John Christopher Strong (born July 22, 1974) is an American actor, composer, and musician. He is best known for his roles in ''Black Hawk Down'' (as Medal of Honor recipient Randy Shughart) and '' The Fast and the Furious'' as Leon. Aside from acting, Strong is also the lead vocalist and founder of the band

Operator Operator may refer to: Mathematics * A symbol indicating a mathematical operation * Logical operator or logical connective in mathematical logic * Operator (mathematics), mapping that acts on elements of a space to produce elements of another ...

, movie composer, movie writer and movie producer.

Early life and education

Strong was born in

Los Angeles County, California Los Angeles County, officially the County of Los Angeles, and sometimes abbreviated as L.A. County, is the List of the most populous counties in the United States, most populous county in the United States and in the U.S. state of California, ...

. At the age of 7 he began studying martial arts, taking up Judo in the San Fernando Valley. He went on to learn

Kickboxing Kickboxing is a combat sports, combat sport focused on kicking and punch (strike), punching. The combat takes place in a boxing ring, normally with boxing gloves, mouthguards, shorts, and bare feet to favour the use of kicks. Kickboxing is pract ...

, Jeet Kune Do, Boxing, and eventually earned a black belt in

Brazilian jiu-jitsu Brazilian jiu-jitsu (BJJ; pt, jiu-jitsu brasileiro ) is a self-defence martial art and combat sport based on grappling, ground fighting (ne-waza) and submission holds. BJJ focuses on the skill of taking an opponent to the ground, control ...

under Chris Lisciandro. At 12, he began to play guitar and taught himself to play drums, bass, and piano.

Career

Music

He was signed to two major labels RCA and

Atlantic Records Atlantic Recording Corporation (simply known as Atlantic Records) is an American record label founded in October 1947 by Ahmet Ertegun and Herb Abramson. Over its first 20 years of operation, Atlantic earned a reputation as one of the most i ...

. He has released nine albums: ''Bombthreat: Before She Blows'' and ''Fly'' and ''Lick My Neck Good Sleep'' with his former band, and ''Can You Hear Me Now?'', ''La Luna Del Diablo'' ''Blanco, Soulcrusher'', ''The War of Art'', ''Close to Extinction'', ''War Horse'' and ''White Light with''

band.

Film

Strong has had various roles in television, and landed a role in the Steven Seagal film '' The Glimmer Man''. He then worked on

Sylvester Stallone Sylvester Enzio Stallone (; born Michael Sylvester Gardenzio Stallone, ) is an American actor and filmmaker. After his beginnings as a struggling actor for a number of years upon arriving to New York City in 1969 and later Hollywood in 1974, h ...

's '' Get Carter'', '' The Fast and The Furious'', and '' Black Hawk Down''. Strong stars in '' Sinners & Saints'', a New Orleans-based police thriller featuring Sean Patrick Flanery and Tom Berenger released in 2012. 2010 marked his return to the screen, starring in ''Sinners and Saints'', an action-thriller film, as Detective Sean Riley.

Personal life

He was married on December 10, 1997, to Alexandra Holden, but they have since divorced.

Filmography

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Strong, Johnny 1974 births American male film actors American rock singers Living people Male actors from Los Angeles Singers from Los Angeles American stunt performers American martial artists American Jeet Kune Do practitioners American practitioners of Brazilian jiu-jitsu American male kickboxers American male boxers American male judoka 21st-century American singers