In Sons of Anarchy there are many impressive characters. Everyone has their own favorite. The character Chibs is one of the most popular figures in the series. His iconic scar is not just make-up. The actor playing Chibs had the scar even before his acting career started.
What is the Glasgow Smile? The Glasgow Smile is a specific type of scar on the face. The scar stretches the mouth into a perpetual smile
. The most famous example of this is seen in The Dark Knight on the Joker, played by Heath Ledger.
The character Chibs from Sons of Anarchy also has such a scar, which serves as his trademark. However, unlike Heath Ledger, the actor playing Chibs wears the scar not just as make-up but for real. He got the scar from a fight before his acting career, where he almost died.
Also genuine is the biker past of some actors in Sons of Anarchy: A fan favorite in the biker series Sons of Anarchy was a real member of the Hell’s Angels
After he nearly died, he chose acting
In an interview with Inside of You, Tommy Flanagan, the actor playing Chibs, spoke about receiving his scar. This was before his time as an actor. According to his own statements, he was still working as a DJ in Glasgow in his 20s.
In the interview, he recounts how guys approached him at the time and told him they had killed his brother. He then hit one from the group, grabbed a bottle, and wanted to confront them outside. He waited for the group, but then the guys attacked Flanagan with knives. He sustained several wounds, including the Glasgow Smile on his face.
Despite the numerous wounds, Tommy Flanagan survived the attack, during which he claims he nearly died. In the hospital, a friend approached him and asked if he would rather work in his theater company instead of living the dangerous life as a DJ in Glasgow. He accepted the opportunity, even though he had never thought of becoming an actor.
In the interview, he shares how the original Mad Max films inspired him and that he got to work directly with Mel Gibson on his first film, Braveheart. He then appeared in films like In the Body of My Enemy and Gladiator, and ultimately in Sons of Anarchy in 2008.
Why is this scar actually called the Glasgow Smile? As History Defined explains, the Glasgow Smile was considered a punishment in Scotland in the 1920s and 1930s by gangs. It was a form of message to rival gangs.
If you were in the wrong territory, you would be marked for life. Nowadays, this is said to still happen, but not to the extent it did during industrialization. Sons of Anarchy has many sources of inspiration from real life. For the role of Jax Teller, Charlie Hunnam spoke with a real young biker: “He was like an old-school outlaw” – The star of the biker series Sons of Anarchy spoke about the real “Jax Teller”
