“A Christmas Story” was the little movie that could, parlaying modest box office success into a bona fide cultural phenomenon since its 1983 release.

For many fans, one of the beloved holiday staple’s most memorable characters is Scut Farkus, the cruel, yellow-eyed, green-toothed bully who terrorizes Ralphie Parker and his pals.

Zack Ward, the actor who portrayed the sneering Farkus in his very first movie role, said he drew on real-life experiences of being bullied as a kid in Toronto to help bring the meanie to life.

“I’m glad I was an ugly kid, I’m glad I had braces, I’m glad I got the crap bullied out of me,” he told The Post.

He said that playing the comically terrifying character was an opportunity to “belittle” his childhood bullies.

“I thought they were jerks, and weak people and I got to mock them,” he said.

“Going to eight different schools I got beat up a lot — this was my revenge.”

Ward, 56, has worked steadily in film and TV ever since his big-screen debut as a 13-year-old — appearing in movies like “Almost Famous,” “Transformers,” and “Resident Evil: Apocalypse.”

In between his dozens of acting roles, he also works construction, building commercial and residential structures.

He said although he never quite reached star status in Hollywood, he cherishes being part of “A Christmas Story,” which means so much to so many people.

“I would have loved for my career to go to that place where I was able to work with the Timothée Chalamets and Brad Pitts of the world and be making the real money and doing the real projects for my entire life,” he said.

“Everybody wants that. I didn’t get that, but I got this. And I’m beyond grateful. I literally got a royal flush at the age of 13.”

As for residuals, Ward said he still gets around $700 per year for the role, which he puts right into his “in case mom falls down account.”

His mother, Pam Hyatt, who turns 90 in April, is an actress and voiceover artist in her own right, appearing in “The Care Bears Movie II: A New Generation,” and voicing Kaede in the English version of the popular “Inuyasha” manga series, among other roles.

Ward said he gets recognized frequently when out and about, and that fans tend to treat him like an old friend from high school.

“They don’t treat me like I’m Tom Cruise, because I’m not, but I’m familiar to them in a way that makes them happy to remember, like I’m Norm from ‘Cheers’ — they treat me like a family member they haven’t seen in a long time, which I feel very grateful for.”

Looking back on his portrayal of Farkus as an adult, Ward has come to sympathize with the character for what he imagines must have been a miserable home life.

“The kid’s got yellow eyes and green teeth. That means he’s sick. He’s either got scurvy or kidney disease or conjunctivitis. No one has yellow eyes without that being a problem. Green teeth means he doesn’t have dental healthcare — nobody’s looking after him,” Ward said.

“The fact that he’s out there bullying everybody means he’s not in school and has no one taking care of him. Child services needed to be called on this kid, because no one cared about him.”

Ward’s own home life came with challenges as a kid, particularly around the holidays.

Asked about what his family’s Christmas traditions were growing up, Ward said “poverty was my Christmas tradition,” noting that from a young age he and his brother worked to help support the household.

“I hated Christmas. It was the worst. We were broke all the time. The problem with Christmas is there’s so much expectation, and you feel like such a failure if you can’t live up to it.”

He recalled one holiday season shopping at a Toronto mall with his mother around Christmas, and eying a white cable-knit sweater in a store window.

“Then we went to check out and she asked to borrow money from me to buy the sweater, for me.”

He recalled some fond holiday memories despite his family struggling to make ends meet, including fashioning homemade Christmas decorations from a mix of flour, salt and baking powder.

“I remember making that as a kid, it was a great time and I didn’t realize how broke I was,” he said.

“When I got older and realized how poor we were, Christmas became a thing I sort of wanted to escape from.”

These days, Ward spreads Christmas cheer by giving back, leveraging his notoriety from “A Christmas Story” to raise money for worthy causes.

This year, Ward reprised his famous character for Metropolis Popcorn, which put out a limited edition flavor with tins bearing his likeness, Farkus Ginger Snap — complete with his coonskin cap — to help raise money for Good Neighbors of Cuyahoga Falls, an Ohio-based charity that helps families in need.

As for Ward’s advice for kids dealing with bullies — whether at Christmastime or any time of year — he said, “It’s way better to stand your ground than it is to run. Learn how to defend yourself so you never have to use your hands.”

Though he admitted to using his sense of humor, rather than his fists, to get himself out of more than a few scrapes.

“Comedy actually broke down those situations more than being physical did, being smarter,” he said.

“But you gotta stand up for yourself, whether it’s with your words or your hands, you can’t run away.”