Viggo Mortensen

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Biography

Viggo Peter Mortensen Jr. (born October 20, 1958) is an American actor, poet, musician, photographer and painter. He made his film debut in Peter Weir 's 1985 thriller Witness (1985 film)|Witness , and subsequently appeared in many notable films of the 1990s, including The Indian Runner (1991), '' Carlito's Way (1993), Crimson Tide (film)|Crimson Tide (1995), Daylight (film)|Daylight (1996), The Portrait of a Lady (film)|The Portrait of a Lady (1996), G.I. Jane (1997), A Perfect Murder (1998), and A Walk on the Moon (1999).

Mortensen made his major breakthrough in 2001 with his role as Aragorn in the epic film trilogy The Lord of the Rings film trilogy|The Lord of the Rings . In 2005, Mortensen won critical acclaim for David Cronenberg 's crime thriller A History of Violence . Two years later, another Cronenberg film Eastern Promises (2007) earned him an Academy Award nomination for Academy Award for Best Actor|Best Actor . Other well-received films in recent years have included Appaloosa (film)|Appaloosa (2008) and the The Road (2009 film)|2009 film adaptation of Cormac McCarthy 's novel The Road .

Aside from acting, his other artistic pursuits include fine arts, photography, poetry, and music. In 2002, he founded the Perceval Press to publish the works of little-known artists and authors. Mortensen is politically active. He campaigned for Dennis Kucinich in the 2008 United States presidential election , and later endorsed Barack Obama for President.

Early life

Mortensen was born in New York City. His mother, Grace Gamble (née Atkinson), was American, and his father, Viggo Peter Mortensen, Sr., was Danish people|Danish ; the two met in Norway . His maternal grandfather was from Nova Scotia , Canada, and his maternal grandmother's family was from New England .

The family moved to Venezuela , then Denmark , and eventually settled in Argentina , taking residency in the Argentine provinces of Córdoba, Argentina|Córdoba , Chaco Province|Chaco and Buenos Aires Province|Buenos Aires , where he attended primary school and acquired fluent Spanish, while his father managed chicken farms and ranches.Pearlman, Cindy. Chicago Sun-Times . September 9, 2007. They remained there until Mortensen was eleven, when his parents divorced. With his mother he returned to New York, where he spent the rest of his childhood, graduating from Watertown High School in Watertown (city), New York|Watertown, New York .

He then attended St. Lawrence University in Canton (village), New York|Canton, New York , earning a degree in 1980. Afterward, he went to Europe and lived in Spain, England, and Denmark, where he took various jobs such as driving a truck in Esbjerg and selling flowers in Copenhagen . After two years, he returned to the United States to pursue an acting career.

Career

Acting career

After several years of experience in live theater, Mortensen made his first film appearance playing an Amish farmer in Peter Weir 's Witness (1985 film)|Witness (Mortensen had actually acted in at least one prior film, The Purple Rose of Cairo , but his scenes in the latter film were deleted from the final cuts). Also in 1985, he was cast in the role of Bragg on Search for Tomorrow . Mortensen's 1987 performance in Bent (play)|Bent at the Coast Playhouse, Los Angeles, won him a Dramalogue Critics' Award. Coincidentally, the play, about homosexual concentration camp prisoners, was originally brought to prominence by Ian McKellen , with whom Mortensen later costarred in The Lord of the Rings film trilogy|The Lord of the Rings . In 1987 Mortensen guest starred as a corrupt police detective on the hit series Miami Vice .

During the 1990s, Mortensen appeared in supporting roles in a variety of films, including Jane Campion 's The Portrait of a Lady (film)|The Portrait of a Lady , Young Guns II , Prison (1988 film)|Prison , Leatherface: The Texas Chainsaw Massacre III , Sean Penn 's The Indian Runner , The Crew , which won the São Paulo Film Festival Audience Award, Brian de Palma's Carlito's Way , Crimson Tide (film)|Crimson Tide , G.I. Jane , Daylight (film)|Daylight , A Walk on the Moon , American Yakuza , Charles Robert Carner's remake Vanishing Point , Philip Ridley 's two films The Reflecting Skin and The Passion of Darkly Noon , A Perfect Murder and Gus Van Sant 's Psycho (1998 film)|Psycho (1998 remakes of two Alfred Hitchcock 's movies Dial M for Murder and Psycho (1960 film)|Psycho ), 28 Days (film)|28 Days , and The Prophecy , with Christopher Walken . Of these roles, Mortensen was probably best known for playing Master Chief John Urgayle in G.I. Jane .

