Viggo Mortensen
Viggo Mortensen
Viggo Peter Mortensen Jr. /ˈviːɡoʊ ˈmɔːrtənsən/is an American actor. He made his film debut in Peter Weir's 1985 thriller Witness, and subsequently appeared in many notable films of subsequent years, including The Indian Runner, Carlito's Way, Crimson Tide, Daylight, The Portrait of a Lady, G.I. Jane, A Perfect Murder, A Walk on the Moon, and 28 Days...
NationalityAmerican
ProfessionMovie Actor
Date of Birth20 October 1958
CityNew York City, NY
CountryUnited States of America
We all have secrets, some secrets bigger than others, is a normal human thing.
We often live in the past a lot more than we probably realize.
America is an empire in decay. But we don't have to lash out and do damage on the way down. We can reverse some of the damage we've done. It's possible.
I don't think special attention should be given to an actor or a singer or a baseball player or a soccer player more than anyone else, but they do have an opinion like anyone else.
I think the older you get the harder it is to [lose] probably. Your metabolism slows down, whatever, but I'm a pretty active person.
It doesn't matter how bad things are, something good could happen always. And it doesn't matter how many excuses you have for behaving in an unkind manner towards others. There's never any excuse for not being kind and it's always better to be kind even if it seems pointless and that in fact is the highest wisdom - being kind. It sounds like a very noble, ethereal, simplistic idea but it's true.
I think you have to be flexible above all as an actor; different characters have different demands, actors that you work with are different in their approach, or how you get along or don't get along with them.
I was born in New York but as a baby moved to Venezuela and Argentina. I've also lived in Denmark, where my father's from. I've traveled a lot, and having that sort of background probably increased the chance that I was going to remain curious as an adult about people who are different.
As you get older, you get stuck in your ways; just as you become stiffer physically, you also become stiffer mentally and more narrow-minded unless you make a conscious effort to keep yourself flexible.
Having a mixed background and feeling a little bit like a fish out of water in most places can be a benefit.
I look at my job as looking at the world from points of view that are different from mine - sometimes radically different from mine.
Some actors learn the habit of promoting themselves as a brand - by dressing in a certain way, by going out with a certain person - it gives them what they obviously want, which is to keep a level of fame. I'm not putting it down.
I would literally climb out of the cradle while my parents slept, go and crawl off. I did this a couple of times apparently. I'd cross the road and into someone's house, wake them up banging pots and pans in the kitchen.
I was raised speaking English and Spanish. And I also speak Danish. And I can get by in French and Italian. I've acted in Spanish and English, but when something has to do with emotions, sometimes I feel I can get to the heart of the matter better in Spanish.