| # | Fact |
|---|
| 1 | As of 2016, has appeared in four films that were nominated for the Best Picture Oscar: Witness (1985), The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (2001), The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers (2002) and The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (2003), with the latter being a winner in the category. |
| 2 | He is an avid NY Mets fan. |
| 3 | Has worked with the two actors who have played the character of Magneto in the X-Men saga, Ian McKellen (the Lord of the Rings) and Michael Fassbender (A Dangerous Method (2011)). |
| 4 | In London shooting the movie Eastern Promises (2007) by David Cronenberg. [November 2006] |
| 5 | Filming Alatriste (2006) in Spain. [April 2005] |
| 6 | Presented a book by Perceval Press on Argentine poetry at the Cultural Center of Spain in Buenos Aires on August 11, 2009, and, together with the featured poets, autographed books afterwards. [August 2009] |
| 7 | Appeared at the Miami International Film Festival with Ariadna Gil and 'Augustin Diaz Yanes' at the showing of Alatriste (2006), where they all answered questions from the audience, afterward. [March 2007] |
| 8 | Arrived in Toronto to promote Hidalgo (2004) on the 2nd. [February 2004] |
| 9 | Buenos Aires, Argentina, to promote the thriller Everybody Has a Plan (2012) in which he plays twins. [August 2012] |
| 10 | At Rome film Festival to promote his 2 new movies: Appaloosa (2008) and Good (2008). He is here between 23rd and 28th October. [October 2008] |
| 11 | He's in Spain to promote and attend to the premiere of his film Alatriste (2006). [September 2006] |
| 12 | He visited Argentina for four days [November 2003] |
| 13 | Istanbul, Turkey: Filming The Two Faces of January (2014) [November 2012] |
| 14 | Filmed several readings for "The People's History" (a miniseries based on the books by Howard Zinn) in Boston, Massachusetts. [January 2008] |
| 15 | He visited Argentina for five days. [November 2005] |
| 16 | Visited Denmark to attend the A History of Violence (2005) premiere. [November 2005] |
| 17 | He did all of his own stunts in the 1988 horror thriller "Prison". Stunt coordinator Kane Hodder even gave him a "Stunt Crew" t-shirt after filming wrapped. |
| 18 | Was on April 16th 2010 knighted by Queen Margarethe II of Denmark. He is now one of five knights from The Lord of the Rings production; the others being Ian Holm, Ian McKellen, Christopher Lee and Peter Jackson. |
| 19 | Met ex-wife Exene Cervenka on the set of Salvation!: Have You Said Your Prayers Today? (1987). |
| 20 | Replaced Christoph Waltz in the role of Sigmund Freud in A Dangerous Method (2011) after Waltz backed out of the project in order to film Water for Elephants (2011). |
| 21 | On December 4th, 2009, for the Montréal Canadiens centennial celebration at the Bell Center, Viggo Mortensen - a long-time Canadiens fan - came out in his red Habs jersey to introduce Guy Lafleur, "my all-time hero," in French. |
| 22 | Wore a Montreal Canadiens jersey under his costume during the filming of The Lord of the Rings films. |
| 23 | His grandfather was from Canada. |
| 24 | A skilled horseman, he did all his own stunts in Hidalgo (2004), including a breakneck bareback ride that even the stuntman couldn't handle. |
| 25 | For his role in Eastern Promises (2007), he stated that part of his performance was inspired by Russian hockey player Alexei Kovalev. |
| 26 | In Eastern Promises (2007) his Russian/Ukrainian dialect coach was Olegar Fedoro. |
| 27 | Spent a couple weeks in Russia prior to filming Eastern Promises (2007) to research his role and better understand his character. |
| 28 | Filmed scenes for The Purple Rose of Cairo (1985), but they were all cut out. |
| 29 | Admitted in an interview that when he first started out as an actor his agents encouraged him to change his name to "Vic Morten", obviously he refused. |
| 30 | Choosen by Empire Magazine as one of the 100 Sexiest Movie Stars in the world (#69) 2007. |
| 31 | Older brother of Walter Mortensen. |
| 32 | Voted #14 in Elle (France) Magazine's "15 Sexiest Men" poll (June 2007). |
| 33 | Is a big fan of the New York Mets and the Montreal Canadiens. When filming A History of Violence (2005), he showed up on the Toronto set wearing a Canadiens' jersey. |
| 34 | He received the scar on his upper lip after scratching his face on a barbed wire fence at a Halloween party. |
| 35 | After his parents divorced when he was eleven, he moved to new York with his mother and two younger brothers. |
| 36 | His father's name is also Viggo. His mother's name is Grace. |
| 37 | Although their divorce only became final in 1998, he and his former wife, Exene Cervenka, separated in late 1990/early 1991 after less than 3 years of marriage but remain close friends often working together and co-parenting their son. |
| 38 | Ranked #19 on Tropopkin's Top 25 Most Intriguing People [Issue #100] |
