Facts about Viggo Mortensen
Viggo Mortensen Biography
An actor, poet, painter and photographer, Viggo Mortensen got into the movies in the mid-1980s, starting with small roles in big movies and big roles in small movies.
Since then, Viggo Mortensen has been nominated for an Oscar twice for his leading roles in Eastern Promises (2007) and Captain Fantastic (2016).
His big-budget breakthrough was with Gwyneth Paltrow and Michael Douglas in The Perfect Murder (1998). The same year he co-starred in the Gus Van Sant re-make of Alfred Hitchcock‘s Psycho (starring Vince Vaughn).
Mortensen became a major star after being cast as the rugged, royal-blooded Aragorn in The Lord of the Rings movies, director Peter Jackson‘s ambitious trilogy based on J.R.R. Tolkien‘s fantasy classic.
A bankable leading man, he has also starred in Hidalgo (2004), The Road (2009, based on the novel by Cormac McCarthy) and the David Cronenberg films A History of Violence (2005, with William Hurt), Eastern Promises (co-starring Naomi Watts) and A Dangerous Method (2011, as Sigmund Freud).
Extra credit
The three LOTR films were The Fellowship of the Ring (released in 2001), The Two Towers (2002) and The Return of the King (2003)… Mortensen was once married to punk rock singer Exene Cervenka of the band X (1987-98).