50 facts about British actor Mark Strong

When he was a child he wanted to be the French actor Alain Delon. Learn 50 facts about actor Mark Strong.

1. Strong was born in London.

2. His mother is Austrian.

3. His father is Italian.

4. His father left the family soon after his birth, and Strong was brought up by his mother.

5. His mother worked as an au pair.

6. Strong said in an interview: "The home I grew up in... was a flat in Myddelton Square in London's Islington, a beautiful Georgian square with a huge church in the middle. We moved around a lot when I was a kid. I remember flats in Walthamstow, Clapton, Stoke Newington, and Edmonton, as well."

7. His English name is not a stage name; when he was a child, his mother changed his name by deed poll to help him fit in with his peers.

8. He was baptised a Catholic.

9. Strong speaks fluent German and some Italian.

10. Strong attended Wymondham College, where he sang in the punk bands the Electric Hoax and Private Party.

11. His original ambition was to become a lawyer.

12. After studying German law at Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich for one year, he returned home to London and studied English and Drama at Royal Holloway, and later attended the Bristol Old Vic Theatre School.

13. Mark Strong was born Marco Giuseppe Salussolia.

14. He is a British film and television actor.

15. He is known for his role in the television series Our Friends in the North and films such as Syriana, RocknRoll, Body of Lies, The Young Victoria, Sherlock Holmes, Robin Hood, Kick-Ass, Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, to name a few.

16. Starred in The Long Firm, for which he earned a BAFTA nomination.

17. He also played the villainous Colonel Brand in Sharpe's Mission.

18. Strong portrayed the romantic lead, Mr. Knightley, in the 1996 ITV adaptation of Jane Austen's novel Emma.

19. He then played the role of Steve in the 1997 film adaptation of Nick Hornby's Fever Pitch, opposite Colin Firth.

20. At the beginning of the 2000s, Strong appeared in Heartlands and in Shakespeare's Twelfth Night at the Donmar Warehouse, for which he was nominated for the 2003 Laurence Olivier Award for Best Performance in a Supporting Role.

21. He was later featured in Roman Polanski's Oliver Twist, played Mussawi in the film Syriana, and played an assassin named Sorter in Revolver.

22. Strong portrayed the traitorous Wictred in Tristan & Isolde, showing his talent with swordplay.

23. Has provided the narration in the BBC's genealogy series Who Do You Think You Are?.

24. Strong was Pinbacker, the insane captain of Icarus I, the first ship that was sent to reignite the Sun in Sunshine. Pinbacker was inspired by the character of Sergeant Pinback from Dark Star. The character's disfiguring burns were influenced by the injuries suffered by F1 driver Niki Lauda.

25. Also in 2007, Strong portrayed Prince Septimus, the youngest of the seven Stormhold princes, in Stardust.

26. In 2008, he played Nick Calderelli in Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day, Mannie Miesel in Flashbacks of a Fool, Finn in Babylon A.D., Archy in RocknRolla, and Philipp Bouhler in Good.

27. Also in 2008, he portrayed Hani Salaam, the Jordanian intelligence chief and director of the feared GID in Body of Lies, marking his first collaboration with English director Ridley Scott.

28. Strong's performance as Hani Salaam earned him a nomination for the London Critics Circle Film Award for Best British Supporting Actor and his performance was mentioned by several critics, with Scott calling it "a marvel of exotic suavity and cool insinuation" while Ebert "particularly admired" his aura of suave control.

29. He played a lead part in the Channel 4 film Endgame, and he played Lord Blackwood, the main villain, in Sherlock Holmes, who has somehow returned after his execution with a plot to take over the British Empire using an arsenal of dark arts and new technologies. The film marked his third time working with director Guy Ritchie.

30. He went on to work with Ridley Scott for a second time in the 2010 epic adventure film Robin Hood, portraying the antagonist Sir Godfrey.

31. Strong says he is drawn to playing the antagonist.

32. He tries to "understand the purpose of the character", and then work on building a believable individual.

33. In 2011, he played Thaal Sinestro, Green Lantern and Hal Jordan's mentor, in the superhero film Green Lantern. Strong said the film "closely follows the early comics. Sinestro starts out as Hal Jordan's mentor, slightly suspicious and not sure of him because obviously Hal is the first human being who's made into a Green Lantern. He's certainly very strict and certainly unsure of the wisdom of Hal becoming a Green Lantern."

34. Also in 2011, he was the voice Pod of The Secret World of Arrietty and the voice of the character Captain Titus of the Ultramarines Chapter in the video game Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine.

35. He played the role of Jim Prideaux in the remake of Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, which was earlier played by Ian Bannen in the iconic original 1979 BBC series starring Alec Guinness. The film premiered in competition at the 68th Venice International Film Festival on 5 September 2011.

36. Strong then played Clive Cornell in The Guard, which is the most successful independent Irish film of all time in terms of Irish box-office receipts, overtaking The Wind that Shakes the Barley.

37. Jaguar Cars produced an advertisement in 2014, initially shown during Super Bowl XLVIII and later online and on television, featuring Strong alongside fellow British actors Ben Kingsley and Tom Hiddleston.

38. Strong co-starred in the historical drama film The Imitation Game, alongside Benedict Cumberbatch and Keira Knightley, in which he played MI6 chief Stewart Menzies.

39. In 2015, Strong won the Olivier Award for Best Actor for his role in A View from the Bridge, which he starred in as Eddie Carbone at the Young Vic.

40. He lives in London.

41. Is married to his wife, Liza Marshall.

42. Strong and Marshall have two sons, Gabriel and Roman.

43. In an interview, he said he is content living a relatively normal life in London, saying, "I've got no desire to live anywhere else. I was born here, my wife was born here, my kids were born here and this is where we're going to stay," adding, "I feel like I have a lovely balance. I'm able to keep my head below the parapet. I get on with my work, I have a family and I get on the tube. It just so happens that I'm doing this job."

44. He is a longtime friend of actor Daniel Craig, his co-star in Our Friends in the North.

45. Craig is the godfather of Strong's elder son.

46. He dubbed Craig into German, as German with an English accent was required for Obsession.

47. In an interview, he said that his style icon is David Bowie.

48. When he was a child he wanted to be the French actor Alain Delon: "I remember watching him in films and though I couldn't understand a word he was saying I remember thinking he looked great. Failing that, an astronaut, after watching the moon landing on a tiny, portable, black-and-white TV at my gran's house."

49. Strong was named one of GQ's 50 best dressed British men in 2015.

50. Just like his character in Fever Pitch, Mark Strong supports Arsenal F.C.