Sven-Ole Thorsen
| Sven-Ole Thorsen | |
|---|---|
| Born |
24 September 1944 Copenhagen, Denmark |
| Occupation | Actor, bodybuilder, stuntman, strongman |
| Years active | 1977-2011 |
| Height | 6 ft 5 in (196 cm) |
| Spouse(s) | Birgitta Sunding |
| Children | Michael and Martin |
| Competition record | ||
|---|---|---|
| Strongman | ||
Representing  Denmark
|
||
| Denmark's Strongest Man | ||
| 1st | 1983 | |
| Europe's Strongest Man | ||
| 10th | 1982 | |
Sven-Ole Thorsen (born 24 September 1944) is a Danish actor, stuntman, bodybuilder, strongman competitor and actor. Sven won Denmark's Strongest Man in 1983.
Using his stature he often plays imposing giants and villains in his films who are somehow beaten by smaller opponents in a David and Goliath manner, but he has also played heroic characters such as Gunnar the legendary warrior in The Viking Sagas. His autobiography Stærk mand i Hollywood (Strong Man in Hollywood) was published on 26 October 2007, and was very well reviewed. The first printing of the book reportedly sold out in 24 hours.
He is known for his frequent appearances in Arnold Schwarzenegger movies, like Conan the Barbarian, as the hammer-wielding Thorgrim; The Running Man, as the ultimately sympathetic bodyguard Sven; and in Predator, where he played a one-second role as a Russian military advisor ('Knock Knock'). Some of his other most memorable characters have varied widely, from the gritty boater wearing security guard La Fours in Mallrats, to the unbeaten fighting legend Tigris of Gaul in Gladiator, and the witty Lt. Michael 'Tank' Ellis, Ground Assault Unit in Captain Power, to the menacing alien villain Secundus in Abraxas, Guardian of the Universe, who is always hunting for the Anti-Life Equation without any success.
Thorsen has been credited in fifteen Arnold Schwarzenegger movies (as of 2006[update]) (twelve as actor, three as stuntman or trainer), making him Schwarzenegger's most frequent collaborator. It began with Conan the Barbarian, when Schwarzenegger brought Thorsen and other of his bodybuilder friends (like Franco Columbu) with him to shoot the movie. Later, when Thorsen moved to the United States, he met Schwarzenegger again while he was acting in the movie Commando. Thorsen helped with some of the stuntwork in that movie, and quickly found work in many of the subsequent Schwarzenegger films.
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