Dolph Lundgren

Dolph Lundgren
Dolph Lundgren
Born	Hans Lundgren 3 November 1957 (1957-11-03) (age 52) Spånga, Stockholm, Sweden
Occupation	Actor and director
Years active	1985–present
Spouse(s)	Annette Qviberg (1994–present)

Dolph Lundgren (born Hans Lundgren on 3 November 1957^[1]) is a Swedish actor, director, model, and martial artist.

Well known for his tall stature and level of fitness, at peak, Lundgren stood at 196 centimetres (6 ft 5 in) and weighed 111.5 kilograms (245 lb 13 oz). He belongs to a generation of film actors who epitomise the movie action hero stereotype including Sylvester Stallone, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Steven Seagal, and Jean-Claude Van Damme, some of whom he has worked with in his career.

Lundgren's breakthrough came when he starred in Rocky IV in 1985 as the imposing Russian boxer Ivan Drago. Since then, he has starred in more than 40 pictures, all of them in the action film genre.^[2] He portrayed He-Man in the 1987 film Masters of the Universe, and in the early 1990s, appeared in films such as Showdown in Little Tokyo (1991), opposite Brandon Lee, Universal Soldier (1992), opposite Jean-Claude Van Damme, Joshua Tree (1993) opposite Kristian Alfonso and George Segal, and Johnny Mnemonic (1995) alongside Keanu Reeves.

The Defender in 2004 marked Lundgren's directorial debut, following up with films such as The Mechanik (2005), Missionary Man (2007), Command Performance and Icarus in which he also starred.

Biography

Lundgren was born in Stockholm, Sweden.^[3] He has two sisters and a younger brother (named Johan) who reside in Sweden.^[4]

Lundgren holds a 3rd Dan (3rd Degree Black Belt) in Kyokushin karate. He won the European championships in 1980 and 1981 as well as a heavyweight tournament in Australia in 1982.^[5] He was also captain of the Swedish Kyokushin Karate team, and was a formidable challenger at the 1979 World Open Tournament (arranged by the Kyokushin Karate Organization) when he was only a green belt.^{[citation needed]} In addition to Kyokushin karate, Lundgren has also studied fencing, boxing, judo, goju-ryu, and taekwondo.

He graduated from the Royal Institute of Technology. He has a master's degree in chemical engineering from the University of Sydney (1982). He was awarded a Fulbright Scholarship to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1983, but quit after two weeks to pursue acting.^[6] He speaks more than five languages: Swedish, English, German, French, Spanish, some Japanese, and some Italian.^[4]

Lundgren completed his mandatory military service in Sweden at the Amphibious Ranger School. During his service at the elite marine unit (Kustjägarna), he suffered an injury which had him reassigned and separated from his unit.

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. He is actively involved in promoting the image of the sport. "Over the past few years, my involvement with modern pentathlon has grown from pure interest to an opportunity to raise the visibility of the sport, increase recruitment of young talent and make sure that this event, originated by the founder of the Olympics, Baron de Coubertin, will remain in the Games," Lundgren has said.^[7]

He reportedly has a genius-level IQ of 160,^[8] but he himself denies it.

Film career

In 1985, Lundgren made his feature film debut in the James Bond film A View to a Kill with a very minor role as a suited KGB henchman named Venz. The role was suggested to the producers of the Bond film by his girlfriend at the time, Grace Jones. Then he beat 5,000 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.^[9] In order to improve his physique and athletic abilities for the role of Drago, he trained intensely in bodybuilding and boxing shortly before the film was shot and weighed 245 pounds (111 kg) at his heaviest.^[2] In an interview with his co-star, Sylvester Stallone said of Lundgren: "During [the filming of] Rocky IV, Dolph had hit me so hard I had swelling around the heart and had to stay in intensive care at St. John’s Hospital for four days."^[10] Lundgren later fought in a real boxing match against former UFC fighter Oleg Taktarov although he did not win the fight.^[11]

Lundgren in 1990

Dolph received his first lead role as the mighty He-Man in Masters of the Universe (1987), based on the popular children's Mattel toys. He starred as a reformed Spetsnaz in Red Scorpion, and then as Marvel Comics character Frank Castle a.k.a. The Punisher, in the 1989 film The Punisher. In the 1990s he starred in action films such as Showdown in Little Tokyo (co-starring Brandon Lee), Universal Soldier (co-starring Jean-Claude Van Damme and directed by Roland Emmerich), Joshua Tree (directed by stunt legend Vic Armstrong), Men of War (scripted by John Sayles), Johnny Mnemonic (co-starring Keanu Reeves and directed by artist Robert Longo), Silent Trigger (directed by Russell Mulcahy) and the TV pilot Blackjack (directed by John Woo).

In 2004 he made his directorial debut with the films The Defender also co-starring Jerry Springer, and The Mechanik (with Ben Cross). Dolph has three new DVDs available: a historical/biblical film, The Inquiry, which debuted on DVD (February 19, 2008) from Fox Home Entertainment; a Mongolia-based action adventure, Diamond Dogs; and a modern western, Missionary Man, which Lundgren wrote and directed, released on DVD (January 22, 2008) from Sony Pictures Home Entertainment. Missionary Man was specially screened at the 2008 AFI Dallas Film Festival.