Mortensen's major mainstream breakthrough came in 1999, when Peter Jackson cast him as Aragorn in The Lord of the Rings film trilogy| The Lord of the Rings film trilogy . According to the Special Extended Edition DVD of The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring , Mortensen was a last-minute replacement for Stuart Townsend , and would not have taken the part of Aragorn had it not been for his son's enthusiasm for the J. R. R. Tolkien novel. In the The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers|The Two Towers DVD extras, the film's swordmaster, Bob Anderson (fencer)|Bob Anderson , described Mortensen as "the best swordsman I've ever trained." Mortensen often spent days hiking to the film's remote locations, in costume and carrying his sword, in order to appear authentically travel-worn; he also performed all of his own stunts, and even the injuries he sustained during several of them did not dampen his enthusiasm. At one point during shooting of The Two Towers , Mortensen, Orlando Bloom , and the scale double for John Rhys-Davies all had fairly serious injuries, and during a shoot of them, running in the mountains, Peter Jackson jokingly referred to the three as "the walking wounded." Also, according to the Special Extended Edition DVD of The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King , Mortensen purchased the two horses, Uraeus and Kenny, whom he rode and bonded with over the duration of the films.

In 2004, Mortensen starred as Frank Hopkins in Hidalgo (film)|Hidalgo , the story of an ex-army courier who travels to Arabia to compete with his horse, Hidalgo, in a dangerous desert race for a contest prize.

In 2006, he starred as Captain Diego Alatriste in the Spanish language film Alatriste , based on the series of novels Captain Alatriste|The Adventures of Captain Alatriste , written by the Spanish writer Arturo Pérez-Reverte .

In September 2007, the film Eastern Promises , directed by David Cronenberg, was released to critical acclaim for the film itself and for Mortensen's performance as a Russian gangster on the rise in London. His nude fight scene in a steam room was applauded by Roger Ebert : "Years from now, it will be referred to as a benchmark.". Chicago Sun-Times . Retrieved December 22, 2007. Mortensen's performance in Eastern Promises resulted in his winning the Best Performance by an Actor in a British Independent Film award from the British Independent Film Awards . He was also nominated for an Academy Award for Best Actor.

In 2009, Mortensen appeared as himself in the film Reclaiming The Blade ,, January 22, 2009 in which he discussed his passion for the sword and his sword-work in films such as The Lord of the Rings film trilogy|The Lord of the Rings and Alatriste . Mortensen also talked about his work with Bob Anderson (fencer)|Bob Anderson , the swordmaster on The Lord of the Rings film trilogy|The Lord of the Rings , Alatriste , Pirates of the Caribbean (film series)|Pirates of the Caribbean and many others.

In 2009, Mortensen performed in The People Speak (film)|The People Speak , a documentary feature film that uses dramatic and musical performances of the letters, diaries, and speeches of everyday Americans, based on historian Howard Zinn 's '' A People's History of the United States .

While it was reported in April 2009 that Mortensen had, at least temporarily, retired from film acting,Mortensen said he was misquoted. In a 2012 interview, he denied that he ever said he was retiring, only that his didn't have "plans to do another movie" at the time and that he was "taking a little break now. I don’t have anything lined up.”

In 2010 he joined the cast of The Road (2009 film)|The Road , a film adaptation of the Cormac McCarthy novel of the same name, and collaborated with David Cronenberg for a third time on A Dangerous Method .

After two decades, Mortensen returned to theatre in 2011, starring in Ariel Dorfman 's Purgatorio in Madrid .

