orser, and Winona Ryder.

Perlman appeared with two *Star Trek* regulars in two different TV movies in 1995: *Mr. Stitch* with *The Next Generation'*s Wil Wheaton and *The Adventures of Captain Zoom in Outer Space* with Star Trek: The Original Series's Nichelle Nichols. The latter also starred Daniel Riordan and Liz Vassey. Perlman also worked with Star Trek: Voyager regular Robert Picardo on Joe Dante's HBO movie *The Second Civil War*, which also featured Joanna Cassidy, Brian Keith, Dick Miller, and William Schallert. Perlman and Keith were previously directed by Dante for the first episode of the anthology series *Picture Windows*. In 2000, Perlman co-starred with Scott Bakula, David Graf, and John Schuck in the TV movie *The Trial of Old Drum*.

Perlman's other TV movie credits during this time included *Original Sin* (1995, with David Clennon) and *Houdini* (with Paul Sorvino and David Warner). He has also guest-starred on such series as *Perversions of Science* (with Brian Brophy, Jeffrey Combs, Jeff Corey, and the aforementioned David Warner), *The Outer Limits* (directed by Steven Weber), and *Family Law* (with Christopher McDonald, Salli Elise Richardson, and Julie Warner).

Between 1998 and 2000, Perlman was a regular on *The Magnificent Seven*, a western series on CBS based on the 1960 film of the same name. Andrew Kavovit and Rick Worthy were also regulars on this series.

### 2001–present

Perlman reunited with Jean-Jacques Annaud, his director from *Quest for Fire* and *The Name of the Rose*, for the 2001 war film *Enemy at the Gates*. Perlman then reunited with his *Cronos* director, Guillermo del Toro, for 2002's *Blade II*, which involved characters from Marvel Comics magazines. In 2003, Perlman, along with Robert Picardo and TNG guest stars Marc Lawrence and George Murdock, were seen playing Acme Vice Presidents in the film *Looney Tunes: Back in Action*, which also marked Perlman's third collaboration with director Joe Dante.

One of Perlman's most popular film role came when he starred in the Guillermo del Toro-directed *Hellboy*, playing the demonic title character (alongside Doug Jones). He reprised this role in the film's 2008 sequel, *Hellboy II: The Golden Army*. He also voices the character in a series of animated made-for-TV and direct-to-video movies.

His other recent film credits have included *Quiet Kill* (2004, with Corbin Bernsen), *How to Go Out on a Date in Queens* (2006, with Jason Alexander), and *In the Name of the King: A Dungeon Siege Tale* (2007, with Kristanna Loken and John Rhys-Davies). He also starred in the 2006 thriller *The Last Winter* and had supporting roles in the science fiction adventures *Outlander* and *Mutant Chronicles*.

In 2008, Perlman starred as biker gang leader Clarence "Clay" Morrow in the hit FX television series *Sons of Anarchy*, which aired until 2014. The show co-starred DS9 recurring actor William Lucking.

In 2010, Perlman co-starred with Nicholas Cage in the movie *Season of the Witch*. In 2013, he reunited with Guillermo del Toro for *Pacific Rim*, which also starred Idris Elba and Clifton Collins, Jr., as well as his *Sons of Anarchy* co-star Charlie Hunnam. In 2014, he starred in the Amazon Prime pilot *Hand of God*, which was picked up for a full series.

### Voice-over roles

Perlman has become well-versed as a voice actor on television, in film, and even in video games. His gruff, distinct voice can be heard on such animated shows as *Superman*, *Justice League*, Disney's *Aladdin*, *Danny Phantom*, *Teen Titans*, *Avatar: The Last Airbender*, and *Star Wars: The Clone Wars*. On *Justice League* and *Justice League Unlimited*, he voiced the character of Orion, who was voiced by Steve Sandor on *Superman The Animated Series*.

Perlman was the voice of the villainous Matt Hagen aka Clayface in the DCAU's *Batman: The Animated Series*; of note, the initial episode ("Feat of Clay, part 1") which introduced the character featured original musical composition by Star Trek: First Contact orchestrator Jeff Atmajian. He also voiced an anonymous thug (credited as "Driller") in an earlier episode of the same series, appearing with Robert Costanzo and Marcelo Tubert. He also voiced Clayface in the related series *The New Batman Adventures* (appearing with Costanzo again) and for the video game *Batman: Rise of Sin Tzu* (featuring Jeffrey Combs, Loren Lester, and Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa).

He later voiced the villains Killer Croc and Bane (the same character was later portrayed in the film *The Dark Knight Rises* by Perlman's co-star Tom Hardy) on a different Batman series entitled *The Batman*. He also had a voice-over role in the 2000 film *Titan A.E.*, as did the late Charles Rocket.

His voice has been featured in video games such as *Chronomaster* (with Brent Spiner), *Lords of Everquest* (with Kate Mulgrew), and the mega-hits *Halo 2* and *3*, the latter also featuring Debra Wilson. Ron Perlman's opening monologue lines to the *Fallout* game series are considered contemporary cult classics, beginning with "War. War never changes." Michael Dorn, Malcolm McDowell, Dwight Schultz, and Wil Wheaton have also appeared in the *Fallout* series. He also lent his voice talents to voice Jagger Valance in the 2004 videogame *The Chronicles of Riddick: Escape from Butcher Bay*. His other video game credits include 2005's *Gun* (which also featured the voice of Brad Dourif), 2006's *Justice League Heroes* (as the voice of DC Comics' Batman), and 2008's *Turok* (with Mark Rolston). Perlman's distinctive voice can be heard as the narrator of the SPIKE TV anthology series *1000 Ways to Die* currently airing.