Viggo Mortensen

Born: 20th October 1958
Where: Manhattan, New York, USA

Mortensen will be forever linked with the role of Aragorn, the human warrior who guards Frodo in Peter Jackson's Lord of the Rings trilogy.

Before the Tolkien epic he had quietly made a name for himself in roles as diverse as Jane Campion's Portrait of a Lady and Ridley Scott's GI Jane.

Raised on farms in Argentina, Venezuela and Denmark, the young Mortensen returned to New York with his family at the age of ten.

After graduating from New York's St Lawrence University, he moved to Denmark where he began writing poetry as well as working in menial jobs ranging from flower seller to dockworker.

In 1982, he move back to New York and - while surviving waiting tables and bartending - first discovered a love of acting at the Warren Robertson's Theatre Workshop and moved to LA.

His first major TV role came with the miniseries George Washington and he was soon spotted by producers, and cast in small roles in Swing Shift and The Purple Rose of Cairo.

He moved into mainstream movies in 1985 with his role as an Amish farmer in Witness, and landed his first lead role in Renny Harlin's suspense thriller Prison.

The 90s saw Mortensen in many successful movies and with equally as many impressive performances: Kevin Spacey's directorial debut Albino Alligator; Portrait of the Lady and A Perfect Murder.

In the latter, Mortensen - a keen artist - actually painted the large murals in his artist's studio in the film..

Hr played Samual "Sam" Lumis in Gus Van Sant's pointless remake of Psycho and starred opposite Diane Lane in A Walk on the Moon.

However, after the Sandra Bullock vehicle 28 Days, Mortensen join the ranks of movie legend with his casting as Aragorn in the Lord of the Rings trilogy.

(he actually replaced first choice actor Stuart Townsend after filming began).

His first major post-Rings movie was Joe Johnston's action packed Hidalgo, as a rough riding long-distance horse racer.

He is also a keen photographer and debuted with an exhibition at the Robert Mann Gallery in NYC.

In 2005, he starred as a retired hitman in David Cronenberg's critically acclaimed revenge thriller A History of Violence. Re-teaming with Cronenberg, he also starred as a Russian mafia enforcer in the bleak 2007 thriller Eastern Promises alongside Vincent Cassel.