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Viggo Peter Mortensen Jr. is a Danish-American actor (and poet, painter, musician, and photographer) born on October 20, 1958 in New York City. He has been acting in movies since 1985, but is probably best know for his role as Aragorn in Peter Jackson's film version of The Lord of the Rings trilogy, a role in which he was cast at the last minute and accepted without having read the books, at the insistence of his son.
Mortensen grew up in Argentina as well as in New York and lived in his father's native Denmark for several years; he speaks Spanish and Danish fluently.
Notable films:[]
- Prison (1988)
- Leatherface the Texas Chainsaw Massacre III (1990)
- The Indian Runner (1991)
- Carlitos Way (1993)
- The Portrait of a Lady (1996)
- G.I. Jane (1997)
- A Perfect Murder (1998)
- Psycho 1998 (1998)
- The Lord Of The Rings trilogy (2000-2003)
- Hidalgo (2004)
- A History of Violence (2005)
- Alatriste (2006)
- Eastern Promises (2007)
- Good (2008)
- The Road (2009)
- A Dangerous Method (2011)
Tropes[]
- Badass: Broke his toe, lost a tooth, and nearly drowned while filming Lord of the Rings, did many of his own stunts, was described by legendary swordmaster Bob Anderson as "the best swordsman I've ever trained" (which is saying something in a 50-year career), and kept his sword with him at all times for the duration of the filming. Oh, and slept in the stables in order to bond with his horse. Stabbed himself in the leg while shooting Alatriste, and kept filming.
- Don't forget the part in Fellowship where he deflected a thrown knife with his sword in a Throw It In moment. Lurtz was supposed to miss, but the actor's makeup obscured his vision and he wound up throwing it straight at Viggo, which could've seriously injured him. Bad. Ass.
- Badass Spaniard: His role as Captain Alatriste.
- Big No / Death Wail / Throw It In: While filming a scene in The Lord Of The Rings, he broke his toe when kicking a helmet. The kick was meant to be followed by a wail out of sorrow/despair, but the one used in the movie is actually Mortensen howling in pain. It was kept because it was the best of the takes.
- Bilingual Bonus: Speaks Danish and Spanish fluently, he has frequently given interviews in both, as well as done shout-outs during events and in English-language interviews.
- Doubles as a Crowning Moment of Awesome when he performs for Howard Zinn's The People Speak, citing a diary entry by Bartolome de Las Casas on the horrendous treatment of American Indians by Christian settlers. In English and in the diary entry's original Spanish!
- Fake Nationality: Fake German (with a British accent) in Good, Russian in Eastern Promises (with a Russian accent) and fake Spaniard (speaking Spanish) in Alatriste.
- Fatal Method Acting: Fortunately averted in The Lord Of The Rings, in which he was at one point pulled under while filming the river scene in The Two Towers.
- Ho Yay: has had a lot of fun with this while filming The Lord Of The Rings. He's rumored to have French-kissed 70% of the male cast, and actually kissed Sean Astin on camera to show him how Sam should kiss Rosie…
- Mr. Fanservice
- The Other Marty: Mortensen was cast as Aragorn when Lord of the Rings had already started filming; Stuart Townsend was originally cast in the role but was deemed too young, while Jackson wanted to keep from having to work with Daniel Day Lewis at all, if possible.
- Renaissance Man: Aside from acting, he's a poet, painter, songwriter and photographer. Oh, and he owns a printing press, Perceval Press.
- So My Kids Can Watch: One of the reasons why he agreed to play Aragorn is because his son is a Tolkien fan.
- Star-Making Role: Aragorn is who he is undoubtedly remembered for.
- Tall, Dark and Handsome: As Aragorn, undoubtedly. In real life, he used to have a more medium blond sort of hair color, although it's mostly gray these days.