Actor Profile: Viggo Mortensen

En kjekk fyr. (That's "one handsome guy" 
in Norwegian)

Personal Life

Viggo was born in New York City on October 20, 1958, although his parents met in Norway. (Seriously guys, Norway. Super awesome. ) As a child he lived in Denmark, Venezuela, and a few Argentine provinces. Their family remained there until Viggo was 11. His parents then divorced and he went with his dad to Copenhagen, but they eventually came back to New York. After pursuing a career in truck driving back in Denmark after high school, he came back to America in order to act. At his graduation from St. Lawrence University, he refused to wear the robes since they were made by sweatshop workers. (Let me just come out and say how awesome this guy is.) He has a son, Henry, with his ex-wife Exene Cervenka. Viggo can speak English, Danish, Spanish, Norwegian, French, Italian, Catalan, and Swedish. He is also a poet, musician, photographer, and painter.

(Abridged) Filmography

2001 – The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (Aragorn)

2002 – The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers (Aragorn)

2003 – The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (Aragorn)

2004 – Hidalgo (Frank Hopkins)

2005 – A History of Violence (Tom Stall / Joey Cusack)

2007 – Eastern Promises (Nikolai Luzhin)

2009 – The Road (The Man)

2011 – A Dangerous Method (Sigmund Freud)

Critical Reception

Mortensen was in 34 films before The Lord of the Rings, ranging from 1985 to 2000. None had any significant impact on his career, though; his role as Aragorn was Viggo’s big break. Throughout the 3 Rings movies, he (individually or as part of the main cast) was nominated for 12 acting awards, winning 5 (all for the cast). A History of Violence got him 3 nominations and no wins, and the film Eastern Promises alone gave 12 nominations with 4 wins, all individual. The Road had another win, out of 7 nominations. Reception, both by critics and fans, is almost entirely positive. (I mean, come on; who doesn’t love someone as ruggedly handsome as Viggo Mortensen?)

The Future

Viggo is set to star as Freud in the upcoming biographical historical drama A Dangerous Method, directed by David Cronenberg. Cronenberg also directed A History of Violence and Eastern Promises; if those are any indication, this should be another boost for Mortensen’s career. I expect many more successes for at least another decade.