Mark Strong: Growing up without a father has made me take parenthood 'really seriously'

The actor's father left the family home shortly after he was born 
Mark Strong provided by PR to run with lines on Belstaff podcast
Belstaff
The Weekender

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Mark Strong has said growing up without a father figure in his life means he takes parenthood “really seriously.”

The star of Sherlock Holmes and Stardust was born in London to an Austrian mother, who worked as an au pair, and an Italian father - who left the family home shortly after Strong was born.

Strong is married to film producer Liza Marshall and they have two children together.

In a new episode of podcast The Road Less Travelled, by luxury brand Belstaff, Strong said his upbringing had influenced the way he brought up his children.

He explained: “I take my responsibility as a father and my behaviour as a father really seriously because I have no blueprint, I have nobody who kind of told me, I had no father to look up to and no father to tell me what to.

“I’m trying my best with them, but watching their journey is amazing. [His upbringing] Probably made we quite fearless," Strong continued.

"I mean when you’re having to take care of yourself from a very young age it makes you incredibly independent and self-sufficient and unafraid because you’ve got nothing to lose.

"[It] pushes me forward and tells me not to be afraid and that nobody is better than you.”

Strong, who also starred in the Kingsmen franchise of movies with Taron Egerton and Colin Firth, originally wanted to become a lawyer, moving to Germany to study law in Munich in his teens before returning to London to study English and Drama at Royal Holloway and then the Bristol Old Vic drama school.

The actor said he would “never” take his Hollywood career for granted.

“I feel like I’m lucky to be doing this, a feeling that I’m sure that comes from my childhood. The idea that you have to be out there and get what you want, do it yourself but then be grateful for that fact.”

The Road Less Travelled podcast is out now.

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