| 39 | He became good friends with the close-knit stunt men on the "Lord of the Rings" films, but they were wary of doing fight scenes with him because, carried away with the intensity of his character Aragorn, he would frequently "really go at them" and leave the other combatants in bruises. Massive actor Lawrence Makoare, playing Lurtz under heaps of make-up which restricted his vision, also got carried away during their fight scene at the conclusion of The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (2001) and, for once, Mortensen was left more bruised than the other actor. |
| 40 | While working on the Lord of the Rings trilogy, he asked writer/director Peter Jackson to revise scripts so that his character Aragorn would be speaking in the Elvish language in several scenes of all three movies. |
| 41 | Is one of four "Lord of the Rings" stars to star, pre-"Rings," with Harrison Ford. He starred with Ford in Witness (1985). Ford starred with John Rhys-Davies (Gimli) in Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981) and Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade (1989), Sean Bean (Boromir) in Patriot Games (1992) and Miranda Otto (Eowyn) in What Lies Beneath (2000). |
| 42 | At first, turned down the part of Aragorn of Lord of the Rings. His son convinced him to do the part. |
| 43 | Ranked #10 on VH1's Hottest Hotties. |
| 44 | Was invited to join the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) in June 2004. |
| 45 | While filming "The Lord of The Rings" trilogy in New Zealand, he would go surfing with the other actors in their spare time. One day he suffered an accident which left a bruise on the right side of his face. As a result, director Peter Jackson had to shoot only the left side of his face in the entire Moria sequence. |
| 46 | Worked as a translator for the Swedish hockey team during the 1980 Winter Olympics in Lake Placid and was at the 'miracle' game between the Soviet Union and United States. |
| 47 | His father is Danish. His mother is American, and has English, and more distant Scottish, ancestry. His maternal grandfather was from Nova Scotia, Canada, and his maternal grandmother was from New York. |
| 48 | Purchased the horses he rode in the "Lord of the Rings" trilogy and Hidalgo (2004) after the films were completed. |
| 49 | Was in remakes of two Alfred Hitchcock films in the same year: A Perfect Murder (1998) - a remake of Dial M for Murder (1954) - and Psycho (1998). |
| 50 | In 2003 he visited Denmark and had a booksigning, an art exhibition opening and The Lord of The Rings premiere. |
| 51 | Owner of publishing company Perceval Press. |
| 52 | Broke two toes during the filming of The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers (2002), in the scene where he kicks an Orc helmet. |
| 53 | As Viggo lived in Argentina as a child, he is a fan of Argentine soccer team San Lorenzo (real name of the team: "San Lorenzo of Almagro", from Buenos Aires City).Viggo usually wear clothes and accessories with this team's colors (red & blue) the last time in public, at the Rome Festival, in the "Alatriste" Premiere. |
| 54 | An accomplished horseman in his spare time, Mortensen requested that his "Rings" character Aragorn be given more saddle time than was originally scripted. He also kept his on-screen horse nearby during the entire principal photography schedule in order to ride in his off-hours and strengthen his relationship with the horse. |
| 55 | Graduated from St. Lawrence University in Canton, New York in 1980 with a degree in Government and Spanish. |
| 56 | Has two younger brothers, Walter and Charles. They are both geologists. |
| 57 | Was named one of the 50 Most Beautiful People by People Magazine in 2002. |
| 58 | Got so into his character of Aragorn that director Peter Jackson once addressed him as Aragorn for over half an hour, and Mortensen didn't even realize it. |
| 59 | Replaced Stuart Townsend in the role of Aragorn/Strider in The Lord of the Rings, after filming began. |
| 60 | Broke a tooth while filming a fight sequence for The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers (2002); he asked the crew if they would glue it back on so he could finish the scene. |
| 61 | Worked as a truck driver while living in Denmark |
| 62 | Is also a jazz musician - he has released three CDs so far. |
| 63 | Writes poetry in his spare time. |
| 64 | Has been photographing for years, recently debuted with an exhibition at the Robert Mann Gallery in NYC. -- American Photo, July/August 2000. |
| 65 | Lived in South America from age 2 to age 11. |
| 66 | He actually painted the large murals in his artist's studio in the film A Perfect Murder (1998). |
| 67 | Became a father for the 1st time at age 29 when his [now ex] wife Exene Cervenka gave birth to their son Henry Mortensen on January 28, 1988. |
| 68 | Speaks fluent English, Spanish, Danish, and French, but he also speaks Swedish and Norwegian reasonably well. |
| 69 | Had a book of poetry printed before he was known. The title: "Ten Last Night." |
| 70 | He is the ex-husband of Exene Cervenka, the singer of the punk band X. |
ncG1vNJzZmimlanEsL7Toaeoq6RjvLOzjq%2BgoJ%2BfYrqwvtOepaydnmK7psCMsKarrJhk