Dolph Lundgren

  • Date of Birth: November 03, 1957
  • Place of Birth: Stockholm, Stockholms län, Sweden
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Dolph Lundgren Biography

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The entertainment career of former karate champion turned action film star Dolph Lundgren has served as a vivid reminder that in Hollywood, fame, success and respect do not necessarily arrive together. His imposing physical presence--six feet, five inches of lean muscle, a cruelly handsome visage and hair of gold--made Lundgren a natural for playing cold, implacable villains, most famously the superbly trained, steroid-enhanced Russian boxer Drago in "Rocdolph lundgrenky IV" (1985), his feature "debut" (after a walk-on earlier that year as a KGB agent in the limp 007 vehicle "A View to a Kill"). Not only does his character kill Apollo Creed (Carl Weathers) in the ring but he nearly destroys everyone's favorite underdog as well. Despite critical derision, the film was a hit thereby transforming Lundgren into an instant celebrity. Lundgren had first tasted notoriety a few years earlier as the boy-toy of the equally exotic black pop chanteuse Grace Jones. The two made a striking pair on the early 1980s NYC club scene: Jones deliciously dark, fierce and feral with the ice cool blond Lundgren, bare-chested and clad only in tight leather pants. This was undoubtedly a heady experience for a twentysomething Swedish chemical engineering student (he had earned his MA from the University of Sydney) who had been working as a doorman and bouncer at several trendy nightclubs just months before. That Jones played one of the villains in Roger Moore's last Bond outing probably helped her boyfriend make it in front of the camera. Nevertheless, his own impressive attributes paved the way for his subsequent success.


In 1987, Lundgren made his entry into the lucrative exercise video with "Maximum Potential", a take-no-prisoners workout based on his own daily regimen. His next theatrical release gave him his first starring role as Lundgren embodied He-Man, a muscle-bound Mattel action figure, with amusing verisimilitude in the kiddie sci-fi actioner "Masters of the Universe" (1987). While the project made money, its success did nothing to enhance Lundgren's status as a leading man. Nor did the subsequent blood-splattered heroic comic-book outings "Red Scorpion" (1989), in which he played a conflicted Russian agent; "The Punisher" (also 1989), as Marvel Comics' popular vigilante anti-hero; nor "I Come in Peace" (1990), a sci-fi thriller in which he was a human cop tracking down alien fugitives. The mayhem was a bit more character-driven in the well-crafted if unintentionally racist cop drama "Showdown in Little Tokyo" (1991) but most agreed that the big, dour Swede paled all the more beside his compact but charismatic co-star Brandon Lee. As if chastened by the experience, Lundgren was downright lively when paired with a winningly robotic Jean-Claude Van Damme in the diverting "Universal Soldier" (1992), helmed by a pre-"Independence Day" Roland Emmerich. His reputation as a second-string action hero was secure though he enjoyed far greater success overseas than in the US. Unlike Arnold Schwarzenegger, Lundgren was a trained athlete rather than a bodybuilder.

Dolph Lundgren
Unlike Van Damme, he was an award-winning world-class martial artist. Unlike all of his tough-guy contemporaries, Lundgren was also an academic whiz who was accepted to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology as a Fulbright scholar before being lured to the limelight. Still his intelligence won him no respect. His Aryan good looks, Swedish accent, stiff performance style and poor choice of early roles kept him off the action A-list. In 1993, Lundgren formed his own production company, Thor Pictures and made his debut as an executive producer the following year with "Pentathalon", a character-driven adventure about a star East German pentathlete who defects to the US. While training for the role, he met and befriended several of the top US modern pentathletes. Tiring of Hollywood, Lundgren moved with wife back to NYC in 1994 where he became involved with the Ensemble Studio Theater. He even formed his own theater company, Group of Eight. Lundgren next turned up in a relatively high-profile "Johnny Mnemonic" (1995), as the crazed, messianic Street Preacher, a hitman tracking Keanu Reeves. Never before had his performance style been so over-the-top. Lundgren also used his celebrity to champion his adopted countrymen as the official team leader of the US modern pentathlon squad at the 1996 Olympic Games in Atlanta.






