Viggo Mortensen
Critically acclaimed actor Viggo
Mortensen made his feature-film debut playing Alexander
Godunov's Amish brother in Witness (1985). The suave, handsome actor has
subsequently portrayed a wide variety of characters, often
unapologetic bad boys, opposite some of Hollywood's most popular
actors, including
Sylvester Stallone,
Demi Moore, and
Nicole Kidman.
Born in New York City, on October 20, 1958, to an American
mother and a Danish father, Mortensen spent his first
years in Manhattan and the rest of his youth living in
Argentina, Venezuela, and Denmark. Returning to Manhattan in the
early '80s, he studied acting at Warren Robertson's
Theatre Workshop and then embarked upon a stage career before
moving to Los Angeles. There, he earned a Dramalogue Critics
Award for his performance in a Coast Playhouse production
of Bent and became a familiar figure on the L.A. punk
scene (something that was aided by his brief marriage to
Exene Cervenka, lead singer of the punk band
X). Following his debut in
Witness, Mortensen began working steadily in a
number of diverse films, becoming a familiar but not instantly
recognizable face to filmgoers. He did some of his more
memorable work as a series of louts and villains, in such films
as
The Indian Runner (1991, written and directed by
Sean Penn), which cast him as
David Morse's morally questionable brother;
Carlito's Way (1993), in which he played a paraplegic
ex-con who tries to snitch on
Al Pacino; and The Prophecy (aka
God's Army) (1995), which required the actor, in the
role of Lucifer, to rip out
Christopher Walken's heart and then eat it.
Mortensen finally attained a greater measure of
recognition with his smoldering portrayal of one of Isabel
Archer's Nicole
Kidman) suitors in
Jane Campion's 1996 adaptation of The Portrait of
a Lady. He then made another strong impression as
Demi Moore's rough, tough, and buff training
instructor in
G.I. Jane (1997) and, the following year, he was one
of the few redeeming features of
A Perfect Murder, in which he supplied sexy menace
(as well as his own art work) as
Gwyneth Paltrow's murderous artist lover. He allowed
his softer side to come through in
Tony Goldwyn's acclaimed
A Walk on the Moon (1999), which cast him as the
hippie lover of a dissatisfied housewife (Diane
Lane) in Woodstock-era upstate New York. His more
romantic side was again in evidence in the romantic drama 28 Days (2000), in which he played recovering party
girl
Sandra Bullock's rehab honey.
Replacing Irish actor
Stuart Townsend in the role of Aragorn shortly
after production had begun on director
Peter Jackson's eagerly anticipated film adaptation
of J.R.R. Tolkien's Lord of the Rings,
Mortensen secured a strong screen presence through 2003,
with the release of the trilogy's final installment,
The Return of the King. In 2004, he proved that he
could carry a film on his own when he starred as Wild West
adventurer Frank T. Hopkins in the horse-racing period
film Hidalgo. Mortensen stuck with period
adventures the following year when he played the titular
solider-turned-mercenary in Agustín Díaz Yanes'
Spanish-language film Alatriste, set during Spain's 16th
century imperial wars.
Bio info from
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