Viggo Mortensen

Viggo Mortensen married actress and singer Exene Cervenka on July 8, 1987. On January 28, 1988, their son Henry Blake was born. The couple separated in 1992, and divorced in 1997. Since 2009, Viggo has been in a relationship with Spanish actress Ariadna Gil.

He is a fan of soccer, and his favorite players are Argentine player Diego Maradona and Héctor Bambino Veira. Besides Argentine and Danish national teams, he supports Argentine club San Lorenzo de Almagro, English team Fulham FC, and Turkish team Besiktas. Hockey is his next favorite sport, and he supports the Montreal Canadiens, New York Mets, and the New York Giants.

Viggo Peter Mortensen was born on October 20, 1958, in New York City to American mother Grace Gamble and Danish father Viggo Peter Mortensen Sr. While his maternal grandfather was a Canadian, his maternal grandmother was from New England.

His family moved a lot, frequently shifting to different countries. He attended primary school in Buenos Aires where his father managed poultry farms and ranches. His parents divorced when he was 11, and his mother returned to New York with him.

He graduated from Watertown High School in 1976. He attended St. Lawrence University in Canton, and earned a bachelor's degree in Spanish Studies and Politics in 1980.

After graduating, he lived in England and Spain for some time before moving to Denmark, where he did various jobs like driving trucks and selling flowers. He eventually returned to the US to pursue an acting career.

Viggo Mortensen made his film debut in ‘The Purple Rose of Cairo’, but unfortunately his scenes were deleted. In 1985, he made his appearance in Peter Weir's ‘Witness’ as an Amish farmer. In the same year, he was featured in ‘Search for Tomorrow’, an American television soap opera, in the role of Bragg.

In 1987, he acted in the Martin Sherman play ‘Bent’, which was about homosexual concentration camp prisoners. In the same year, he guest starred as a police detective on the series ‘Miami Vice’.

In the 1990s, he appeared in supporting roles in a number of films like Jane Campion's ‘The Portrait of a Lady’, ‘Young Guns II’, ‘Prison’, ‘Leatherface: The Texas Chainsaw Massacre III’, ‘The Indian Runner’, ‘The Young Americans’, ‘The Crew’, and others. His supporting role as ‘Master Chief John Urgayle’ in ‘G.I. Jane’ was significant.

The major breakthrough in his career came in 1999, when Peter Jackson cast him as Aragorn in ‘The Lord of the Rings’ film trilogy. He often performed his own stunts, and was even injured several times.

Viggo Mortensen composed the music for, and was featured on ‘The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King’ soundtrack, singing ‘Aragorn's Coronation’. In the extended DVD edition of the Lord of the Rings movie, ‘The Fellowship of the Ring,’ he sang the song ‘The Lay of Beren and Lúthien’.

Viggo Mortensen earned critical acclaim for his portrayal of Aragorn in ‘The Lord of the Rings’ movie series; his character was ranked No. 15 on a survey of ‘The 100 Greatest Movie Characters' conducted by Empire in 2015.

In 2005, he received critical acclaim for his performance in ‘A History of Violence’. In 2007, he was again praised for his role in ‘Eastern Promises’; his nude fight scene was applauded as a “benchmark”.