Arnold Schwarzenegger Bio
Arnold Alois Schwarzenegger (born July 30, 1947) is an Austrian and American actor, businessman, former politician, and former professional bodybuilder, known for his roles in high-profile action films. He served as the 38th governor of California from 2003 to 2011. Schwarzenegger began lifting weights at age 15 and won the Mr. Universe title aged 20, and subsequently the Mr. Olympia title seven times. He is tied with Phil Heath for the joint-second number of all-time Mr. Olympia wins, behind Ronnie Coleman and Lee Haney, who are joint-first with eight wins each. Nicknamed the ‘Austrian Oak’ in his bodybuilding days, he is regarded as one of the greatest bodybuilders of all time. He has written books and articles about bodybuilding, including the autobiographical Arnold: The Education of a Bodybuilder (1977) and The New Encyclopedia of Modern Bodybuilding (1998). The Arnold Sports Festival, the second-most prestigious bodybuilding event after the Mr. Olympia competition, is named after him. He appeared in the bodybuilding documentary Pumping Iron (1977), which set him on his way to a career in films. After retiring from bodybuilding, Schwarzenegger gained worldwide fame as a Hollywood action star, with his breakthrough in the sword and sorcery epic Conan the Barbarian (1982), a box-office success with a sequel in 1984. After playing the title character in the science fiction film The Terminator (1984), he starred in Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991) and three other sequels from 2003 to 2019. His other successful action films included Commando (1985), The Running Man (1987), Predator (1987), Total Recall (1990), and True Lies (1994), in addition to comedy films such as Twins (1988), Kindergarten Cop (1990) and Jingle All the Way (1996). At the height of his career, Schwarzenegger was known for his rivalry with Sylvester Stallone. Films in which he has appeared have grossed over $5.4 billion worldwide. He is the founder of the film production company Oak Productions.
Early Life and Background
Arnold Alois Schwarzenegger was born in Thal, Styria, on July 30, 1947, the second son of Gustav Schwarzenegger and his wife Aurelia (née Jadrny; 1922–1998). Gustav was the local chief of police, and, after the Anschluss in 1938, joined the Nazi Party and in 1939 the Sturmabteilung (SA). In World War II, Gustav served as a military policeman in the invasions of Poland, France, and the Soviet Union, including the siege of Leningrad, rising to the title of hauptfeldwebel. He was wounded in the summer of 1942 at Leningrad, later contracted malaria, and was discharged from the Heer in February 1944. He returned to service with the Ordnungspolizei as a Preisüberwachungsbeamter (‘price control official’) in Mürzzuschlag, Austria. He would not resume civilian law enforcement duties until 1947. Gustav married Aurelia on October 20, 1945; he was 38 and she was 23. According to Schwarzenegger, his parents were very strict: “Back then in Austria it was a very different world… if we did something bad or we disobeyed our parents, the rod was not spared.” He grew up in a Catholic family. Gustav preferred his elder son, Meinhard, over Arnold. His favoritism was “strong and blatant”, which stemmed from unfounded suspicion that Arnold was not his biological child. Schwarzenegger says that his earliest childhood memory is of climbing into his parents’ bed during a bad thunder-and-lightning storm and cuddling between his mother and father. He had a good relationship with his mother, with whom he kept in touch until her death. In an interview, Schwarzenegger told how he suffered what “would now be called child abuse” at the hands of his father: “My hair was pulled. I was hit with belts. So was the kid next door. It was just the way it was.” At school, Schwarzenegger was reportedly academically average but stood out for his “cheerful, good-humored, and exuberant” character. He struggled with reading and was later diagnosed as being dyslexic. Money was a problem in their household; Schwarzenegger recalled that one of the highlights of his youth was when the family bought a refrigerator. His father Gustav was an athlete, and wished for his sons to become champions in Bavarian curling. Influenced by his father, Schwarzenegger played several sports as a boy. Schwarzenegger began weight training in 1960 when his soccer coach took his team to a local gym. At age 14, he chose bodybuilding over soccer as a career. He later said, “I actually started weight training when I was 15, but I’d been participating in sports, like soccer, for years, so I felt that although I was slim, I was well-developed, at least enough so that I could start going to the gym and start Olympic