Hollywood star Viggo Mortensen is known to most viewers as Aragorn from the Lord of the Rings trilogy. But in the life of this outstanding actor, there are enough other bright and famous projects.
Viggo Peter Mortensen, Jr. (Viggo Peter Mortensen, Jr.) was born on October 20, 1958 in New York, a Manhattan area in the family of an American with Scottish roots and a Dane.
Viggo Mortensen Biography
Parents of the future celebrity met in Norway, then after the birth of Viggo moved to the north of South America, to Venezuela. The family changed their place of residence several more times. Mortensen lived in Denmark for two years, after which they returned to South America. In Argentina, Viggo's father had a farming business in several provinces.
The Mortensen had three sons, Viggo was the eldest child. The brothers received primary education at a local school, which allowed them to master the Spanish language perfectly. After the divorce, Viggo's father continued to roam the world, and his mother took her sons and returned to New York, where the children graduated from high school. During his studies, Viggo was actively involved in sports, was the captain of a team of swimmers and a successful tennis player. In parallel, the young man became interested in photography and drawing. After graduating from school in 1980, Viggo continued his studies at St. Lawrence University (New York, Canton). The actor has a bachelor's degree in Spanish studies and politics. Craving for a change of place in Mortensen's blood and he is poisoned traveling around Europe. In his father’s homeland, in Denmark, Viggo worked as a truck driver and flower seller, in England and Spain he was a lifter and waiter. While traveling, Mortensen studied languages and now he is fluent in English, Spanish and Danish, knows French, Norwegian, Swedish, as well as Elvish.
Viggo Mortensen's acting career
In 1982, Viggo decides to become an actor and goes to Hollywood, where he studied for two years in the theater studio of Warren Robertson, moonlighting in Broadway productions and theater.
The drama "Witness" (1985) was the first feature film with the participation of Viggo Martenson in a cameo role, the picture received two Oscars and the actor was noticed by agents.
At first, the actor gets minor negative characters - the bandit Frank Robbins in “Runaway Indian”, the informer Lalin in “Carlito's Way”, Lucifer in the film “Prophecy”.
The next stage was the role of romantic heroes. Viggo played with Demi Moore in the action movie “Soldier Jane” and Nicole Kidman in the film “Portrait of a Lady”. In Hitchcock's remake of The Perfect Kill, Mortensen and the paintings he wrote also starred. Photography and painting still occupy a large place in Viggo's life.
Aragorn and The Lord of the Rings: Viggo Mortensen's take-off career
Peter Jackson, the director of the star trilogy, planned for the role of tracker Aragorn another actor, but in the end he considered him too young and offered to participate in the project Viggo Mortensen. Since the actor was not familiar with Tolkien's work, the prospect of leaving for the filming of a "fairy tale" in New Zealand for a whole year did not inspire him too much. The son of Viggo persistently urged his father to withdraw, and the artist signed a contract.
The role of Aragorn brought Mortensen world fame. On the set, the famous actor gave all his best, he personally performed all the tricks. Not without injuries - the actor broke his toe and lost his front tooth after an unsuccessful blow with a sword. Mortensen learned the Elven language so well that he did without a prompter and memorization of the text.
After The Lord of the Rings, Viggo was forced to refuse many offers and scenarios of the same type, because he had already played the king.
Mortensen began working with well-known director David Cronenberg in 2005, the first joint work, “Justified Cruelty, ” was highly praised by critics and collected many nominations. The second joint film, "Vice export" made a splash among the audience and brought the first nomination for an Oscar by Mortensen. To get used to the role of Viggo, he not only studied the Russian language and prison jargon, but also lived in Russia incognito for two months. The filming day of the actor began with 50 tattoos on the body.
Reincarnated as Sigmund Freud in the biopic “The Dangerous Method”, Mortensen received a nomination for the Golden Globe.
Viggo Mortensen's personal life
Despite the worldwide fame about the personal life of the actor, not much is known. On the set of the comedy "Salvation, " Viggo Mortensen met Iksen Chervenka. The future wife of the actor was the soloist of the punk band "X". The couple signed on July 8, 1987. The family moved to live in Idaho, and on January 28, 1988, their son was born - Henry Blake Mortensen. Since 1992, the families Viggo and Ixen began to live separately, in 1997 they filed for divorce, remaining in good relations.
Viggo Mortensen's next famous love also turned out to be an actress. Gil Viggo met Ariadne on the set of Captain Alatriste. The couple is in a romantic relationship, but does not officially formalize their relationship.