Perceval Press

With part of his earnings from The Lord of the Rings , Mortensen founded the Perceval Press publishing house& nbsp;— named for Percival|the knight from the legend of King Arthur & nbsp;— to help other artists by publishing works that might not find a home in more traditional publishing venues.

Perceval Press is also the home of Viggo's many personal artistic projects in the area of fine arts, photography, poetry, song, and literature (see below).

Bibliography

Mortensen is also an author, with various books of poetry, photography, and painting published. His bibliography includes:

Ten Last Night – (1993), his first collection of poetry.

Recent Forgeries – (1998), ISBN, 5th Edition, documents Viggo's first solo exhibition and includes a CD with music and spoken-word poetry. Introduction by Dennis Hopper.

Errant Vine – ( 2000 in literature|2000 ), limited edition booklet of an exhibit at the Robert Mann Gallery.

Hole in the Sun – (2002, ISBN), color and black & white photographs of a back yard swimming pool.

SignLanguage – (2002 ISBN), a catalog from an exhibition of his works, combining photographs, paintings, and poetry into a multimedia diary of his time in New Zealand while filming The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring . Introduction by Kevin Power.

Coincidence of Memory – (2002, ISBN) Third Edition. In this book, the artist combines photographs, paintings, and poems that cover his artistic output from 1978 to 2002.

Mo Te Upoko-o-te-ika/For Wellington – (2003), ISBN, a book to accompany the joint exhibitions at Massey University and the Wellington City Gallery during the premiere of The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King .

45301 – (2003), ISBN. Abstract images, fragments, and phrases from poems comprise this photography book. Many of the photographs were shot during travels to Morocco, Cuba, and the northern plains of the United States.

Un hueco en el sol – (2003), a small booklet published to accompany the exhibition "Un hueco en el sol" at the Fototeca de Cuba in Havana. In Spanish.

Miyelo – (2003, ISBN-X), a series of panoramic format|panoramic photographs of a Lakota people|Lakota Ghost Dance . It also tells about the events leading up to the massacre at Wounded Knee.

Nye Falsknerier – (2003). Paintings and poems translated into Danish from Ten Last Night, Recent Forgeries, Coincidence of Memory.

The Horse is Good – (2004), ISBN, a photography book, partly shot during his work on the film Hidalgo (film)|Hidalgo , about horses as partners, teachers, and fellow travelers. Images from Morocco, South Dakota, Montana, California, Iceland, New Zealand, Denmark, Brazil, and Argentina. This book reflects Mortensen's fondness for horses. In fact, he bought Uraeus—the horse who played Brego, Aragorn's steed (Roheryn in the books) in The Lord of the Rings movies—as well as TJ, one of the horses who played Hidalgo. He also purchased the stallion that played Arwen 's horse, a grey Andalusian stallion named Asfaloth|Florian , and gave it to the stunt woman, Jane Abbott, who rode the horse in place of Liv Tyler .

Linger – (2005). In this book, the artist combines black and white photographs and prose poems. Images from Spain (partly shot during his work on the film Alatriste), Morocco, Iceland, United States, Denmark...

I Forget You For Ever – (2006). Texts and photographs.

Skovbo – (2008). Collection of photographs, poems (in English, Spanish and Danish) and quotes. The book is dedicated to Howard Zinn and Dennis Kucinich and functions as a companion to the photo exhibit Skovbo at the Reykjavik Museum of Photography (2008).

Sådanset – (2008). A small booklet published to accompany the exhibition Sådanset (October 18 – November 16, 2008) at the Palæfløjen in Roskilde (Denmark).

Canciones de Invierno – Winter Songs – (2010). Collection of photographs and poems. Bilingual : in Spanish and English. It includes new texts (most of the poems and all the translations) and revised versions of texts previously published. They're accompanied by pictures of landscapes taken during the previous two winters.

