Viggo Mortensen is a Hollywood star that anyone can find walking the streets of Madrid, wearing an old sweatshirt and the newspaper under his arm, without any fuss of glamour. In Spain he has one of his residences fixed and he shoots big productions as well as embarks on his own project, Falling, the last film of his that premiered in our country and was presented at the San Sebastian Festival.
He was born in the Lower East Side, an eclectic Manhattan neighborhood where dusty alleys intermingle with exclusive apartments and designer boutiques and a Jewish legacy that is reflected in its fabric stores and delicatessens scattered along Orchard Street. But Viggo Mortensen has never been a typical New Yorker, nor a typical star.
Hand in hand with Ariadna Gil, with whom he has had a discreet relationship for eleven years , Viggo fell in love with Spain. In his 35 years of experience in the world of cinema, he has starred in more than fifty films, not to mention his role as a producer.
Of an American mother and a Danish father, Viggo Peter Mortensen was born in Manhattan, New York, on October 20, 1958. He spent his childhood between Venezuela, Argentina and Denmark, for which he speaks English, Danish and Spanish to perfection ( which has allowed him to shoot several films in Spain –Gimlet, My Brother’s Gun, Alatriste–) in addition to knowing quite a bit of French and Italian. In Argentina he also acquired his taste for soccer, and onToday he is still a faithful fan of a team there, the Club Atletico San Lorenzo de Almagro . Upon receiving the award for a lifetime of achievement at the San Sebastian Festival, he was also given a shirt from his love club.
When he was 11 years old, his parents divorced, and he went to live in New York with his mother and his two brothers.After attending Watertown High School, he received a BA in Political Science and a BA in Spanish from St. Lawrence University. When he finished university, he moved to Denmark with his cousins, and worked in different trades. It wasn’t until 1982, when he returned to New York, that he decided to focus on acting.
He is divorced, he has a 31-year-old son and he is a fan of Argentine soccer.
In New York, he enrolled in Warren Robertson’s Theater Workshop and participated in plays put on by amateur groups. He then moved to Los Angeles, where he continued to earn a living with temporary jobs and some acting. There, he received the Dramalogue Critics Awards for his role in Bent. And, thanks to his role in the television series Salvation!, he met his now ex-wife, Exene Cervenka . Between the leader of the punk group X and he fell in love instantly, and they were married in 1987. Their son, Henry Blake, would be born a year later. Exene and Viggo divorced in 1998 , and since 2009 he has been in a relationship with Ariadna Gil.
But Viggo Mortensen is not just an actor, he is an artistwith everything that this term includes. He has also dedicated himself to poetry and photography, publishing several books in the publishing house he owns: Perceval Press. If the definition of multifaceted were a person, it would be him, also passionate and versed in music and painting.He has released jazz records, participated in the original soundtrack of The Lord of the Rings (composing Aragorn’s Coronation) and has collaborated with the guitarist Buckethead. Away from the world of luxury and appearances that is Hollywood, those who know him say that She is a calm person, sure of herself and of what she wants. It is also one of the most atypical stars who has passed through the mecca of cinema, a versatile artist and a great lover of everything Spanish.
