Unofficial Johnny Strong Fan Club
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This interview appears courtesy of
Zink Magazine. The issue was called
"Dust Particles" and it was Issue2.
It takes all types of people to make
up Hollywood, and Johnny Strong is
definitely not the normal kind. The
Los Angeles native started with
television movies and got his break
playing a drug addict in The Glimmer
Man with Steven Seagal. He worked with
Sylvester Stallone in Get Carter and
played street racing gang member Leon
in The Fast and The Furious. More
recently, Strong played Randall
Schugart, a Delta Force sniper in the
Ridley Scott movie Black Hawk Down.
I recently had the pleasure of
discussing everything from movies to
martial arts to girls to The A-Team
with him. I found him a little on the
eccentric side, very ambitious and
hard working, even if he wouldn't tell
me his age.
What first inspired you to act?
I was coerced into doing a spot on
a TV show, a daily show called Hour
Magazine. I didn't want to do it at
all, and I was convinced into it by
the promise of getting a large
Chewbacca dog at the time. They told
me how much money I would get, and I
cried and cried and they said, 'Hey
we'll get you a Chewbacca dog.' That
got me into it.
How was working with Sylvester
Stallone?
That was pretty interesting. He's a
lot smaller than I thought. You see
him in the movies and you imagine him
being this huge guy. But he's a nice
guy, fun to work with and cool.
What's been your favorite role to
play in a movie?
Probably Randall Schugart. It just
was sort of a long time coming. Two
years before receiving the script for
Black Hawk Down, I watched a History
Channel show called A Suicide Mission.
There was this segment about these
snipers who saved a helicopter pilot
and were killed when they went in, and
I said to myself, 'That's what I need
to do in a movie; I would love to play
this part in a film.' I had no idea
about the book or anything like that.
All of a sudden, two years later, it
was meant to happen.
Would you play more military roles
in the future?
I sort of do just about anything.
If the script is decent and the
director has a vision of what they're
after - that's the hardest thing to
work with, directors who don't have a
clear vision of what they're after.
I've asked you actor question, now
more about you. Tell me about being a
musician.
I play pretty much every
instrument, everything from drums,
guitar, bass, keyboard, banjo to the
violin. I'm also a songwriter and
composer. I wanted to write songs and
put a band together. But during the
making of our second album, the band
decided mutually to split up.
What other kinds of things do you
like to do?
My favorite is music and creative
expression. I do martial arts,
Brazilian jiu jitsu and go mountain
hiking.
When did you start practicing
martial arts?
When I was 7, I took a judo class
at the public park and then it just
evolved. I saw my first Bruce Lee
movie and it was just crazy. I was
like 'holy shit.' I got into Bruce Lee
and what he was teaching and read his
books. Then Ultimate Fighting came out
and a friend took me to a jiu jitsu
class.
Do you have a girlfriend?
I did have a girlfriend. Right now
I'm sort of enjoying being single. I
was married for three years to Alex
Holden and then I got divorced. We
both realized working on our careers
was a much better idea.
What do you look for in a girl?
Intelligence for one is pretty big.
A beautiful, intelligent, adventurous
girl who is as crazy as I am sounds
wonderful. I think it's one of those
things you can tell when you're
looking someone in the face. There's a
great line I had in Get Carter that
didn't end up in the movie. It said,
'You can tell with people in their
eyes, you can see it' and that's what
I really look for. You see it in
everybody.
What's your favorite Movie?
I really love watching Ultimate
Fighting - I like full contact-figting.
The Professional and Baracca - you
gotta see that. It's like this 'sit
down and watch the crazy images'
movie. Anything with Bruce Lee or
Jackie Chan.
What other actors do you like,
besides the obvious Bruce Lee and
Jackie Chan?
That's it. Those two guys. That's
where I'm going with my career. I'm
also a big fan of David Morse. I love
actors who are in like 50 to 60 movies
who play every range of character.
They are the true champs of the
industry.
Do you see yourself doing a martial
arts movie?
Yes, I'd love to do like tow back
flips off a truck, you know?
What do you like to watch on
television?
I like watching Dismissed on MTV.
It's fuckin' awesome. I watched a guy
get knocked out. There are these two
guys in the boxing gym - this guy is
screwing around and he gets knocked
out. I love this new show Combat
Missions. I just watch the movie
channels and National Geographic. But
I'd rather be outside climbing the
mountains.
What do you do to stay fit?
Hiking, boxing, jiu jitsu, weights
and underwater stuff.
What's the scariest extreme sport
you've tried?
BMX. Fighting is pretty extreme.
Trying to stay out of trouble with 50
actors in a hotel, that's an extreme
sport in itself.
Black Hawk Down was filmed in
Morocco. Tell me what that was like.
It was a lot of fun working with
Ridley Scott, playing the character I
played and working with the Delta
advisors - that was amazing. Oh and
Camp Morocco - I call it Camp Morocco
- that's where we were at, and it kind
of sucked. I'm a private guy, you know
what I mean? I like to be quiet and do
my own thing. I have my house and my
dogs. I use to live in an apartment,
and I got really stressed out because
there were so many people. Bein in a
hotel with 50 people you know can be
confining. Parts of it were fun, and
other parts were like, 'Am I going to
kill someone? Oh my goodness!'
How old are you, anyway?
Umm, it's rumored that I'm anywhere
between 25 and 35.
Not reporting your age is usually a
woman thing.
I just don't like to talk about my
age. Brazilian men are like that, like
in jiu jitsu. They don't want to tell
other fighters how old they are.
You've lived most of your life in
L.A., is there anywhere else you want
to live?
I'm definitely going to buy an
island. You ever see the movie where
Harrison Ford builds the house on the
island - Mosquito Coast? He goes crazy
and builds a house Robinson Crusoe
style. That's one of my small goals.
You know how Charlie Chaplin would
make the movie, star in the movie, and
make the music? That's what I want to
do. I want to do a lot of things in
life.
Anything else?
Yeah, I'm going to start an A-Team.
Anybody out there that wants to join,
send me your resume. I think the world
really needs an A-Team right now.
It'll only have like five members.
I'll hold the biggest audition in
Hollywood since E.T. Remember how the
A-Team used to operate? You had to
open up the newspaper and look in this
secret column.
Any acting projects next?
A film called Blowback. It's a
story about a company that hires an
employee who's sort of over-the-edge
and they have to figure out how to
fire him.
Sounds like a comedy.
Kind of, but a dark one. I just
received the rewrite of the script -
an amazing script. It should be a
fatastic psychological thriller. I'll
be working on another record with a
couple of other people. We'll see.
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Menu
| OPERATOR is
currently working on a DVD and new album due
out Feb. 2005. |
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Help us get the word out on
Johnny's new band, OPERATOR.
Stay tuned for upcoming details. |
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