Visual arts and discography

Mortensen is a painter and photographer. His paintings are frequently abstract art|abstract and often contain fragments of his poetry in them. His paintings have been featured in galleries worldwide, and the paintings of the artist he portrayed in A Perfect Murder are all his own.
Mortensen experiments with his poetry and music by mixing the two art forms. He has collaborated with guitarist Buckethead on several albums, mostly released on his own label (Perceval Press) or TDRS Music . Viggo was first introduced to Buckethead's work while working on sounds for an educational CD on Greek mythology. The finished product included a guitar part by Buckethead, which caught Viggo's ear and led him to initiate contact with the guitarist. The collaboration grew from there.

Viggo's discography includes:

1994: ''Don't Tell Me What to Do

1997: One Less Thing to Worry About

1998: Recent Forgeries

1999: The Other Parade

1999: '' One Man's Meat (Viggo Mortensen)|One Man's Meat

1999: Live at Beyond Baroque

2003: Pandemoniumfromamerica

2004: Live At Beyond Baroque II|Live at Beyond Baroque II

2004: Please Tomorrow

2004: This, That, and The Other

2005: Intelligence Failure

2006: 3 Fools April 4

2007: Time Waits for Everyone

2008: At All

2010: Canciones de Invierno

2011: Reunion (Viggo Mortensen album)|Reunion

Mortensen is featured on The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King soundtrack, singing "Aragorn's Coronation" (the name of the extended version of this song in the 3rd original sound track is "The Return of the King"), the words by Tolkien and the music composed by Mortensen. In the extended DVD edition of the first Lord of the Rings movie, The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring|The Fellowship of the Ring , he sings the song " The Tale of Beren and Lúthien|The Lay of Beren and Lúthien ". His poems are written in English, Danish, and Spanish.

Awards and honors

Following his appearance in the Lord of the Rings trilogy, in 2006 he was granted an honorary doctorate by his alma mater, St. Lawrence University.

On October 13, 2006, he was awarded the Gold Medal of the Province and the City of León, Spain .

On April 16, 2010, he was awarded the Knight's Cross of the Order of Dannebrog . Kongehuset, den 16. april 2010.

Personal life

Mortensen has a son, Henry Blake Mortensen (born January 28, 1988), with ex-wife Exene Cervenka , singer in the punk band X (U.S. band)|X . His son has a minor uncredited role in the extended version of The Two Towers ; and in The Return of the King,'' he is the first orc killed by Aragorn as he leaves the ships during the Battle of the Pelennor Fields (according to Directors and Writers commentary on the DVD). He also has a brief appearance as the son of Viggo's character in Crimson Tide .

Mortensen holds dual American-Danish citizenship. He speaks fluent English, Danish and Spanish; he is also conversational in French and Italian, and understands Norwegian and Swedish. He has stated that he was raised speaking English and Spanish and at times feels more comfortable expressing himself in Spanish.

Mortensen is a hockey fan, particularly of the Montréal Canadiens . He wore a Montréal Canadiens t-shirt underneath his armour throughout the filming of the Lord of the Rings trilogy. Globe And Mail . January 23, 2009 He is also a fan of association football and is a fan of Argentine star Diego Maradona , Héctor Veira|Héctor "Bambino" Veira , and both the Argentina national football team|Argentine and Denmark national football team|Danish national teams as well as Argentine club Club Atlético San Lorenzo de Almagro|San Lorenzo de Almagro . Clarín (newspaper)|Clarín In 1993, Mortensen went to Ireland during a break in shooting to watch Denmark national football team|Denmark play in a 1994 FIFA World Cup qualification (UEFA)|1994 FIFA World Cup qualification match. He is also a fan of the New York Mets , and in an interview promoting 2009 film The Road was seen wearing apparel indicating his support of the Australian Football League's Collingwood Football Club|Collingwood Magpies football club. While appearing on The Late Show With David Letterman , he held a sign supporting the New York Giants .

Mortensen was a good friend of Icelandic painter Georg Guðni Hauksson up until his death in 2011. Mortensen had long been an admirer of Hauksson's work as a landscape artist, and the two published books together as well as maintaining a close friendship. http://www.amazon.com/Strange-Familiar-Work-Georg-Gudni/dp/0974707899 http://www.dv.is/frettir/2011/6/30/godar-minningar-um-einstakan-dreng/

Mortensen actively campaigned for Dennis Kucinich in the 2008 United States presidential election , and later endorsed Barack Obama for the presidency. He was also one of the signees of the "Toronto Declaration" protesting against spotlighting Tel-Aviv at the Toronto International Film Festival|TIFF in 2009.

