Dolph Lundgren

Dolph Lundgren
Dolph Lundgren
	Dolph Lundgren in 1990. Photo credit: Alan Light
Born	Hans Lundgren
Occupation	Film actor
Height	193 cm (6 ft 4 in) [1]

Dolph Lundgren (born Hans Lundgren, November 3, 1957 [2]) 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.

Biography

A native of Stockholm, Dolph Lundgren is 193 cm (6 ft 4 in) (although various sources have stated 6ft 5 or even 6ft 6 respectively) and weighs approximately 107 kg (237 lb). 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[3]. 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 [4]. 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 [5].

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. [6]

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 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, Red Scorpion, Silent Trigger and Johnny Mnemonic.

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 for release, and recently completed Diamond Dogs, an action adventure film set in Mongolia. Lundgren is currently prepping several projects that he will 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.
Lundgren is the first actor to portray Frank Castle, a.k.a. the Punisher, in live action

Selected filmography

Year	Movie	Role
2007	Diamond Dogs	Xander Ronson
2006	The Inquiry	Brixos
2005	The Mechanik	Nikolai Cherenko
2004	The Defender	Lance Rockford
2004	Retrograde	John Foster
2004	Fat Slags	Randy
2004	Direct Action	Frank Gannon
2003	Detention	Sam Decker
2001	Hidden Agenda	Jason Price
2000	Agent Red	Matt Hendricks
1999	The Last Patrol	Nick Preston
1999	Jill Rips	Matt Sorenson
1999	Storm Catcher	Jack Holloway
1999	Bridge of Dragons	Warchild
1998	Blackjack (TV)	Jack Devlin
1998	Sweepers	Christian Erickson
1998	The Minion	Lukas Sadorov
1997	The Peacekeeper	Major Frank Cross
1996	Silent Trigger	Waxman (Shooter)
1995	The Shooter	Michael Dane
1995	Johnny Mnemonic	Karl Honig (Street Preacher)
1994	Men of War	Nick Gunar
1994	Pentathlon	Eric Brogar
1993	Joshua Tree	Wellman Anthony Santee
1992	Universal Soldier	Sgt. Andrew Scott/GR13
1991	Showdown in Little Tokyo	Police Sgt. Chris Kenner
1990	Cover-Up	Mike Anderson
1989	I Come In Peace	Jack Caine
1989	The Punisher	Frank Castle/The Punisher
1988	Red Scorpion	Lt. Nikolai Rachenko
1987	Masters of the Universe	He-Man
1985	Rocky IV	Ivan Drago
1985	A View to a Kill	Venz

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 is also a "other/death metal/comedy" band based out of the bay area of northern california. "[7]"

Footnotes

External links