Biography - Viggo Mortensen

Not only is Viggo Mortensen a talented, Oscar-nominated movie superstar, he is also a musician, singer, poet, photographer, and painter. For the 1998 Gwyneth Paltrow-Michael Douglas thriller “A Perfect Murder” (a remake of Hitchcock’s “Dial M for Murder”), Mortensen created all of his character’s paintings himself. He speaks three languages fluently (and four more ‘reasonably well’), owns his own avant-garde publishing house, maintains constant activity in political causes, has authored around ten books of either poetry, photography, or his painting, keeps up with his favorite soccer and ice hockey teams, and somehow manages to keep up the duties of a major international movie star.

Before Mortensen’s big break as Aragorn in Peter Jackson’s blockbuster “Lord of the Rings” trilogy, he spent 15 years as a working actor in stage productions, television, and film. Born on October 20, 1958 in New York City, Viggo lived in the U.S., Argentina, Venezuela, and Denmark before he was 18, eventually graduating from Watertown High School in New York. He briefly worked as a truck driver in Denmark after high school (why hasn’t he paired up with famous ex-truck-driver James Cameron?), but moved back to the U.S. to attend St. Lawrence University in New York, where he earned a B.A. in Spanish and was heavily involved with campus theatre.

One of Mortensen’s earliest film roles was in Peter Weir’s “Witness,” and in 1987 he received a Dramalogue Critics’ Award for starring in a production of “Bent” at the Coast Playhouse in Los Angeles. The 90s saw Mortensen making the rounds of Hollywood bit parts in films like Jane Campion’s “The Portrait of a Lady,” “Carlito’s Way,” Ridley Scott’s “G.I. Jane,” “Crimson Tide,” and the Sylvester Stallone actioner “Daylight.” 1998 was a breakout year for Mortensen, as he appeared in prominent roles in “A Walk on the Moon” with Diane Lane, “A Perfect Murder,” and Gus Van Sant’s misguided “Psycho” remake. He then starred with Sandra Bullock in 2000’s “28 Days.”

“Lord of the Rings” sucked up the next four years of his career, and in return the popular trilogy made him an international sensation. He has since appeared in the hit adventure film “Hidalgo,” the Spanish film “Alatriste,” and two terrific David Cronenberg films, “A History of Violence” and “Eastern Promises.” Mortensen has earned an Oscar nomination for the latter film, which sees him play a Russian mobster in London with suspicious motivations. In undoubtedly one of the strangest projects on the horizon, Mortensen is rumored to be playing the title role in “Poe” (yes, that Poe), written and directed by none other than Sylvester Stallone.