Mortensen has owned property in northern Sandpoint, Idaho , and spends time there when not filming movies. Sandpoint Magazine . Winter 2004 Edition.

Filmography

Year	Film	Role	Notes
1985	Witness	Moses Hochleitner	Film Debut
1985	The Purple Rose of Cairo	Unknown Role	Scenes Deleted
1987	Salvation!	Jerome Stample
1988	Prison	Burke/ Forsythe Electrocution
1988	Fresh Horses	Green
1990	Once in a Blue Moon		TV film
	Tripwire	Hans
	Leatherface: The Texas Chainsaw Massacre III	Tex
	Young Guns II	John W. Poe
	The Reflecting Skin	Cameron Dove
1991	The Indian Runner	Frank Roberts
1993	Boiling Point	Ronnie
	Ruby Cairo	John E. "Johnny" Faro
	'' Carlito's Way	Lalin
	The Young Americans	Carl Frazer
1994	The Crew	Phillip
	Floundering	Homeless Man
	Gospel According to Harry	Wes
	American Yakuza	Nick Davis/ David Brandt
1995	Gimlet	Hombre
	Crimson Tide (film)>Crimson Tide	Lieutenant Peter "WEAPS" Ince
	The Passion of Darkly Noon	Clay
	Black Velvet Pantsuit	Worthless Junkie
	The Prophecy	Lucifer
1996	Albino Alligator	Guy Foucard
	Daylight	Roy Nord
	The Portrait of a Lady	Caspar Goodwood
1997	Vanishing Point	Jimmy Kowalski	TV
	G.I. Jane	Master Chief John James "Jack" Urgayle
	''My Brother's Gun	Juanito
1998	A Perfect Murder	David Shaw
1998	Psycho	Samuel "Sam" Loomis
1999	A Walk on the Moon	Walker Jerome
2000	28 Days (film)>28 Days	Eddie Boone
2001	The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring	Aragorn	Nominated – Sony Ericsson Empire Awards>Empire Award for Best Actor Nominated – Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture
2002	The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers		Nominated – Sony Ericsson Empire Awards>Empire Award for Best Actor Nominated – Satellite Award for Best Actor - Motion Picture Drama Nominated – Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture
2003	The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King		National Board of Review Award for Best Cast Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture Nominated – Saturn Award for Best Actor Nominated – Sony Ericsson Empire Awards>Empire Award for Best Actor Nominated – Phoenix Film Critics Society Award for Best Cast
2004	Hidalgo	Frank Hopkins
2005	A History of Violence	Tom Stall/ Joey Cusack	Empire Award for Best Actor Nominated – London Film Critics Circle Award for Best Actor Nominated – Satellite Award for Best Actor - Motion Picture Drama Nominated – Saturn Award for Best Actor
2006	Alatriste	Diego Alatriste y Tenorio	Nominated – Goya Award for Best Actor
2007	Eastern Promises	Nikolai Luzhin	British Independent Film Award for Best Actor Cinema of Spain
2008	Slacker Uprising	Himself	Mortensen speaks at a 2004 "Slacker Uprising" rally in Columbus, Ohio.
	Appaloosa (film)>Appaloosa	Everett Hitch
	Good	John Halder
2009	Reclaiming the Blade	Himself
	The People Speak	Himself	Documentary
	The Road	The Man	Utah Film Critics Association Award for Best Actor Nominated – Broadcast Film Critics Association Award for Best Actor Nominated – Denver Film Critics Society
2011	A Dangerous Method	Sigmund Freud	Genie Award for Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role Nominated – Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actor – Motion Picture Nominated – New York Film Critics Circle Award for Best Supporting Actor Nominated – Satellite Award for Best Supporting Actor – Motion Picture
2011	El destino del Lukong	Himself	Cameo
2012	On the Road	Old Bull Lee	Post production

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