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Viggo Peter Mortensen, Jr. (born October 20, 1958) is a Golden Globe- and Academy Award-nominated American theater and movie actor, poet, musician, photographer and painter. He is perhaps best known for his roles as Aragorn in Peter Jackson's The Lord of the Rings film trilogy, Frank T. Hopkins in Hidalgo, David Shaw in A Perfect Murder, Tom Stall in David Cronenberg's A History of Violence and as Nikolai Luzhin in Cronenberg's Eastern Promises. Getting his start in forgettable grade-B movies and so-called “other man” roles, actor Viggo Mortensen made a slow, steady climb up the ranks to become one of Hollywood’s most reliable and in-demand talents. Though he had little trouble finding work, Mortensen spent a good deal of time looking for that one breakthrough that would catapult his career. That springboard came with a leading role in the epic “Lord of the Rings” trilogy (2001-03), in which he played a heroic, but displaced king in a fictional land beset by evil. Because of his being a central character in one of the biggest, most beloved trilogies in cinema history, Mortensen had a wealth of opportunities open up to him, including the critically acclaimed and award-nominated “History of Violence” (2005). Exceedingly humble about success and uncharacteristically un-Hollywood, Mortensen managed to stay somewhat reclusive and focused on other interests outside of acting – namely painting and writing poetry – despite becoming one of the most recognizable stars in the world. Mortensen was born in New York City, New York. His American mother, Grace Gamble (née Atkinson), and Danish father, Viggo Peter Mortensen, Sr. (a farm manager who worked in business), met in Norway. His maternal grandfather was Canadian. His family moved to Venezuela, Argentina and Denmark, settling in Argentina, where he learned Spanish to perfection. His father managed chicken farms and ranches in Argentina. They remained there until Mortensen was age eleven, when his parents divorced and his mother moved back to New York. He moved with his father to Copenhagen, Denmark. Mortensen and his father eventually went back to the United States where Mortensen graduated from Watertown High School, Watertown, New York. After high school, he returned to Denmark, and became a truckdriver in Esbjerg, Denmark, before, again, returning to the United States to pursue an acting career. He attended St. Lawrence University in Canton, New York, earning a bachelor's degree in Spanish. He chose that subject because he could get good grades without a lot of study, leaving him free to be in a lot of plays. At his commencement, he refused to wear an academic gown because they were made by sweatshop workers. However, after the Lord of the Rings trilogy, when he was granted an honorary doctorate by his alma mater, he did appear in the appropriate robes. Mortensen was raised in both Manhattan and South America, where he learned to speak fluent Spanish and Danish as well as English. The multi-talented Mortensen trained for two years as an actor at Warren Robertson's Theatre Workshop in New York. Soon after moving to Los Angeles, he landed the role of the captain in a stage production of "Bent," then had a small role as an anonymous lieutenant in the CBS miniseries "George Washington" (1984). Although the actor had been cast in small roles in both "Swing Shift" (1984) and "The Purple Rose of Cairo" (1985), both performances wound up on the cutting room floor. Mortensen finally made his feature acting debut as an Amish farmer – and younger brother to Alexander Godunov – in "Witness" (1985), a role for which he was so well-cast that some failed to realize he was acting. Mortensen delivered a strong turn as a rebellious inmate in Renny Harlin's "Prison" (1988), then was effective as a returning soldier in "The Reflecting Skin" (1991). After several years of experience in live theater, Mortensen made his first movie appearance playing an Amish farmer in Peter Weir's Witness. (Mortensen had actually acted in two prior films — Swing Shift and The Purple Rose of Cairo — but his scenes in both of these films were deleted from the final cuts.) Also in 1985, he was cast in the role of Bragg on Search For Tomorrow. Mortensen's 1987 performance in Bent at the Coast Playhouse, Los Angeles, won him a Dramalogue Critics' Award. Coincidentally, the play, about homosexual concentration camp prisoners, was originally brought to prominence by Sir Ian McKellen, with whom Mortensen later co-starred in The Lord of the Rings. During the 1990s Mortensen appeared in supporting roles in a variety of films, including Jane Campion's The Portrait of a Lady, Young Guns II, Prison, Leatherface: Texas Chainsaw Massacre III, Sean Penn's The Indian Runner, Brian DePalma's Carlito's Way, Tony Scott's Crimson Tide, Ridley Scott's G.I. Jane, Rob Cohen's Daylight, Tony Goldwyn's A Walk on the Moon, Frank A. Cappello's American Yakuza, Charles Robert Carner's Vanishing Point (remake), Philip Ridley's two films The Reflecting Skin and The Passion of Darkly Noon, Andrew Davis's A Perfect Murder, Gus Van Sant's 1998 remake of Psycho, Betty Thomas's 28 Days and The Prophecy with Christopher Walken. Of these roles, Mortensen was probably best known for playing Master Chief John Urgayle in G.I. Jane. Making his way up the Hollywood food chain, Mortensen was cast by Sean Penn as a veteran with a violent streak in "The Indian Runner" (1991), while Brian De Palma gave him the part of a wheelchair-bound snitch in "Carlito's Way" (1993). Mortensen also worked in less remarkable genre fare like "Leatherface: The Texas Chainsaw Massacre III" (1990) and "American Yakuza" (1995) before director Tony Scott came to the rescue, hiring him to play a concerned, but conflicted weapons officer in "Crimson Tide" (1995). After a turn as the Devil who battles Christopher Walken's angel Gabriel in "The Prophecy" (1995), the actor began to be considered for meatier roles. He displayed a sexy charm as one of Nicole Kidman's loyal suitors in "The Portrait of a Lady" (1996) and received respectful notices as one of the hostages in "Albino Alligator" (1997). With his breakout performance as the poetry-quoting but brutal taskmaster training recruits in "G.I. Jane" (1997), Mortensen finally began to gain audience recognition and many critics felt he stole the film from his better-known co-star Demi Moore. Gaining a reputation for his intense, magnetic portrayals, the actor was cast as the artist-lover of Gwyneth Paltrow in "A Perfect Murder" (1998) – for which he lent his own paintings – before tackling the role of Sam Loomis, Marion Crane's boyfriend, in Gus Van Sant's ill-advised shot-by-shot remake of "Psycho” (1998). In a turn in the 1969-set drama "A Walk on the Moon" (1999), Mortensen was again cast as the "other man," this time playing a hippie traveling salesman who brings excitement into the life of a frustrated housewife (Diane Lane) – a role that would leave audiences and Hollywood execs buzzing about his potential as the next big thing. The following year he came between Sandra Bullock's recovering alcoholic and her partying boyfriend Jasper (Dominic West) as a star baseball pitcher in rehab for his substance abusing, womanizing ways in “28 Days.” Although this spate of films put him at risk for being typecast as a shameless homewrecker, Mortensen managed to forever remove that stigma with his next series of projects. He was tagged to co-star in Peter Jackson's long-awaited film adaptation of "The Lord of the Rings" trilogy, playing the heroic Aragorn. Mortensen's dashing good looks and commanding presence would serve him well in this leadership role, and helped bring in some moviegoers – including a considerable female fan base – who may have otherwise passed on the film. With the hype surrounding the initial 2001 release "The Fellowship of the Ring" – followed by 2002's "The Two Towers" and 2003's "The Return of the King" – Mortensen was established as a major leading man among Hollywood's A-list ranks. Mortensen's major breakthrough came in 1999 with his casting as Aragorn in Peter Jackson's The Lord of the Rings film trilogy (released in 2001, 2002 and 2003). According to the Special Extended Edition DVD of Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring, Mortensen was a last-minute replacement for Stuart Townsend, and wouldn't have taken the part of Aragorn had it not been for his son's enthusiasm for the J. R. R. Tolkien trilogy. In the Two Towers DVD extras, the film's swordmaster Bob Anderson described Mortensen as "the best swordsman I've ever trained". Mortensen performed all of his own stunts, insisting it would look more authentic, and even injuries suffered on several stunts did not dampen his enthusiasm. At one point during shooting of the Two Towers, Orlando Bloom, Gimli's double and Mortensen all had fairly serious injuries, and during a shoot of them running in the mountains Peter Jackson referred to the three as "The walking wounded". The actor put his star status to the test immediately after the trilogy as the main attraction of the old fashioned but entertaining "Hidalgo" (2004), the true story of real-life horseman Frank T. Hopkins, who participates in a 3,000-mile Arabian race on the titular mustang. Mortensen then delivered his most compelling and carefully drawn performance to date when he starred in director David Cronenberg's tautly crafted drama "A History of Violence" (2005), playing a loving, rock-solid small town husband and father who gains notoriety after skillfully foiling a robbery attempt in his diner, only to draw the attention of some shadowy figures who claim to recognize him from his heretofore unknown violent history. The actor's sensitive and convincing portrayal of a man haunted by his secret past marked this as one of the early contenders in that year's awards derby. In 2004, Mortensen starred as Frank Hopkins in Hidalgo, the story of an ex-army courier who travels to Arabia to