Something kept nagging at me as I played through the first few levels of Halo 3 but for the life of me I couldn't remember what. Then Lord Hood popped on the view screen in the underground bunker where I was holed up with Commander Keyes and I remembered. Ron Pearlman (the voice of Lord Hood) is the coolest.

For those who don't know, Ron Pearlman played Hellboy, was Reinhardt in Blade II, Johner in Alien: Resurrection, the Reman Viceroy in Star Trek: Nemisis and Koulikov in Enemy at the Gates ( the guy who got sniped by Ed Harris as he was jumping a gap in a bombed out building). He even stared in a French film called La Cite de enfants perdus without knowing any French! He memorized all his lines phonetically and delivered them perfectly. Oh yeah, he also won a Golden Globe for his performance in Beauty and the Beast, won two Q Awards, one Godlen Apple, and has been nominated for two Emmies and one Genie.

This is a guy who's been trained as an actor in the old school vein, stared in award winning foreing films, Hollywood blockbusters and who's been the narrator for all of the Fallout games (including the upcomimg one), voiced Lord Hood in Halo 2 and has lent his voice to numerous other video games and animated tv shows and movies. How freakin' cool is that?

While he may not be a big name actor he's still a mainstream actor with, in my opinion, more talent than most of those who ARE considered big names in the business. Sean Penn and Russel Crow I'm calling you out. He's accomplished all of this and he's still cool enough to dabble in video game and cartoon voice acting. How many talented mainstream Hollywood actors can that be said about?

So, I guess the point I'm trying to get at, besides the fact that Ron Pearlman is frickin' cool and was one of the best parts of Halo 3, is that more Hollywood stars need to be as versatile and down to earth as Pealrman. Most actors come off as snobbish asses who can only play one type of character, are more conserned about starring in Academy award winning artsy fartsy movies and who they're going to throw a phone at next. Pearlman is one of the few actors who seems like someone who would be likable as an actual person. Plus he's never starred in a movie that sounds like an S&M porn epic.