Dolph Lundgren

Hans ***"Dolph" Lundgren,*** born November 3, 1957, is a Swedish actor, director, screenwriter, producer, and martial artist. The name "Dolph" comes from a distant relative of one of his first hamsters.

Lundgren received a degree in chemical engineering from the Royal Institute of Technology in the early 1980s and a master's degree in chemical engineering from the University of Sydney in 1982. He holds the rank of 3rd dan black belt in Kyokushin karate and was European champion in 1980-81. While in Sydney, he became a bodyguard for Jamaican singer Grace Jones and began a relationship with her. He received a Fulbright scholarship to MIT and moved to Boston. Jones convinced him to leave the university and move to New York City to be with her and begin acting, where, after a short stint as a model and bouncer at the Manhattan nightclub The Limelight, Lundgren got a small debut role as a KGB henchman in the James Bond film A View to a Kill, in which Jones starred.

### Career

Lundgren's breakthrough came when he starred in Rocky IV in 1985 as the imposing Soviet boxer Ivan Drago. Since then, he has starred in more than 40 films, almost all of them in the action genre. He portrayed He-Man in the 1987 science fantasy film Masters of the Universe and Frank Castle in the 1989 film The Punisher. In the early 1990s, he also appeared in films such as Dark Angel (1990), Universal Soldier (1992), Joshua Tree (1993), Johnny Mnemonic (1995), and Blackjack (1998).

### Football/Soccer Fan

He is an avid football fan. He supported Everton FC when he lived in Europe, but developed more of an interest in international football tournaments (such as the UEFA European Championship and the FIFA World Cup) after moving to Los Angeles.

### Selected Filmography

#### April 21, 1989 (US); January 12, 1990 (UK video): Red Scorpion

> *"They think they control him. Think again..."*
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***Red Scorpion*** is a 1988 American action film starring Dolph Lundgren.

Hesitating in the moment he is about to kill the rebel leader, Nikolai (Lundgren) fails and is captured. Rather than being killed outright, he is forced to undergo a shamanic initiation ritual. The ingestion of the poison of a local scorpion, and his initiation ceremony, including scarification (a scorpion), give him a new identity and role in the world -- the Red Scorpion.

#### June 1, 1990: The Punisher

> *"Judge. Jury. Executioner. All in a day's work."*
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***The Punisher*** is an Australian-American action film starring Dolph Lundgren and Louis Gossett, Jr. Based on the Marvel Comics' character of the same name, the film changes many details of the character's comic book origin and the main character does not wear the trademark "skull" shirt.

Frank Castle (Lundgren) is an ex-cop who lives in the sewers and acts as judge, jury, and executioner to the city's criminals in retaliation for the unpunished murders of his wife and kids. Frank's ex-partner Jake (Gossett Jr.) finally catches up with the vigilante as he tries to stop the Japanese mob, which is trying to take over the city's mafia operation. IMDb.com

#### July 13, 1990: Dark Angel

> *"It's not a close encounter... It's the last."*
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***Dark Angel*** stars Dolph Lundgren about a rule-breaking vice cop who becomes involved in the investigation of mysterious drug-related murders on the streets of Houston, Texas.

Jack Caine (Lundgren) is a Houston vice cop who's forgotten the rule book. His self-appointed mission is to stop the drugs trade and the number one supplier Victor Manning (Sherman Howard). Whilst involved in an undercover operation to entrap Manning, his partner gets killed, and a sinister newcomer enters the scene... Along with F.B.I. agent Lawrence Smith (Brian Benben), the two investigate a spate of mysterious deaths; normal non-junkies dying of massive heroin overdoses and bearing the same horrific puncture marks on the forehead. This, coupled with Caine's own evidence, indicates an alien force is present on the streets of Houston, killing and gathering stocks of a rare drug found only in the brain... Caine is used to fighting the toughest of criminals, but up to now they've all been human... IMDb.com

#### December 15, 1995: The Shooter (aka Hidden Assassin)

> *"Seduction is a deadly weapon!"*
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***The Shooter*** stars Dolph Lundgren as a deputy United States Marshal who gets caught up in politics when he is hired to solve the assassination of a Cuban ambassador.

The Ambassador of Cuba was killed in New York. To prevent another attack of the terrorists at the US-Cuba-summit in Prague the CIA sends one of their best federal agents, Michael Dane (Lundgren). The suspected killer Nikita is a lesbian club owner, Simone Rosset (Maruschka Detmers). But as usual everything is much more complicated than it seemed at first; and therefore Dane has to work much more with his brain than with his muscles to survive. IMDb.com