Dolph Lundgren

Dolph Lundgren
Lundgren at the San Diego Comic-Con International, July 2010
Born	Hans Dolph Lundgren 3 November 1957 (1957-11-03) (age 53) Spånga, Stockholm, Sweden
Occupation	Actor and director
Years active	1985–present
Spouse	Annette Qviberg (since 1994); 2 daughters
Website
http://www.dolphlundgren.com/

Dolph Lundgren (born Hans Dolph Lundgren; 3 November 1957) is a Swedish actor, director, and martial artist.

Well known for his tall stature and level of fitness, at peak, Lundgren stood at 196 centimetres (6 ft 5 in) and weighed 111.5 kilograms (245 lb 13 oz). He belongs to a generation of film actors who epitomise the movie action hero stereotype including Sylvester Stallone, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Steven Seagal, and Jean-Claude Van Damme, some of whom he has worked with in his career.

Lundgren's breakthrough came when he starred in Rocky IV in 1985 as the imposing Russian boxer Ivan Drago. Since then, he has starred in more than 40 pictures, all of them in the action film genre.^[1] He portrayed He-Man in the 1987 film Masters of the Universe, and Frank Castle in the 1989 film The Punisher. In the early 1990s, he also appeared in films such as Showdown in Little Tokyo (1991), opposite Brandon Lee, Universal Soldier (1992), opposite Jean-Claude Van Damme, Joshua Tree (1993) opposite Kristian Alfonso and George Segal, and Johnny Mnemonic (1995) alongside Keanu Reeves. 2010 marked his return to theaters with The Expendables, an on-screen reunion with Sylvester Stallone, alongside an all action star cast led by Jason Statham and Jet Li.

Lundgren made his directorial debut with The Defender in 2004, and subsequently helmed The Mechanik (2005), Missionary Man (2007), Command Performance, and Icarus, in which he also starred.

Contents 1 Early life 2 Film career 2.1 Returning to the big screen 3 Other 4 Personal life 5 Filmography 5.1 Actor 5.2 Director 6 References 7 External links

Early life

Lundgren was born in Stockholm, Sweden, in 1957, the son of Brigitta, a languages teacher, and Karl Lundgren, an engineer and economist for the Swedish government.^[2][3][4] He has two sisters and a younger brother.^[5] Lundgren was raised in the Lutheran church.^[6]

As a teenager he tried judo, Gōjū-ryū and took up Kyokushin karate. Lundgren now holds the rank of 3rd dan black belt in Kyokushin. He won the European championships in 1980 and 1981 as well as a heavyweight tournament in Australia in 1982.^[7] He was also captain of the Swedish Kyokushin karate team, and was a formidable challenger at the 1979 World Open Tournament (arranged by the Kyokushin Karate Organization) when he was only a green belt.

He graduated from the Royal Institute of Technology. He has a master's degree in chemical engineering from the University of Sydney (1982). He was awarded a Fulbright Scholarship to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1983, but he quit after two weeks to pursue acting.^[8] He speaks Swedish, English, Spanish, some German, some French, some Japanese, and some Italian.^[5] Lundgren completed his mandatory military service in Sweden at the Amphibious Ranger School. During his service at the elite marine unit (Kustjägarna), he suffered an injury which had him reassigned and separated from his unit.

Film career

In 1985, Lundgren made his feature film debut in the James Bond film A View to a Kill playing the very minor role of a suited KGB henchman named Venz. The role was suggested to the producers of the film by his girlfriend at the time, Grace Jones, who was playing a villain in the film. Lundgren then beat 5,000 other hopefuls to land his breakout role as boxer Ivan Drago in 1985's Rocky IV, opposite Sylvester Stallone. As he stated himself, he was initially turned down for the role because he was too tall.^[9] In order to improve his physique and athletic abilities for the role of Drago, he trained intensely in bodybuilding and boxing shortly before the film was shot and weighed 245 pounds (111 kg) at his heaviest.^[1]

In an interview with his co-star, Sylvester Stallone said of Lundgren: "During [the filming of] Rocky IV, Dolph had hit me so hard I had swelling around the heart and had to stay in intensive care at St. John's Hospital for four days."^[10] Lundgren later fought in a real boxing match against former UFC fighter Oleg Taktarov, and lost via decision.^[11]

