Viggo Mortensen

Viggo Peter Mortensen (New York, October 20, 1958) is an American actor and film director of Danish descent. For his performances, he has been nominated three times for the Oscars, four for the Golden Globe Awards and once for the Goya Awards. He also works as a poet, musician, photographer and painter.

Early Years

Viggo was born on the Lower East Side of Manhattan on October 20, 1958. His father is Danish and his mother is American — his maternal grandfather was from Nova Scotia (Canada) and his maternal grandmother was from New England (United States). —. The couple had met in Norway and were married in the Netherlands, in a Lutheran ceremony. Despite the fact that in Denmark his paternal family was a cattle farmer, his father dedicated himself to business and, hoping to make a fortune, in 1960 he moved with his family (Viggo has two younger brothers) to South America. South. The family would move to Buenos Aires, in Argentina, often spending vacations back in Denmark, at the Mortensen family farm. The family finally settled in Argentina, where Mortensen lived until he was eleven years old, in the province of Chaco, Buenos Aires and Córdoba. When he was six or seven years old, Viggo began to write his first "short stories". There he learned Spanish with a River Plate accent. After his parents' divorce, he returned to New York with his mother and his two brothers. There he graduated in Politics and Spanish, from Saint Lawrence University, in 1980. ^{[citation needed ]}

After two years in which she lived in Denmark without having decided on her professional career, she returned to Manhattan to finally study acting at Warren Robertson's Theater Workshop. She dedicated a few years to the theater, first in New York and later in Los Angeles, where thanks to her performance in the play Bent she received the Dramalogue Critics & # 39; Award.^{[citation required]}

Film career

Viggo Mortensen at the premiere ceremony The Lord of the Rings: the Ring Community in Wellington, New Zealand, December 1, 2001.

He began his film career with his portrayal of an Amish farmer in the film Witness (Witness in danger, in Latin America; Only witness, in Spain, 1985), where he appeared with Harrison Ford. Thanks to this and his following projects, he gained a place in the world of cinema: this is how he could be seen in films such as Strange blood bond (The Indian Runner), directed and written by Sean Penn; Trapped by His Past (Carlito's Way), by Brian De Palma, and Marea Roja (Crimson Tide), directed by Tony Scott and starring Denzel Washington and Gene Hackman.^{[citation needed]}

Little by little, her face began to become more familiar to the public due to her film roles alongside actors such as Michael Douglas and Gwyneth Paltrow, in A Perfect Murder; Demi Moore, in Lieutenant O'Neil (G. I. Jane), or Nicole Kidman, in Portrait of a Lady (The Portrait of a Lady). In 1995, she shot in Spain the thriller Gimlet together with Ángela Molina; in 1996 Daylight with Sylvester Stallone; and in 1997, the film My Brother's Gun, by writer-director Ray Loriga.^{[<citation needed]}

But it wasn't until 1997 that his big break came when he received an offer from New Zealand filmmaker Peter Jackson to work on the project that would change the fate of his professional career. Although Mortensen was initially hesitant to accept the role of Aragorn in the Lord of the Rings film trilogy, his son, a staunch fan of J.R.R. Tolkien's work, convinced him to take part in it. During the two years of filming, he became so involved with the character that he helped design the costume he would wear in the film and became so fond of the horse he worked with and rode in his spare time that he ended up buying it. The world premiere of The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring, on December 19, 2001, marked a before and after in the history of cinema and kept millions of viewers in suspense year after year. year, until December 17, 2003 when the last installment of Tolkien's trilogy was released. It received great acclaim from critics and an enthusiastic reception from fans of the book, since it faithfully represented the profile of the character.^{[citation required]}

Viggo Mortensen, at the 2008 Toronto International Film Festival.

After his consecration to stardom with The Lord of the Rings, he landed his first role as a leading actor in the film Hidalgo: Oceans of Fire, by Joe Johnston, Based on the true story of jockey Frank T. Hopkins. He also took a liking to and bought the horse he rode in this movie. He later landed another starring role in David Cronenberg's film A History of Violence, alongside Maria Bello, Ed Harris and William Hurt, among others.^{[citation needed ]}

During 2006, he shot in Spain Alatriste, by Agustín Díaz Yanes, which recounts the adventures of Captain Alatriste, a literary character created by Murcian journalist Arturo Pérez-Reverte. In it, he repeats himself as the protagonist, now in a role in Spanish, although to adapt his notorious Argentine accent he had to practice in the mountain towns of Leon, specifically in the Curueño valley, where he was perfecting his speech through contact with the locals. Due to his connection with León and his province, bearing his name throughout the world, both the City Council of the capital and the Provincial Council wanted to recognize his merits by awarding him the Gold Medals of the Province and of the City of Leon. Both awards, highest distinctions granted by both institutions, were collected by the actor in an act that took place in León on October 13, 2006.^{[citation required]}

In his 2007 work Eastern Promises , also from director David Cronenberg, Viggo plays a Russian mobster whose paths cross with an innocent woman (Naomi Watts) who, accidentally, he investigates the past of a young woman, to later discover that she was related to the Russian mafia. In 2008, his works Appaloosa and Good were released, and in 2009 he premiered La carretera with great success. In 2010, he collaborated again with David Cronenberg on the film A Dangerous Method (released in 2011), a film adaptation of Christopher Hampton's 2002 play The Talking Cure. His plot revolves around the professional and emotional relationships that arise between Sabina Spielrein (Keira Knightley), Carl Gustav Jung (Michael Fassbender) and Sigmund Freud. Mortensen played the role of Freud, replacing Christoph Waltz, who could not participate due to scheduling problems, disproving rumors about his supposed withdrawal from the world of cinema.

