Ronald Francis Perlman (born April 13, 1950 in Washington Heights, New York) is a classically trained actor who you might recognize all over the place in a wide variety of roles, which frequently feature the use of prosthetics. He's best known as the title character in the Hellboy films and as Clay Morrow in the FX series Sons of Anarchy.
Perlman made his feature film debut, appropriately, as a caveman in Jean-Jacques Annaud's Quest for Fire. Many of his early roles have him speaking languages other than English. His breakthrough role came when he played Vincent in the TV series Beauty and the Beast (1987), opposite Linda Hamilton from 1987 to 1990. This earned him a Golden Globe for Best Performance by an Actor in a Television Series in 1989 and a large fanbase. Perlman also has a successful career as a voice actor in addition to his onscreen acting, having portrayed characters in numerous video games and animated series, usually playing smooth-voiced, sinister villains or people in positions of authority, and usually very large, imposing men, due to his deep, thundering voice. He also acts as the narrator in every Fallout game (except one), voicing the iconic intro "War. War never changes."
Perlman has made a career doing pretty much every role that is offered to him, regardless of the work's level of quality. This is due to a fallow period where he didn't have any work for several years. He was once asked why he does so many B and C-grade movies. His response was, "What can I say? My wife likes shoes." He's frequently seen acting alongside John Hurt or Charlie Hunnam.
In one particularly heartwarming moment he dressed up as Hellboy (hours of makeup and all) to spend the day with one of his young fans after a request by the Make-a-Wish foundation. Not that Hellboy is evil, it's that a fair number of his other characters are.
Additionally on November 9th, 2016, he used his official Facebook page to announce he's running for President of The United States in the 2020 election, although this ended up not happening and he endorsed Kamala Harris due to dropping out in 2019.
Perlman divorced his wife of 38 years, Opal, in 2019. The couple had two children together: Blake, an actress who's appeared with him multiple times in the same works (though never as related characters), and musician Brandon (using the stage name of Delroy Edwards).
Productions he has played a major part in:
Anime- Justice in Afro Samurai
Film
- Quest for Fire - Amoukar
- The Ice Pirates - Zeno
- The Name of the Rose - Salvatore
- Cronos - Angel de la Guardia
- When the Bough Breaks (1994) - Dr. Douglas Eben
- Sensation - Detective Pantella
- Mr. Stitch - Dr. Frederick Texarian
- The City of Lost Children - One
- The Last Supper (1996) - Norman Arbuthnot
- The Island of Dr. Moreau (1996) - Sayer of the Law
- Alien: Resurrection - Johner
- Enemy at the Gates - Koulikov
- Blade II - Reinhardt
- Star Trek: Nemesis - Viceroy
- Looney Tunes: Back in Action - Acme VP, Never Learning
- Absolon
- Two Soldiers
- Hellboy (2004) and Hellboy II: The Golden Army - Hellboy
- The Spiderwick Chronicles - Red Cap
- I Sell the Dead
- Dark Country
- Season of the Witch
- Conan the Barbarian (2011)
- Drive (2011)
- Pacific Rim - Hannibal Chau
- 13 Sins - Det. Chilcoat
- Outlander (2008) - Gunnar
- Moonwalkers
- Stonewall (2015) - Ed Murphy
- Dirty Laundry - Big Mike
- Skin Trade - Viktor Dragovic
- Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them - Gnarlak
- Asher - Asher
- Don't Look Up - Colonel Benedict Drask
- Nightmare Alley (2021) - Bruno
- Guillermo del Toro's Pinocchio - The Podestà
- The Baker (2022) - The Baker
- Transformers: Rise of the Beasts - Optimus Primal
- Beauty and the Beast (1987) - The Beast
- Charmed (1998) - Kellman
- Sons of Anarchy - Clay Morrow
- The Magnificent Seven - Josiah Sanchez
- Masters of Horror (episode "Pro-Life")
- 1000 Ways to Die - (Narrator; replaced Thom Beers after the show's pilot season, himself replaced by Tom Kelly after the 68th episode)
- The Blacklist - Luther Braxton
- Hand of God - Pernell Harris
- The Capture
- Poker Face
- Lords of EverQuest - Lord Skass
- Phantom 2040 - Graft
- Fallout - The Narrator
- Justice League Heroes - Batman
- Gun - Hoodoo Brown
- Halo - Fleet Admiral Lord Terrence Hood
- Conan - Conan
- Escape from Butcher Bay - Jagger Valance
- The Incredible Hulk: Ultimate Destruction - Emil Blonsky (A.K.A. Abomination)
- Chronomaster by Roger Zelazny
- PAYDAY 2 - Tom "Rust" Bishop
- West of Dead - William Mason
- Adventure Time - The Lich
- Aladdin: The Series - Arbutus
- Avatar: The Last Airbender - Fire Lord Sozin
- Danny Phantom - Mr. Lancer
- Mortal Kombat: Defenders of the Realm - Kurtis Stryker and Scorpion
- Final Space - John Goodspeed
- DC Animated Universe:
- Batman: The Animated Series and Justice League - Clayface
- Superman: The Animated Series - Jax-Ur
- Justice League and Justice League Unlimited - Orion
- Teen Titans - Slade
- Justice League: The Flashpoint Paradox - Slade
- The Batman - Killer Croc, Rumor, and Bane
- Green Lantern: The Animated Series - Sinestro
- Wing Commander Academy episode "The Last One Left" - Daimon Karnes.
- An American Tail: The Treasure of Manhattan Island - Mr. Grasping
- Fantastic Four: The Animated Series - The Wizard, Bruce Banner/The Hulk
- Iron Man: The Animated Series - Bruce Banner/The Hulk
- Conan: Red Nails - Conan
- Phantom 2040 (first season only) - Graft
- Kim Possible - Warhok
- Adventure Time - The Lich
- Titan A.E. - Professor Sam Tucker
- Tarzan II - Kago
- Tangled - The Stabbington Brothers
- The Book of Life - Xibalba
- Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (2012) - Armaggon
- The Transformers: Power of the Primes - Optimus Primal
- Men in Black: The Series - Drekk
- Trollhunters - Bular
- Hellboy: Sword of Storms and Hellboy: Blood & Iron - Hellboy
- The Steam Engines of Oz - Magnus