Birth Name:Hans Dolph Lundgren
Eye color: Blue
Height: 6' 5" (1.96 m)
Notable feature(s):
Education:Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Massachusetts
Spoken Languages:Speaks three languages:
  • Swedish
  • English and some German.
  • Said to speak Japanese as well, but actually knows only a few phrases. Also speaks some Spanish as he lives in Spain.
Family:
  • Brother: Johan Lundgren. older; worked in offshore oil technology
  • Two daughters:
  • Ida Sigrid Lundgren (born April 1996) : Mother Anette Qviberg
  • Greta Eveline Lundgren (born November 2001).Mother Anette Qviberg


  • During the early 1980s he dated singer Grace Jones. He has been married to Anette Qviberg, a jewellery designer and fashion stylist, since 1994. The couple spends their time between their new home in London and Marbella.
Resides in:Marabella/Spain
Religious affiliations: Roman Catholic
Political affiliation:
Personal interests/hobbies:
Charities/Causes:








A world-class athlete and winner of several international karate cDompetitions, Lundgren took up martial arts at 14 and is now a 3rd Dan (third degree Black Belt) in Kyokushinkai (full-contact karate) and attends the Swedish Kyokushin camps yearly. His accomplishments in the sport include being the captain of the Swedish Kyokushin karate team and the winner of the European Heavyweight Kyokushin Karate Championship in 1980 and 1981, as well as the Australian heavyweight division title in 1982. titles. Lundgren's lifelong interest in physical fitness led to his 1987 release of an exercise video called "Maximum Potential," based on his own daily workout. Lundgren has been writting a fitness book due for an estimated 2008 release.


Dolphacts

  • He was once a bodyguard for Grace Jones.

  • Dolph Lundgren worked the door, alongside Chazz Palminteri, at a NYC nightclub.

  • He visited Fort Hood, Texas On February 25, 2005 and was introduced by Captain James Van Thach. He thanked U.S. soldiers for their support on the War on Terrorism and also to promote The Russian Specialist.

  • He made his directorial debut in 2004 with the film Defender.

  • (At the age of 15), was self-described as "one of the weaklings people kick sand at on the beach", but later became an expert in Kyokushin Karate.

  • (Earlier in his life) was engaged to Grace Jones and was in a long-term relationship with Paula Barbieri.

  • Dolph Lundgren experimented with anabolic steroids to improve his physique for "Rocky IV".

  • Dolph Lundgren was chosen by People Magazine to be one of the 50 most beautiful people in the world. (2000)

  • He was a fan of the Kokino bar in the city of Montreal, Quebec.

  • Dolph Lundgren injured Slyvester Stallone whilst filming "ROCKY IV" he punched him in the chest, Slyvester complained about chest pains and was took to hospital. He had a badly bruised chest.

  • He is a 3rd Dan in Kyokushin Karate. He still trains and teaches in summer camps to this day. In the seventies and the early eighties, he was one of the best knockdown fighters in the world and could well have been the 1979 world champion.

  • He was previously a team leader for the United States modern pentathlon team at the 1996 summer Olympics.


Last update: Nov 15 2009, 9:59 AM EST by williamsjr (content history | content tools) (help)
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  • FuturistiK
    FuturistiK
    His upcoming Movies r very cool:
    Command Performance
    Direct Contact
    Icarus
    Universal Soldier 3
    Bare Knuckles Boxing
    posted 407 days ago
  • Sugarman
    Sugarman
    Dolph is truly one of the greatest actors of all time.
    posted 481 days ago
  • suntpisica
    suntpisica
    i love action films..he is the best
    posted 750 days ago
  • wazir2hotty
    wazir2hotty
    me and my pals like you alot. we enjoy your action movies. we watched this called The Minion and it was so cool and the peacekeeper. youre the best
    posted 780 days ago
  • kimberlyanky
    kimberlyanky
    dolph...is the biggest actor..i love him very much...who like dolph can talk to me on my id messenger...kimberly_anky...
    posted 878 days ago
  • samAYEam
    samAYEam
    swoooooooon. i have loved you since universal soldier. so hott!
    posted 891 days ago
  • haydenbreather
    haydenbreather
    i like dolph lundgren because he is cool,strong and a mean machine hes wicked
    posted 937 days ago
  • jojjobackis
    jojjobackis
    heja sverige heja sverige och vem är du i 007?
    posted 963 days ago
  • heeejXD
    heeejXD
    hej på dej!
    posted 965 days ago
  • chontal3
    chontal3
    HI you are sooo asome in
    movis whit brandon lee
    and jean claude van damme.
    and i know you are from sweden
    and you are asom actor.
    mi neam is michelle.
    and i love yours movies.
    by dolph lundgren and in sewdis adolf lundgren hej då.
    posted 986 days ago
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