Ron Perlman is considered one of the busiest and most badass character actors currently working in Hollywood. With equal time spent on the big and small screen during his career, Ron Perlman has amassed well over 250 acting credits since his debut on the TV series Ryan's Hope in 1979. A decade later in 1989, Perlman earned his one and only Golden Globe Award for playing the title role in Beauty and the Beast the TV show.
Of course, Perlman rose to international acclaim when he was cast in Guillermo del Toro's Hellboy in 2004. Perlman can currently be seen in The Big Ugly, currently the sixth top-earner at the U.S. limited box-office. Perlman is an actor whose career runs wide and strong, and there's certainly no chance of it ending anytime soon.
The City Of Lost Children (1995) 79%
In the French sci-fi fantasy film The City of Lost Children, a future dystopia is plagued by a rash of kidnappings. Perlman plays a man named One, whose brother Denree (Joseph Lucien) is kidnapped by a mysterious scientist working on slowing the human aging process.
Upon searching for his brother, One eventually discovers that the scientist named Krank (Daniel Emilfork) and his legion of clones is kidnapping children in order to harvest their dreams and use them to prevent his senescence.
Happy, Texas (1999) 81%
The screwball crime-comedy Happy, Texas concerns a pair of escaped convicts who, upon arriving in a small southern town, are mistakenly celebrated as a gay couple.
When the townsfolk offer Wayne (Steve Zahn) and Harry (Jeremy Northam) $1,000 each to judge the local Little Miss Fresh Squeezed beauty contest, they decide to stay in town and keep a low profile until it's safe to leave. However, things get complicated when gay Sheriff Chappy Dent (William H. Macy) harbors a crush on Harry. Perlman plays wisecracking U.S. Marshal Nalhober.
Hellboy (2004) 81%
In what is most likely the defining role of a lifetime, Ron Perlman embodied the demonic antihero Hellboy to near-perfection in the 2004 adaptation of the acclaimed comic books.
Directed by Guillermo del Toro, the origin story of the half-blooded demon Hellboy includes his time living under and being rescued from Nazi oppression. When Hellboy grows up, he becomes a staunch defender against the dark supernatural forces that plagued his childhood and continues to threaten his existence.
The Book Of Life (2014) 82%
The rich tradition of Mexican rituals and festivities are celebrated in The Book of Life, Jorge R. Gutierrez's animated film produced by Guillermo del Toro. The story follows Manolo (Diego Luna), a young boy torn between his allegiance to his past and his desire to branch out in his future.
As Manolo searches his soul for answers, he's whisked away to three magical worlds where he is confronted by his most deep-seated fears. Perlman plays Xibalba, ruler of the Land of the Forgotten.
Quest For Fire (1981) 86%
Perlman made his film debut in the 1981 release of Quest for Fire, a dramatic adventure film about a tribe of savages seeking a novel source of fire during the prehistoric era.
Directed by Jean-Jacques Annaud, the story traces the epic sojourn of Naoh (Everett McGill), Amoukar (Perlman), and Gaw (Nicholas Kadi), a trio of tribesman who traverses the Savanna Desert in search of replacing the source of fire they lost at home. Along their journey, the men encounter wild animals and cannibalistic savages.
Hellboy II: The Golden Army (2008) 86%
Despite losing money at the domestic box-office, Hellboy II: The Golden Army outranks its 2004 predecessor according to Rotten Tomatoes. The movie also fared much better overseas, amassing more than $168 million in cumulative worldwide grosses.
In terms of the plot, Hellboy (Perlman) is miffed to learn that a rebellious army of ghoulish warriors has been unleashed by Prince Nuada (Luke Goss) in a play for world dominance. When the army's mission of razing humanity is known, Hellboy teams with Liz (Selma Blair) and John Krauss (James Dodd) to defeat them ASAP.
Tangled (2010) 89%
Disney's fair-haired princess Rapunzel (Mandy Moore) gets her own feature film to shine in via Tangled, for which the Original Song "I See the Light" was nominated for an Academy Award.
Due to the healing properties of a magical flower, Rapunzel's gorgeous blond locks begin growing rapidly. Sequestered in her lifelong bell-tower by Mother Gothel (Donna Murphy), Rapunzel gets swept away on a magical adventure when a thief on the lam named Flynn Rider (Zachary Levi) finds her locked away. Perlman plays one of the Stabbington twins in the film.
Cronos (1993) 90%
Perlman's long-standing collaborative kinship with Guillermo del Toro began on the set of Cronos, the Mexican visionary's feature debut. The story concerns a mysterious device thought to grant eternal life but instead leads to immense pain and suffering.
During the Spanish Inquisition in 1536, a scientist builds a cryptic contraption dubbed Cronos that provides eternal life to its owner. Hundreds of years later, antique dealer Jesus Gris (Federico Luppi) finds the device stashed in an ancient statue. Perlman plays Angel de la Guardia, a rich businessman who buys the statue and obtains the Cronos, leading to Jesus dogged attempt to get it back.
Drive (2011) 92%
Nicolas Winding-Refn's Drive was one of the best-reviewed movies of 2011. The film stars Ryan Gosling as a quiet unnamed stunt-driver who moonlights as a getaway wheelman for low-level thieves.
When the driver falls for his new neighbor Irene (Carey Mulligan), he becomes involved in a series of crimes relating to her ex-con boyfriend Standard (Oscar Isaac). Perlman plays Nino in the film, a wisecracking Italian mafioso who operates his business out of a strip-mall pizza parlor.
Justice League: The Flashpoint Paradox (2013) 100%
According to Rotten Tomatoes, the highest-rated movie of Ron Perlman's career to date belongs to Justice League: The Flashpoint Paradox. Perlman voiced dual roles as Slade Wilson aka Deathstroke in the animated film.
The crux of the action revolves around The Flash (Justin Chambers), who finds himself in grave peril in an alternate timeline. As Wonder Woman's Amazons do battle with Aquaman's Atlantis, Earth becomes torn asunder. The Flash must team with several superheroes to restore Earth's original timeline before it's too late.