Viggo Mortensen – the Oscar nominated actor and his best films from Green Book to Lord of the Rings
He's up for an Oscar for his role in Green Book as a driver for a black pianist in the 60s
VIGGO Mortensen is in line to win an Oscar for his role as bouncer turned chauffeur in Green Book.
Here's the lowdown on the actor and his previous film roles...
How did Viggo Mortensen get into acting?
Viggo Mortensen, 60, was born in New York and studied Spanish studies and Politics at St. Lawrence University in Canton.
After graduating he moved back to Denmark, where is father is from and did various jobs such as truck driving and selling flowers in Copenhagen.
He returned to the US to pursue acting and landed his first role as an Amish farmer in the 1985 movie Witness.
In the same year he was cast as Bragg in the soap Search For Tomorrow.
Who does Viggo Mortensen play in Green Book?
Viggo Mortensen plays the role of Frank "Tony Lip" Vallelonga, a New York bouncer who sets about looking for a new job after the nightclub he works at is closed down for renovations.
He ends up becoming a driver for "Doc" Don Shirley, a black pianist whom he accompanies on his eight-week concert tour through the Mid-West and Deep South.
The film is set in the 60s during a time when racial tensions in the US were still incredibly strained.
Speaking to about the movie Viggo said: "...one of its strengths is that it’s not speaking to one small, activist, politically-in-agreement section of society.
"It is a movie that anyone can see and learn from, because it doesn’t tell you what to think.”
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What else has Viggo Mortensen starred in?
Viggo is probably best known for his breakthrough role as Aragorn in the Lord of the Rings trilogy.
In 2004 he played Frank Hopkins in Hidalgo - a movie about an ex-army courier who travels to Arabia to compete with his horse, Hidalgo, in a dangerous desert race.
He's also starred in the David Cronenberg movies A History of Violence and Eastern Promises.
In 2016 he played Ben Cash in the comedy drama film Captain Fantastic which centres around a family who have to reintegrate into society after living in isolation for a decade.