Lundgren received his first lead role as the mighty He-Man in Masters of the Universe (1987), based on the popular children's cartoon. He starred as a reformed Spetsnaz in Red Scorpion, and then as Marvel Comics character Frank Castle a.k.a. The Punisher, in the 1989 film The Punisher. In the 1990s he starred in action films such as Showdown in Little Tokyo (co-starring Brandon Lee), Universal Soldier (co-starring Jean-Claude Van Damme and directed by Roland Emmerich), Joshua Tree (directed by stunt legend Vic Armstrong), Men of War (scripted by John Sayles), Johnny Mnemonic (co-starring Keanu Reeves and directed by artist Robert Longo), Silent Trigger (directed by Russell Mulcahy) and the TV pilot Blackjack (directed by John Woo).

In 2004, he made his directorial debut with the films The Defender also co-starring Jerry Springer, and The Mechanik (with Ben Cross). Lundgren has three new DVDs available: a historical/biblical film, The Inquiry, which debuted on DVD (February 19, 2008) from Fox Home Entertainment; a Mongolia-based action adventure, Diamond Dogs; and a modern western, Missionary Man, which Lundgren wrote and directed, released on DVD (January 22, 2008) from Sony Pictures Home Entertainment. Missionary Man was specially screened at the 2008 AFI Dallas Film Festival.

Lundgren's latest releases were the direct to video action flick Direct Contact, and Command Performance (released November 3, 2009 in the US) in which Lundgren, a proficient drummer in real life, plays a drummer in a rock band forced to face terrorists at a concert. He wrapped his on-screen reunion with Jean-Claude Van Damme in Universal Soldier: Regeneration (released February 2, 2010 in the US) where he plays Andrew Scott's clone.^[12] Lundgren returned to the director's chair with the thriller Icarus (to be released as Dolph Lundgren Is The Killing Machine on October 19th, 2010 in the US).

Returning to the big screen

Lundgren co-starred alongside Sylvester Stallone, Jet Li, Jason Statham, Mickey Rourke, and many others in the action film The Expendables, which opened in theatres on August 13, 2010. "The Expendables has an eighty million-dollar budget", Lundgren stated,^[13] "and it's an old-school, kick-ass action movie where people are fighting with knives and shooting at each other." This was his first U.S. theatrical release in fifteen years - since Johnny Mnemonic in 1995.

Lundgren's newest project, Skin Trade is expected to be released in 2011. Dolph has expressed interest in working with Steven Seagal on this project and with his recent exposure due to The Expendables it is within the realm of possibilities that this film could receive a theatrical release [9]. Dolph has also expressed interest to return for the The Expendables sequel.

Other

After training with the American team for the 1994 movie Pentathlon, Lundgren was selected to serve as the (non-competing) Team Leader of the 1996 U.S. Olympic Modern Pentathlon Team during the Atlanta Games, to promote the image of the sport and to coordinate planning and other details between the team and the United States Olympic Committee. "Over the past few years, my involvement with modern pentathlon has grown from pure interest to an opportunity to raise the visibility of the sport, increase recruitment of young talent and make sure that this event, originated by the founder of the Olympics, Baron de Coubertin, will remain in the Games", Lundgren has affirmed.^[14]

Lundgren did a Japanese television commercial for Swatch watches. He played opposite famous small man Danny DeVito. The popular commercial ran on Japanese television for 18 months. At a student-interview in Lund, Sweden in July 2007, Lundgren claims to have turned down a part in Gladiator a couple of years before it was eventually made. During an interview on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno in May 2008, Gladiator director Ridley Scott said Lundgren had been considered for the part of undefeated fighter Tigris of Gaul, but was eventually rejected because "as an actor, he just didn't fit in with what we were trying to achieve".^[15]

He appeared in various television commercials for a South African based online casino called SilverSands in 2009. In one he is pictured beating up somebody, he then says "I win my fights".^[16] Then he is pictured with an attractive woman and he says "I win my girls". Subsequently, he is pictured playing a card game and he then says "I win my poker games, with SilverSands".^[17]

Lundgren is one of three hosts for the 2010 Melodifestivalen, where the Swedish contribution to the Eurovision Song Contest is selected.^[18] In the first installation on February 6 Lundgren co-hosted the competition together with comedienne Christine Meltzer and performer Måns Zelmerlöw. Lundgren's appearance was hailed by critics and audience, particularly his rendition of Elvis Presley's "A Little Less Conversation".^[19]

Personal life

During the early 1980s, Lundgren dated singer Grace Jones and model Paula Barbieri. He has been married since 1994 to Anette Qviberg, a jewelry designer and fashion stylist. The couple live in Marbella, Spain. They have two daughters: Ida Sigrid Lundgren (born April 29, 1996) and Greta Eveline Lundgren (born November 2001), both born in Stockholm.

