Viggo Peter Mortensen, Jr. (born October 20, 1958 in New York City) is an American-Danish theater and movie actor, a published poet, musician, photographer and painter. His Danish father and half Norwegian American mother met in Norway. He has a son, Henry Blake, with his ex-wife Christine "Exene" Cervenka of the band X.
Acting in The Lord of the Rings
Mortensen is best known for his role as Aragorn in Peter Jackson's The Lord of the Rings film trilogy. He was a last-minute replacement for the role, and wouldn't have taken the part if it hadn't been for his son's enthusiasm for J. R. R. Tolkien's trilogy.
In the DVD extended edition extras to The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers, the film's swordmaster Bob Anderson described Mortensen as "the best swordsman I've ever trained".
His voice is featured on The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King soundtrack - he sings 'Aragorn's Coronation' a quote of Elendil's put to a melody composed by Viggo himself, in the track "The Return of the King".
During a scene in The Two Towers in which Aragorn, Legolas and Gimli find the band of Uruk-hai that had captured Merry and Pippin in Amon Hen, Aragorn, in his sorrowful anger, kicks an Uruk helmet. In the filming of this, Viggo broke two of his toes. They used the scream of pain he uttered in the final film, as they thought it added an effect to Aragorn's sorrow.
In The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King, Viggo's son, Henry, had a cameo during the Battle of the Pelennor Fields scene as an anonymous orc, whom Aragorn kills.
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