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 The Medal of Honor (MOH) is the United States Armed Forces' highest Awards and decorations of the United States Armed Forces, military decoration and is awarded to recognize American United States Army, soldiers, United States Navy, sailors, Un ...

recipient

Randy Shughart Randall David Shughart (August 13, 1958 – October 3, 1993) was a United States Army Delta Force operator who was posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor for his actions during the Battle of Mogadishu (1993), Battle of Mogadishu, during Op ...

) and ''

The Fast and the Furious ''Fast & Furious'', also known as ''The Fast and the Furious'', is an American action media franchise centered on a series of films revolving around street racing, heists, and spies. The franchise also includes short films, a television se ...

'' 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 sp ...

, movie composer, movie writer, and movie producer.

Early life and education

Johnny Strong was born in

Los Angeles County, California Los Angeles County, officially the County of Los Angeles and sometimes abbreviated as LA County, is the List of United States counties and county equivalents, most populous county in the United States, with 9,663,345 residents estimated in 202 ...

. At the age of seven he began studying martial arts, taking up

Judo is an unarmed gendai budō, modern Japanese martial art, combat sport, Olympic sport (since 1964), and the most prominent form of jacket wrestling competed internationally.『日本大百科全書』電子版【柔道】(CD-ROM version of Encyc ...

in the San Fernando Valley. He went on to learn

Kickboxing Kickboxing ( ) is a full-contact hybrid Martial arts, martial art and Boxing (disambiguation), boxing type based on punch (combat), punching and kicking. Kickboxing originated in the 1950s to 1970s. The fight takes place in a boxing ring, norma ...

Jeet Kune Do Jeet Kune Do (/ˌdʒiːt kuːn ˈdoʊ/; zh, c=截拳道, l=stop fist way' or 'way of the intercepting fist, j=zit6 kyun4 dou6; abbreviated JKD) is a hybrid martial art conceived and practiced by martial artist Bruce Lee. It was formed from ...

Boxing Boxing is a combat sport and martial art. Taking place in a boxing ring, it involves two people – usually wearing protective equipment, such as boxing glove, protective gloves, hand wraps, and mouthguards – throwing Punch (combat), punch ...

, and eventually earned a black belt in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu under Chris Lisciandro. At 12, he began to play

Guitar The guitar is a stringed musical instrument that is usually fretted (with Fretless guitar, some exceptions) and typically has six or Twelve-string guitar, twelve strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming ...

and taught himself to play

Drums The drum is a member of the percussion instrument, percussion group of musical instruments. In the Hornbostel–Sachs classification system, it is a membranophones, membranophone. Drums consist of at least one Acoustic membrane, membrane, c ...

, and

Piano A piano is a keyboard instrument that produces sound when its keys are depressed, activating an Action (music), action mechanism where hammers strike String (music), strings. Modern pianos have a row of 88 black and white keys, tuned to a c ...

Career

Music

He was signed to two major labels

RCA RCA Corporation was a major American electronics company, which was founded in 1919 as the Radio Corporation of America. It was initially a patent pool, patent trust owned by General Electric (GE), Westinghouse Electric Corporation, Westinghou ...

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 the course of its first two decades, starting from the release of its first recor ...

. 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

Johnny Strong has had various roles in television, and landed a role in the

Steven Seagal Steven Frederic Seagal ( ; born April 10, 1952) is an American actor, producer, screenwriter, martial artist, and musician. A 7th-Dan (rank), dan Black belt (martial arts), black belt in aikido, he began his adult life as a martial arts instru ...

film '' The Glimmer Man''. He then worked on

Sylvester Stallone Sylvester Gardenzio "Sly" Stallone (; born July 6, 1946) is an American actor and filmmaker. In a Sylvester Stallone filmography, film career spanning more than fifty years, Stallone has received List of awards and nominations received by Syl ...

's ''

Get Carter ''Get Carter'' is a 1971 British gangster film, gangster thriller film, written and directed by Mike Hodges in his directorial debut and starring Michael Caine, Ian Hendry, John Osborne, Britt Ekland and Bryan Mosley. Based on Ted Lewis (write ...

'', ''

The Fast and The Furious ''Fast & Furious'', also known as ''The Fast and the Furious'', is an American action media franchise centered on a series of films revolving around street racing, heists, and spies. The franchise also includes short films, a television se ...

'', and '' Black Hawk Down''. Strong stars in '' Sinners & Saints'', a New Orleans-based police thriller featuring

Sean Patrick Flanery Sean Patrick Flanery (born October 11, 1965) is an American actor. He is known for playing Connor MacManus in ''The Boondock Saints'' (1999) and its sequel '' The Boondock Saints II: All Saints Day'' (2009), Greg Stillson in the television seri ...

and

Tom Berenger Tom Berenger (born Thomas Michael Moore; May 31, 1949) is an American actor. He was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for his portrayal of the Staff Sergeant Bob Barnes in ''Platoon'' (1986). He is also known for playing ...

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 Alexandra Paige Holden (born April 30, 1977) is an American actress. Known for her film work in the comedy and horror genres, her credits include '' In & Out'' (1997), '' Drop Dead Gorgeous'' (1999), '' Sugar & Spice'' (2001), ''The Hot Chick'' (2 ...

, 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 20th-century American sportsmen