Ron Perlman

Listen to Optimus Primal in Transformers: Rise of the Beasts (2023): Perlman gives him a low, patient growl. We found that patience a relief in a film so prone to shouting. The depth gives the machine authority, but the pace suggests someone prepared to listen as well as issue instructions. That is where Perlman becomes interesting: he can make a creature seem approachable without taking away its weight.

His transformed characters stretch back to Amoukar in Quest for Fire (1981) and Vincent in the television programme Beauty and the Beast (1987–1990). Heavy make-up could easily have left us admiring the prosthetics and forgetting the actor. Perlman remains expressive beneath it, rather than relying on the voice to do everything. In Hellboy (2004), his ability to make a grotesque figure human is the reason to watch.

Guillermo del Toro has been the crucial collaborator, beginning with Cronos (1993) and continuing through Hellboy II (2008) and Pacific Rim (2013). The latter gives Perlman the showier supporting role of Hannibal Chau. This is the partnership we would follow first, because del Toro makes use of the actor's ability to humanise outsized figures.

Drive (2011) offers a different way into his work, with Perlman playing Nino for Nicolas Winding Refn. We recommend the film for its driving, its tension and the force of its violence, with a caveat about the underwritten romance. Ryan Gosling's use of silence is central to its success. Perlman's supporting part makes this a less complete introduction to him, but a good choice if the crime thriller is your sort of evening.

The caution is Transformers: Rise of the Beasts, where a well-judged voice cannot keep the plot and the noise from taking over. We liked its two human leads and its comparatively companionable first hour, but Perlman's contribution is not enough to recommend the whole film. There is only so much even a voice like his can do once everything starts shouting. For a fuller introduction to the actor, start with Hellboy.