In 2011 Mortensen starred in his first Argentine film, the thriller We all have a plan, directed by Ana Piterbarg and produced by Mariela Besuievski, Vanessa Ragone, Gerardo Herrero and Axel Kuschevatzky. The film was released the following year. In addition, she returned to the theater, interpreting in Madrid the work of Ariel Dorfman Purgatorio .

Kristen Stewart, Viggo Mortensen and Kirsten Dunst, promoting On the Road, at the Festival de Cannes of 2012.

He can be described as a versatile artist, since, in addition to working as an actor, he is also dedicated to the world of poetry, photography, music and painting. He owns Perceval Press, where he has published his books of poetry and photography. One of his most popular stories is Coincidence of Memory . In the musical field, he is dedicated to jazz and has included fragments in which he himself reads his poetry on some of his records. He also appeared on the original soundtrack of The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King, as he composed the music for "Aragorn's Coronation" and sang the verses written by Tolkien. Regarding the world of painting, he is dedicated to abstract art, since he has included fragments of his poems on some occasions. His works have been exhibited in various art galleries around the world. In the movie A Perfect Crime, some of his paintings even appear in the studio of David Shaw, the artist he plays.^{[citation required]}

In 2012, he also starred in the film On the Road, a film adaptation of Jack Kerouac's novel of the same name, directed by Walter Salles. The story is based on Kerouac's years traveling across America in the 1940s with his friend Neal Cassady and other figures including William S. Burroughs and Allen Ginsberg. The film was screened and selected to compete for the Palme d'Or at the 2012 Cannes Film Festival.

In 2016, he starred in the film Captain Fantastic, centered on a family man who has raised his six children far from modern civilization. For this film he received his second Oscar nomination.

In 2018, he starred in the film Green Book, where he plays Tony Lip, the bodyguard of an Afro-descendant pianist (Mahershala Ali) during a tour of the southern United States. The film won the Oscar for Best Picture and Mortensen, his third nomination as an actor.

In 2020 he was awarded the Donostia Award in honor of his professional career. He also presented his directorial debut with Falling, a drama about a father who begins to suffer from symptoms of dementia.

Personal life

Viggo Mortensen, at the 2009 Venice International Film Festival.

Mortensen was married for ten years (from 1987 to 1997) to the American musician and artist Exene Cervenka, singer of the punk group X, with whom he had his son Henry Blake in 1988. After the couple's divorce, custody of his only son was shared. In 2009, the media publicized his relationship with the Spanish actress Ariadna Gil, co-star in Alatriste and Appaloosa .

Mortensen speaks four languages: Spanish, English, French and Danish. He also claims to be able to hold a conversation in Italian, Swedish or Norwegian, and on occasion has spoken in public in Arabic and Catalan.

He belongs to the Evangelical Lutheran Church in the United States.^{[citation needed]}

Passion for soccer

During his childhood in Argentina, Viggo became a fan of Club Atlético San Lorenzo de Almagro, which is why, according to the actor himself, he doesn't miss any of the games on television and attends the club's stadium every time he visits Argentina. He is affectionately called "Guido" Mortensen by the club's fans, after the "azulgrana" idol (nickname with which the Argentine club is known), Héctor Bambino Veira, baptized him that way during a television interview. Mortensen was named Barça ambassador for the San Lorenzo club. At the celebration of the centennial institution, in 2008, Viggo confessed that his greatest pride is being a fan of San Lorenzo.

He can usually be seen carrying some item related to the team, be it a bracelet, a pendant or any other item that combines the colors red and blue. In the Mario Pergolini program on Vorterix radio, Viggo Mortensen confessed that during the filming of the The Lord of the Rings trilogy, he wore the shirt of Beto Acosta, former soccer player, under the dressing room for many scenes in the movies. of San Lorenzo. In addition, in that same interview, he confessed that he manipulated the costume designers so that part of his costumes had the colors blue and scarlet. At the party after the 80th Academy Awards ceremony, it was possible to photograph the actor, together with Cate Blanchett, with the shirt of the Argentine team; as well as with David Cronenberg, when they presented Eastern Promises, and on many other various occasions.^{[citation needed]}

Ideology

Viggo has shown his support for the Catalan independence process on several occasions. Initially, he was in favor of it by signing a manifesto entitled & # 34; Let Catalans vote! & # 34; which was made public in 2014, before the referendum for sovereignty and which, at that time, was signed by twenty-six international personalities. Subsequently, in May 2018, it became a formal member of the Catalan association Òmnium Cultural. Currently, He is in favor of the referendum to decide whether Catalonia and the Basque Country become independent or continue to belong to Spain, but he has not officially declared himself in favor or against voting for independence.^{[citation required ]}

Filmography

Discography

The actor has also collaborated with guitarist Buckethead.

• January 1, 1999 - One Less Thing to Worry About
• 1 January 1999 - The Other Parade
• 1 November 1999 - One Man's Meat
• 2003 - Pandemoniumfromamerica
• 2004 - Please Tomorrow
• 27 September 2005 - Intelligence^{[chuckles]required]}

Awards

Oscar Awards