Mark Ryan (actor)

English actor, author, action director and voice actor

Mark Ryan is an English actor, author, singer, and action director. He portrayed Mr. Gates in the Michael Bay/Starz production of the pirate show Black Sails, Nasir in the British TV series Robin of Sherwood, and is known for his work for the Transformers film franchise.

Before his career in the entertainment industry, Ryan worked as a member of the British Army's Intelligence Corps, attached to DSF (Director Special Forces) and later as a Licensed Private Investigator in the United States.

Ryan appeared in several major musicals in London's West End, spending four years in Andrew Lloyd Webber's musical Evita in the role of Magaldi and then playing Ché under the direction of Hal Prince. 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 singer 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. In 1993, Ryan 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. Ryan 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, before 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 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.

Year Title Role Notes 1984–1986 Robin of Sherwood Nasir 1985 The Corsican Brothers Bernardo de Guidice TV film 1986 Dempsey and Makepeace Jimmy Episode: "Extreme Prejudice" 1989 Crossbow Barbarian Episode: "The Lost City" 1995 Peak Practice Chris Palmer Episode: "Light at the End of the Tunnel" Harry DI Small Episode No. 2.5 1996 Casualty Dave Newman Episode: "Flesh and Blood" 1993–1997 The Bill FranksJohn RandallMicky Dale Episodes: "A Duty of Care""Somebody's Home""Warnings" 1998 Frasier Winston Episode: "Where Every Bloke Knows Your Name" 1998 Conan the Adventurer Barkeep Episode: "Red Sonya" 2000 Nuremberg Maj. Airey Neave TV mini series 2001 JAG Visiting Reporter #1 Episode: "The Iron Coffin" 2005 Alias Cooney Episode: "Authorised Personnel Only: Part 2" 2013 Community Constable Edmund Episode: "Conventions of Space and Time" 2014 Black Sails Hal Gates 2015 Granite Flats Benjy Episodes: "The Threads That Were Spun Are Gathered""Form and Union and Plan"