lifting.” However, his official website biography claims that “at 14, he started an intensive training program with Dan Farmer, studied psychology at 15 (to learn more about the power of mind over body) and at 17, officially started his competitive career.” During a speech in 2001, he said, “My own plan formed when I was 14 years old. My father had wanted me to be a police officer like he was. My mother wanted me to go to trade school.” Schwarzenegger took to visiting a gym in Graz, where he also frequented the local movie theaters to see films with bodybuilding idols such as Reg Park, Steve Reeves, and Johnny Weissmuller. In 1961, Schwarzenegger met former Mr. Austria Kurt Marnul, who invited him to train at the gym in Graz. He was so dedicated as a youngster that he broke into the local gym on weekends to train even when it was closed. “It would make me sick to miss a workout… I knew I couldn’t look at myself in the mirror the next morning if I didn’t do it.” In Graz, he was mentored by Alfred Gerstl, who had Jewish ancestry and later became president of the Federal Council, and befriended his son Karl. Schwarzenegger’s brother, Meinhard, died in a car crash on May 20, 1971. He was driving drunk and died instantly; Schwarzenegger did not attend his funeral. Schwarzenegger served in the Austrian Army in 1965 to fulfill the one year of service required at the time of all 18-year-old Austrian males. During his army service, he won the Junior Mr. Europe contest. He went AWOL during basic training so he could take part in the competition and then spent a week in military prison. Schwarzenegger made his first plane trip in 1966, attending the NABBA Mr. Universe competition in London. He placed second in the Mr. Universe competition, not having the muscle definition of American winner Chester Yorton. Charles “Wag” Bennett, one of the judges at the 1966 competition, was impressed with Schwarzenegger and offered to coach him. As Schwarzenegger had little money, Bennett invited him to stay in his crowded family home above one of his two gyms in Forest Gate, London. In 1967, Schwarzenegger won the title for the first time, becoming the youngest ever Mr. Universe at age 20. He would go on to win the title another three times. He then returned to Munich, where he attended business school and worked at Rolf Putziger’s gym, where he worked and trained from 1966 to 1968 before returning to London in 1968 to win his next Mr. Universe title. Schwarzenegger, who dreamed of moving to the US since age ten, and saw bodybuilding as his avenue of opportunity, realized his dream by moving to the US in October 1968 at age 21, speaking little English. There he trained at Gold’s Gym in Venice, Los Angeles, California, under Joe Weider’s supervision. From 1970 to 1974, one of Schwarzenegger’s weight training partners was Ric Drasin, a professional wrestler who designed the original Gold’s Gym logo in 1973. Schwarzenegger also became good friends with professional wrestler Superstar Billy Graham. In 1970, at age 23, Schwarzenegger captured his first Mr. Olympia title in New York, and would go on to win the title seven times.
Path to Hollywood
Schwarzenegger wanted to move from bodybuilding into acting, finally achieving it when he was chosen to play the title role in Hercules in New York (1970). Credited under the stage name “Arnold Strong”, his accent in the film was so thick that his lines were dubbed after production. His second film appearance was as hired muscle for a mobster in The Long Goodbye (1973), which was followed by a much more significant part in the film Stay Hungry (1976), for which he won the Golden Globe Award for New Star of the Year – Actor. Schwarzenegger has discussed his early struggles in developing his acting career: “It was very difficult for me in the beginning – I was told by agents and casting people that my body was ‘too weird’, that I had a funny accent, and that my name was too long. You name it, and they told me I had to change it. Basically, everywhere I turned, I was told that I had no chance.” Schwarzenegger drew attention and boosted his profile in the bodybuilding film Pumping Iron (1977), elements of which were dramatized. In 1977, he made guest appearances in single episodes of the ABC sitcom The San Pedro Beach Bums and the ABC police procedural The Streets of San Francisco. Schwarzenegger auditioned for the title role of The Incredible Hulk, but did not win the role because of his height. Later, Lou Ferrigno got the part of Dr. David Banner’s alter ego. Schwarzenegger appeared with Kirk Douglas and Ann-Margret in the 1979 comedy The Villain. In 1980, he starred in a biographical film of the 1950s actress Jayne Mansfield as Mansfield’s husband, Mickey Hargitay.
