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Dolph Lundgren
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Dolph Lundgren (born Hans Lundgren, November 3, 1957[1]) is a Swedish actor and director. His breakthrough came when he starred in Rocky IV in 1985. After that, he has mostly played in B action movies.
Contents
- 1 Biography
- 2 Film career
- 3 Personal life
- 4 Trivia
- 5 Filmography
- 6 Cultural references
- 7 Footnotes
- 8 External links
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Biography
A native of Stockholm, Dolph Lundgren is a graduate of the Royal Institute of Technology. He has a master's degree in chemical engineering from the University of Sydney (1982), and was awarded a Fulbright Scholarship to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1983 – but quit after two weeks to pursue acting[2]. He speaks five languages: Swedish, English, German, some Japanese and some French.
Lundgren holds a 3rd Degree Black Belt in
Kyokushin Karate and won the
European full-contact karate championships in 1980 and 1981 and a heavyweight tournament in Australia in 1982
[3]. He was also a member of the Swedish Kyokushin Karate knockdown team for the 1979 World Open Tournament arranged by the Kyokushin Karate Organization.
Lundgren was selected to serve as the Team Leader of the 1996 U.S. Olympic Modern pentathlon Team during the Atlanta Games where he coordinated planning and other details between the team and the United States Olympic Committee [4].
Lundgren is 193 cm (6 ft 4 in) tall and has consistently confirmed this in interviews when asked about his stature, although various sources have stated 6ft 5 or even 6ft 6 respectively). He weighs approximately 107 kg (237 lb).
Film career
In 1985, Lundgren made his feature-film debut in the James Bond film A View to a Kill. Then he beat 5000 other hopefuls to land the breakthrough role of Ivan Drago, Sylvester Stallone's opponent in Rocky IV (1985). As he stated himself, he was initially turned down for the role, because he was too tall. [5]
He received his first lead role as
He-Man in
Masters of the Universe (1987), based on the popular children's toy, but the film was not a success and was ridiculed by most audiences. Lundgren subsequently however found his calling in action films. He starred as a reformed Spetsnaz in
Red Scorpion, and then as
Marvel comics character Frank Castle aka
The Punisher, in the
1989 film
The Punisher. In the
1990s he starred in action films such as
Showdown in Little Tokyo,
Universal Soldier,
Johnny Mnemonic and
Silent Trigger.
In recent years, Lundgren has usually only appeared in foreign and/or low-budget direct-to-video films. He has made his directorial debut in 2004 with the film The Defender. After that he directed The Mechanik (Currently known in the United States as The Russian Specialist). He co-starred in the historical adventure The Inquiry, awaiting release, and recently completed Diamond Dogs, an action adventure film set in Mongolia. Lundgren is currently directing and starring in Missionary Man, a modern western that he wrote and is co-producing. Lundgren also has a slate of projects that he is attached to direct and star in.
Personal life
During the 1980s he dated singer, actress, and model Grace Jones. He has been married to Anette Qviberg, a jewelry designer and fashion stylist, since 1994. The couple spends their time between their new home in London and Marbella. They have two daughters: Ida Sigrid Lundgren (born April 1996) and Greta Eveline Lundgren (born January 2002).
Trivia
- Dolph has often been the victim of over-billing. At the time of Showdown in Little Tokyo, he was marketed to the Japanese public as a 10 feet tall bodybuilder from a country near the North Pole and the son of a bear-trapper, who grew up in the harshest northern wilderness known to mankind[citation needed].
- Lundgren is the first actor to portray Frank Castle, a.k.a. the Punisher, in live action
Filmography
Cultural references
Footnotes
