1. Viggo Mortensen was born in New York, in 1958.

2. His full name is Viggo Peter Mortensen Jr.

3. He stands at 1.80 m.

4. His father is Danish, his mother is American. They met in Norway.

5. He was married and divorced once. His wife was Exene Cervenka, singer of a punk rock band. They have a son named Henry.

6. It was on Henry’s insistence and admiration for the books that Viggo agreed on playing in the Lord of the Rings.

7. He is fluent in 4 languages: English, French, Spanish and Danish. In fact, he starred in a Spanish movie. He can also speak Norwegian and Swedish.

8. Viggo Mortensen is one of the most multi-talented actors out there. In addition to his acting and language skills, he is also a jazz musician, a painter and a poet. He has released jazz CDs and a poetry book. He is also the one who made the paintings in the studio of his artist character David in A Perfect Murder.

9. Most notable movies are The Indian Runner, A History of Violence, Eastern Promises and The Lord of the Rings trilogy.

10. His co-stars include Ed Harris, William Hurt and Maria Bello (A History of Violence), Michael Douglas and Gwyneth Paltrow (A Perfect Murder), Brendan Fraser, Ashley Judd (The Passion of Darkly Noon), Charlize Theron (The Road), Sandra Bullock (28 Days), Elijah Wood, Liv Tyler, Sean Bean, Cate Blanchett, Orlando Bloom, Ian Holm, Christopher Lee, Ian McKellan, Hugo Weaving, (Lord of the Rings Trilogy), Demi Moore (G.I. Jane), Sylvester Stallone (Daylight), Liev Schreiber, Diane Lane (A Walk on the Moon), Vince Vaughn, Anne Heche, Julianne Moore, William H. Macy (Psycho), Nicole Kidman, John Malkovich (The Portrait of a Lady), Naomi Watts (Eastern Promises), Liam Neeson, Andie MacDowell (Ruby Cairo), David Morse, Patricia Arquette (The Indian Runner), Al Pacino, Sean Penn, Penelope Ann Miller (Carlito’s Way).

11. He worked with director David Cronenberg twice. The movies are A History of Violence (2005) and Eastern Promises (2007). A History of Violence was nominated for 2 Academy Awards: Best Adapted Screenplay and Best Supporting Actor (for William Hurt).

12. He was nominated for Oscar once. His nomination was for Best Actor for his performance in Eastern Promises.

13. He has been appearing on the screen since 1984.

14. Viggo Mortensen collaborated with Sean Penn twice. In 1991, he starred in the powerful drama The Indian Runner, written and directed by actor Sean Penn. In 1993, they co-starred in Carlito’s Way, a crime/drama/thriller starring Al Pacino as Carlito Brigante.

resource: imdb.com