Everything about Dolph Lundgren totally explained
Dolph Lundgren (born
Hans Lundgren on
November 3,
1957) is a
Swedish actor,
director and
karateka. Well known for his tall stature and level of fitness, Lundgren stood around 6 ft 5 inches (195cm) and over 240 pounds (108 kilograms) at his peak.
His breakthrough came when he starred in
Rocky IV in 1985 as the imposing Russian boxer
Ivan Drago. Since then, he starred in more than 30 pictures, mostly action movies, although his career was at its peak in the late 1980s and early 1990s when he appeared in films such as
Showdown in Little Tokyo (1991), opposite
Brandon Lee, and
Universal Soldier (1992), opposite
Jean-Claude Van Damme. Dolph belongs to a generation of film actors who epitomise the movie
action hero including
Sylvester Stallone,
Arnold Schwarzenegger,
Steven Seagal,
Jean-Claude Van Damme and
Chuck Norris, many of whom he's worked with throughout his career.
Biography
A native of
Stockholm, Dolph Lundgren is a graduate of the
Royal Institute of Technology. He has a
master's degree in
chemical engineering from the
University of Sydney (1982), and was awarded a
Fulbright Scholarship to the
Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1983 – but quit after two weeks to pursue acting. . He speaks five languages:
Swedish,
English,
German,
French,
Spanish, some
Japanese, and some
Italian. He has a younger brother named Johan and two sisters who reside in Sweden.
Lundgren completed his mandatory
military service in his native Sweden at the
Amphibious Ranger School. He left this elite marine unit (
Kustjägarna) with the rank of conscript
corporal.
Lundgren holds a 3rd Dan (3rd Degree Black Belt) in
Kyokushin Karate and won the
European championships in 1980 and 1981 as well as a heavyweight tournament in Australia in 1982 . 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.
Lundgren was selected to serve as the Team Leader of the 1996 U.S. Olympic
Modern Pentathlon Team during the
Atlanta Games, where he coordinated planning and other details between the team and the United States Olympic Committee. He is actively involved in promoting the image of the sport. "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 said.
Film career
In 1985, Lundgren made his feature-film debut in the
James Bond film
A View to a Kill briefly as a suited KGB henchman named Venz. Then he beat 5000 other hopefuls to land the breakthrough role of
Ivan Drago, Sylvester Stallone's opponent in
Rocky IV (
1985). As he stated himself, he was initially turned down for the role, because he was too tall. In order to improve his physique and athletic abilities for the role of
Ivan Drago, he began to train intensely in
bodybuilding and
boxing shortly before the film was shot.
In a January 2008 interview on movie news site, Aint It Cool, Sylvester Stallone said of Lundgren: "During Rocky IV, Dolph had hit me so hard I'd swelling around the heart and had to stay in intensive care at St. John’s Hospital for four days." This answer was in relation to a question on Lundgren losing a real boxing match to former UFC fighter Oleg Taktarov.
He received his first lead role as the mighty
He-Man in
Masters of the Universe (1987), based on the popular children's
Mattel toys, although the film wasn't the expected success. Lundgren however found his calling in action films. He starred as a reformed
Spetsnaz in
Red Scorpion, and then as
Marvel comics character Frank Castle aka 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 recent years, Lundgren has appeared in low-budget
direct-to-video films. In
2004 he's made his directorial debut with the film
The Defender also co-starring
Jerry Springer. Subsequently Lundgren directed
The Mechanik (a.k.a.
The Russian Specialist in the US). He then co-starred alongside
Max von Sydow,
F. Murray Abraham and
Ornella Muti in the historical/biblical film
The Inquiry, awaiting for release (by
Fox Faith), and recently starred in
Diamond Dogs, an action adventure set and filmed in Mongolia. Lundgren also completed
Missionary Man, a modern western that he co-wrote, produced, directed and starred in.
Reports of over-billing
Dolph has often been the victim of over-billing. His IQ has frequently been listed at 160 and that he's fluent in five or six languages. Dolph has expressed that both are inaccurate; although he does speak this number of languages, he isn't fluent in them all.
According to various interviews, Lundgren is over 6'4" in height and not the 6'6" he's often billed and weighs between 230 and 240 pounds. As the character '
Ivan Drago' in
Rocky IV, Lundgren was billed at 261 pounds but at the time weighed about 245 pounds.
Other
Dolph 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.
Dolph claims to have turned down a part in
Gladiator
.
Personal life
During the early 1980s he dated singer
Grace Jones. He has been married to Anette Qviberg, a jewelry designer and fashion stylist, since
1994. The couple spends their time between their new home in
London and
Marbella. They have two daughters: Ida Sigrid Lundgren (born
April 1996) and Greta Eveline Lundgren (born
January 2002)
Filmography
Director
Actor
Cultural references
Further Information
Get more info on 'Dolph Lundgren'.
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