In January 2009,^[13] Lundgren's Marbella home was reportedly broken into by three masked burglars who tied up and threatened Qviberg, but fled when they spotted a family photo and realized that the house was owned by Lundgren.^[20]

Filmography

Actor

Year	Title	Role	Director
1985	A View to a Kill	Venz	John Glen
	Rocky IV	Ivan Drago	Sylvester Stallone
1987	Masters of the Universe	He-Man	Gary Goddard
1988	Red Scorpion	Lt. Nikolai Rachenko	Joseph Zito
1989	The Punisher	Frank Castle/The Punisher	Mark Goldblatt
	I Come in Peace (Dark Angel)	Jack Caine	Craig R. Baxley
1990	Cover-Up	Mike Anderson	Manny Coto
1991	Showdown in Little Tokyo	Chris Kenner	Mark L. Lester
1992	Universal Soldier	Sgt. Andrew Scott/GR13	Roland Emmerich
1993	Joshua Tree (Army Of One)	Wellman Anthony Santee	Vic Armstrong
1994	Sunny Side Up	Himself	Bettina Speer
	Pentathlon	Eric Brogar	Bruce Malmuth
	Men of War	Nick Gunar	Perry Lang
1995	Johnny Mnemonic	Karl Honig (Street Preacher)	Robert Longo
	The Shooter (Hidden Assassin)	Michael Dane	Ted Kotcheff
1996	Silent Trigger	Waxman (Shooter)	Russell Mulcahy
1997	The Peacekeeper	Major Frank Cross	Frédéric Forestier
1998	The Minion	Lukas Sadorov	Jean-Marc Piché
	Sweepers	Christian Erickson	Keoni Waxman
	Blackjack (TV)	Jack Devlin	John Woo
1999	Bridge of Dragons	Warchild	Isaac Florentine
	Storm Catcher	Jack Holloway	Anthony Hickox
	Jill Rips (Jill The Ripper)	Matt Sorenson	Anthony Hickox
2000	The Last Patrol	Captain Nick Preston	Sheldon Lettich
	Agent Red	Matt Hendricks	Damian Lee
2001	Hidden Agenda	Jason Price	Marc S. Grenier
2003	Detention	Sam Decker	Sidney J. Furie
2004	Direct Action	Frank Gannon	Sidney J. Furie
	Fat Slags	Randy	Ed Bye
	Retrograde	John Foster	Christopher Kulikowski
	The Defender	Lance Rockford	Dolph Lundgren
2005	The Mechanik (The Russian Specialist)	Nikolai Cherenko	Dolph Lundgren
2006	The Inquiry (The Final Inquiry)	Brixos	Giulio Base
2007	Diamond Dogs	Xander Ronson	Shimon Dotan / Dolph Lundgren
	Missionary Man	Ryder	Dolph Lundgren
2008	Direct Contact	Mike Riggins	Danny Lerner
2009	Command Performance	Joe	Dolph Lundgren
	Universal Soldier: Regeneration	Andrew Scott	John Hyams
2010	The Expendables	Gunnar Jensen	Sylvester Stallone
	Icarus (The Killing Machine)	Edward Genn	Dolph Lundgren
2011	Skin Trade		Dolph Lundgren
	Universal Soldier: The New Dimension	Andrew Scott	John Hyams

Director

Year	Movie
2004	The Defender
2005	The Mechanik (The Russian Specialist)
2007	Diamond Dogs (uncredited co-director)
2007	Missionary Man
2009	Command Performance
2010	Icarus (The Killing Machine)
2011	Skin Trade

References

External links

• Dolph Lundgren official page
• Dolph Ultimate Guide
• Facebook
• MySpace
• "Command Performance" by Dolph Lundgren
• Dolph Lundgren at the Internet Movie Database
• Dolph Lundgren at the Swedish Film Database

• Interview with Dolph Lundgren at SuicideGirls.com
• BBC UK 2008 Olympics Interview
• Exclusive James Bond interview
• Bodybuilding.com Interview