Lundgren's latest releases were the direct to video action flick Direct Contact, and Command Performance (released November 3, 2009 in the US) in which he plays a drummer in a rock band forced to face terrorists at a concert. This action thriller, which he also directed, showcases Dolph’s longtime musical talents.

Lundgren then wrapped his on-screen reunion with Jean-Claude Van Damme in Universal Soldier: Regeneration (first released January 7, 2010 in Israel) where he plays Andrew Scott's clone.

Lundgren returned to the director's chair with the thriller Icarus, a neo film noir in the spirit of Luc Besson's Leon / The Professional and David Cronenberg's A History of Violence and some inspiration from Johnnie To.^{[citation needed]}

Returning to the big screen

While he is now editing a new directorial/starring effort, the thriller Icarus, Lundgren just co-starred alongside Sylvester Stallone, Jet Li, Jason Statham, Mickey Rourke, and many others in the action film The Expendables which will be released on August 13, 2010. "The Expendables has a seventy million-dollar budget", says Lundgren,^[12] "and it's an old-school, kick-ass action movie where people are fighting with knives and shooting at each other". This will be his first theatrically released film in fifteen years (in the US) since Johnny Mnemonic (in 1995 also starring Keanu Reeves).

Other

Dolph did a Japanese television commercial for Swatch watches. He played opposite famous small man Danny DeVito. The popular commercial ran on Japanese television for 18 months.

At a student-interview in Lund, Sweden in July 2007, Dolph claims to have turned down a part in Gladiator a couple of years before it was eventually made.^{[citation needed]} During an interview on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno in May 2008, Gladiator director Ridley Scott disputed this. He revealed that Dolph had been considered for the part of undefeated fighter Tigris of Gaul, but was eventually rejected because "as an actor, he just didn't fit in with what we were trying to achieve".^[13]

He appeared in various television commercials for a South African based online casino called SilverSands in 2009. In one he is pictured beating up somebody, he then says "I win my fights".^[14] Then he is pictured with an attractive woman and he says "I win my girls". Subsequently, he is pictured playing a card game and he then says "I win my games, with SilverSands"

Lundgren is one of three hosts for the 2010 Melodifestivalen, where the Swedish contribution to the Eurovision Song Contest is selected.^[15] In the first installation on February 6 Lundgren co-hosted the competition together with comedian Christine Meltzer and performer Måns Zelmerlöw. Lundgren's appearance was hailed by critics and audience, particularly his rendition of Elvis Presley's "A Little Less Conversation".^[16]

Personal life

During the early 1980s he dated singer Grace Jones. He has been married to Anette Qviberg, a jewelry designer and fashion stylist, since 1994. The couple live in Marbella, Spain. They have two daughters: Ida Sigrid Lundgren (born April 1996) and Greta Eveline Lundgren (born November 2001). In January 2009,^[12] Lundgren's home was reportedly broken into by three masked burglars who tied up and threatened Qviberg, but fled when they spotted a family photo and realized that the house was owned by Lundgren.^[8]

Filmography

Actor

Director

Cultural references

• Dolph Lundgren was satirized in an article by The Onion in 2004, titled "Dolph Lundgren Wins Long, Courageous Battle Against Fame".
• Metalcore band Will Haven released a song named "Dolph Lundgren" on their album Carpe Diem.
• Dolph Lundgren was parodied in the August 2008 issue of ToyFare magazine's Twisted ToyFare Theater in which he, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Sylvester Stallone, and Bruce Willis were members of the Hollwood Cafe's Manly Man of Action Club, which was then initiating new members. A running gag involved Dolph's lack of recent work such as when he attempted to recruit Gerard Butler and mistook the title of "300" to be the number of films Butler had starred in, causing him to gripe, "I've only done 75 and 50 of them were on Sci-Fi."
• Larry the Cable Guy frequently refers to a supposed similarity between his buttocks and those of Dolph Lundgren as a part of his comedy routine.
• In The Nanny, Niles refers to C.C. as Dolph Lundgren in the episode "Fashion Show".
• Dolph Lundgren was mentioned repeatedly in an episode of It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia, which originally aired on December 3, 2009. He was chosen as lead actor in the gang's prospective movie, Crime Stinks: The Smell of Penetration (He Nose the Truth), also known as The Fifth Sense: The Sense of Smell, a prequel to The Sixth Sense. The plot of the movie involved Lundgren, a "super-ripped, super-smart scientist in a mesh tank top," having the ability to smell crime before it happens after receiving facial reconstruction surgery, performing perverse sexual experiments on a young female lab partner, and ultimately throwing his nose into the ocean from a cliff, rejecting his role as the savior of mankind. Lundgren was chosen to be the lead because of his underrated status as an actor, this being due to his "spiky hair, ice cold demeanor and big muscles".

References

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Dolph Lundgren

• Dolph Lundgren official page
• Dolph Ultimate Guide
• Facebook
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• "Command Performance" by Dolph Lundgren
• Dolph Lundgren at the Internet Movie Database

• Interview with Dolph Lundgren at SuicideGirls.com
• BBC UK 2008 Olympics Interview^{[dead link]}
• Exclusive James Bond interview
• Bodybuilding.com Interview