compete with his horse, Hidalgo, in a dangerous race for a massive contest prize. In 2005, Mortensen starred in David Cronenberg's A History of Violence. He was nominated for a Satellite Award for Outstanding Actor in a Motion Picture for this role. In the DVD extras for A History of Violence, David Cronenberg relates that Mortensen is the only actor he'd come across who would come back from weekends with his family having bought items to use as props on the set. In 2006, he starred as Captain Diego Alatriste in Alatriste, the most expensive Spanish-language film ever made, based on the series of novels The Adventures of Captain Alatriste written by the Spanish writer Arturo Pérez-Reverte. Mortensen flew under the radar with his next project, “Alatriste” (2006), a swashbuckling adventure that saw him play a Spanish soldier-turned-mercenary who becomes a hero during the country’s 17th century imperial wars. Back in the modern world, he portrayed a slick Russian mobster who gets caught between helping a midwife (Naomi Watts) trying to find a prostitute’s killer and the crime family he serves in David Cronenberg’s thriller, “Eastern Promises” (2007). Mortensen’s strong performance was widely hailed and earned the actor several award nominations, including nods at the Golden Globes and Screen Actors Guild Awards. He soon followed with a nomination for Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role at the 80th Annual Academy Awards. In September 2007 the film Eastern Promises, directed by David Cronenberg, was released to critical acclaim for the film itself and for Mortensen's performance as a Russian gangster on the rise in London. His nude fight scene in a steam room was applauded by Roger Ebert: "Years from now, it will be referred to as a benchmark." Mortensen's performance in Eastern Promises resulted in him winning the Best Performance by an Actor in a British Independent Film award from the British Independent Film Awards. He also received an Academy Award nomination in the Best Actor category. Mortensen is a painter, and photographer. His paintings are frequently abstract, and often contain fragments of his poetry in them. His paintings have been featured in galleries worldwide, and the paintings of the artist he portrayed in A Perfect Murder are all his own. Mortensen experiments with his poetry and music by mixing the two art forms. He has collaborated with guitarist Buckethead on 7 albums. His discography includes: Don't Tell Me What to Do, Intelligence Failure, One Less Thing to Worry About, One Man's Meat, Live at Beyond Baroque, The Other Parade, This That and The Other, Live at Beyond Baroque 2, Pandemoniumfromamerica, Please Tomorrow, and At All. His CD/DVD, 3 Fools 4 April, documents the poetry readings given on April Fool's Day 2006 at the Beyond Baroque Literary Arts Center in Venice, California. Mortensen's singing is featured on The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King soundtrack — he sings "Aragorn's Coronation," the words by Tolkien but the music composed by Mortensen himself. In the extended DVD edition of the first Lord of the Rings movie, The Fellowship of the Ring he sings the song "The Lay of Beren and Luthien". His poems are written in English, Danish, and Spanish. Mortensen has a son, Henry Mortensen, with ex-wife Exene Cervenka of the band X. Henry and Viggo have done public father/son poetry reading together as recently as April 2006. Mortensen is fluent in English, Danish, and Spanish, and conversant in Norwegian. He also speaks French, Italian, and Swedish reasonably well. Mortensen is an ice hockey fan, particularly of the Montreal Canadiens. He also loves soccer, and is a big fan of all time Argentinean star Diego Maradona, Hector "Bambino" Veira and both the Argentine and Danish national teams, as well as Argentine club San Lorenzo de Almagro. In 1993, Mortensen went to Ireland during a break in shooting without the consent of the production company, to watch Denmark play in a 1994 FIFA World Cup qualification match. He is also a fan of the New York Mets. He has spoken out against militarism and U.S. foreign policy. In continuing with his opposition to the Bush administration's foreign policy he participated in a series of fundraisers for the Northern New York Congressional candidate from the Watertown, New York area, Bob Johnson, in September 2006. In January 2008, he publicly supported Dennis Kucinich for U.S. president, speaking alongside him in a number of public appearances. In Denmark, Mortensen is known for his support for the Freetown Christiania and criticism against the Danish participation in the Iraq war. He is affectionately known as "Chooba" by many of his closest peers, the name having originated during his role as a wheelchair-ridden snitch in Carlito's Way. In Argentina he is known as "Guido" Mortensen, after San Lorenzo de Almagro's retired player and former coach, Hector "Bambino" Veira refers to him. |
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