Born:
October 20, 1958
in
New York
Best Known For:
The Lord of the Rings.
Early-life:
Viggo Peter Mortensen Jnr was born on October 20, 1958, in New York City. His American mother and Danish father met in Norway. His family moved to Venezuela, Denmark, and Argentinian provinces Córdoba, Chaco and Buenos Aires, where he learned Spanish. His father managed chicken farms and ranches in Argentina. They remained there until Mortensen was 11, when his parents divorced and his mother moved back to New York. After high school, he returned to Denmark and became a truck driver in Esbjerg, Denmark, before again returning to the United States to pursue an acting career.
Career:
After several years of theatre work, Mortensen made his first film appearance playing an Amish farmer in Peter Weir's Witness. During the 1990s, Mortensen appeared in supporting roles in a variety of films, including Jane Campion's The Portrait of a Lady and Young Guns II, as well as taking leading roles in American Yakuza and Gus Van Sant's Psycho. Mortensen's major mainstream breakthrough came in 1999, when Peter Jackson cast him as Aragorn in The Lord of the Rings film trilogy. Since then, he has scored major successes with crowd-pleasing cowboy film Hidalgo, and super-tough David Cronenberg vehicles A History of Violence and Eastern Promises. His last major film was the post-apocalyptic drama The Road.
Quote:
"I'm not 23 years old and I don't have plans to make another 20 big Hollywood movies or something."
Trivia:
Away from acting, he is also a respected photographer, poet and political campaigner.