Arnold Schwarzenegger Career
Early Career (1968–1981)
Schwarzenegger’s breakthrough film was the sword and sorcery epic Conan the Barbarian in 1982, which was a box-office hit. This was followed by a sequel, Conan the Destroyer, in 1984, although it was not as successful as its predecessor. In 1984, he made his first appearance as the eponymous character in James Cameron’s science fiction action film The Terminator. It has been called his acting career’s signature role. Following this, Schwarzenegger made another sword and sorcery film, Red Sonja, in 1985. During the 1980s, audiences had an appetite for action films, with both Schwarzenegger and Sylvester Stallone becoming international stars. During the Schwarzenegger–Stallone rivalry they attacked each other in the press, and tried to surpass each other with more on-screen killings and larger weapons. Schwarzenegger’s roles reflected his sense of humor, separating him from more serious action hero films. He made a number of successful action films in the 1980s, such as Commando (1985), Raw Deal (1986), The Running Man (1987), Predator (1987), and Red Heat (1988). Twins (1988), a comedy with Danny DeVito, also proved successful. Speaking about the film Schwarzenegger said: “When I was the action hero in the ’80s and ’90s, they wouldn’t allow me to do any comedy or anything for kids. They were like, ‘No, we know we are going to make money with you if you do action movies.’ So literally for Twins I took no salary — I just wanted to give it a shot. And it just happened to be my first movie to make $100 million domestically. So they realized that it works, Schwarzenegger can cross over.” The film netted Schwarzenegger the biggest paycheck of his career as he received over $40 million of the film’s profits after expenses. Total Recall (1990) netted Schwarzenegger $10 million and 15% of the film’s gross. A science fiction script, the film was based on the Philip K. Dick short story “We Can Remember It for You Wholesale”. Kindergarten Cop (1990) reunited him with director Ivan Reitman, who directed him in Twins. Schwarzenegger had a brief foray into directing, first with a 1990 episode of the TV series Tales from the Crypt, “The Switch”, and then with the 1992 telemovie Christmas in Connecticut. He has not directed since. Schwarzenegger’s commercial peak was his return as the title character in Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991), which was the highest-grossing film of the year. Film critic Roger Ebert commented that “Schwarzenegger’s genius as a movie star is to find roles that build on, rather than undermine, his physical and vocal characteristics.” In 1993, the National Association of Theatre Owners named him the “International Star of the Decade”. His next film project, the 1993 self-aware action comedy spoof Last Action Hero, was released opposite Jurassic Park, and did not do well at the box office. His next film, the comedy drama True Lies (1994), was a popular spy film and saw Schwarzenegger reunited with James Cameron. That same year, the comedy Junior was released, the last of Schwarzenegger’s three collaborations with Ivan Reitman and again co-starring Danny DeVito. This film brought him his second Golden Globe nomination, this time for Best Actor – Motion Picture Musical or Comedy. Around this time, Schwarzenegger was offered a lead role in the well-received, box office hit The Rock but turned it down, a decision he came to regret in the decades that passed. He ultimately chose to make Eraser (1996), the Christmas comedy Jingle All The Way (1996), and the comic book-based Batman & Robin (1997), in which he played the supervillain Mr. Freeze instead. This was his final film before taking time to recuperate from a back injury. Following the critical failure of Batman & Robin, his film career and box office prominence went into decline. He returned with the supernatural thriller End of Days (1999), later followed by the action films The 6th Day (2000) and Collateral Damage (2002), both of which failed to do well at the box office. In 2003, he made his third appearance as the title character in Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines, which went on to earn over $150 million domestically.
Breakthrough (1982–2003)
In tribute to Schwarzenegger in 2002, Forum Stadtpark, a local cultural association, proposed plans to build a 25-meter-tall (80 ft) Terminator statue in a park in central Graz. Schwarzenegger reportedly said he was flattered, but thought the money would be better spent on social projects and the Special Olympics.
Upcoming Projects
As of 2025, Arnold Schwarzenegger is set to continue his work in the entertainment industry with various projects in development, including a potential sequel to the Terminator franchise and other action-comedy roles.
Arnold Schwarzenegger Award Nominations
Arnold Schwarzenegger has received several nominations throughout his career, including a Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Motion Picture Musical or Comedy for his role in Junior.
Arnold Schwarzenegger Awards Won
Arnold Schwarzenegger has won a Golden Globe Award for New Star of the Year – Actor for his performance in Stay Hungry. He has also been recognized for his contributions to bodybuilding and film, though specific awards are not detailed in the provided information.
