T.G.I.F Hot Hunk...Mark Strong!

Mark Strong

I chose Mark Strong as my hunk for today simply because I can’t take my eyes off of him when he is on screen.  The roles he plays are usually villainous and it takes a special actor to make me find something appealing in someone I’m supposed to fear and dislike.

Sherlock Holmes’s Lord Blackwood is a perfect example.  He made the movie for me.  Just look at that:

Okay, so I really want that coat, but I also want to sit down for a glass of whiskey at a quiet wood paneled bar with that brooding guy and have an intense conversation about something.  Like emerging zoonotic illness or where to find a good bowl of pho.  As long as he isn’t going to torture or murder me that is. 

 He brings intelligence and depth to the overt menace of gangsters like Archy in RockNRolla:

Archy was so hard-working and unexpectedly funny in that movie and I give all credit to the actor.  He made me wish I had a loyal sidekick like Archy to listen to me when I ranted and to efficiently take out any enemies I might encounter.

And I loved the way he lurked and loomed in Young Victoria as the schemer Sir John Conroy.  He was also delightfully evil in Robin Hood:

His Sir Godfrey was tortured and scarred double agent who made me forget about lice and feudalism.  This is a great achievement because normally I can’t feel any sort of attraction for historical characters in films because I can’t stop myself from thinking about all of the rampant infections and social injustice of those times. But Mark Strong ably wrenched me from analytical viewing right into ‘oh my’.

Why yes Mr. Strong, I’d love to hear all about it.  Whatever it may be.

Despite his specialization in playing the baddie on screen, in interviews Mark Strong comes across as an intelligent, humble, soft-spoken guy that you would genuinely want to have a drink with, or a bowl of pho.  Plus he is of Italian extraction and a Virgo to boot.  Oh my indeed.

If you are already a fan, we can congratulate each other on our good taste, and if you haven’t considered Mark Strong as a hunk I hope that I have given you some inspiration.  I don’t own the rights to any of these images, more’s the pity.

Lynn Rae’s first novel will be published by Secret Cravings Publishing in March 2013.