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Viggo Mortensen: A Life in Pictures

17 October 09

Watch actor Viggo Mortensen talk about his career in film at an exclusive Alfred Dunhill BAFTA A Life in Pictures event.

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Watch this exclusive Alfred Dunhill BAFTA A Life in Pictures event with BAFTA-nominated actor Viggo Mortensen.

Interviewed on stage at BAFTA Headquarters by critic, writer and broadcaster Francine Stock, Mortensen reflected on his career to date.

In front of a packed audience he spoke about the process of selecting scripts and how he approached his many on-screen characters – from playing a Russian gangster in David Cronenberg’s Eastern Promises to the role of Aragon in the Lord of the Rings Trilogy.

About Viggo Mortensen

Viggo Mortensen - portrait 2
BAFTA / Ed MillerViggo Mortensen has made a slow, steady climb up the ranks to become one of Hollywood’s most reliable and in-demand talents. After several years of experience in live theater, Mortensen made his first film appearance playing an Amish farmer in Peter Weir's Witness. During the 1990s, Mortensen appeared in supporting roles in a variety of films, including Jane Campion's The Portrait of a Lady, Young Guns II, Prison, Leatherface: The Texas Chainsaw Massacre III, Sean Penn's The Indian Runner, Carlito's Way, Crimson Tide, G.I. Jane plus many, many more.

Mortensen is probably most well known for his role as Aragorn in Peter Jackson's The Lord of the Rings film trilogy (released in 2001, 2002 and 2003). Though he had little trouble finding work, Mortensen took his time searching for that one breakthrough that would catapult his career onto the global stage. The Lord of Rings trilogy was that catalyst and led to a wealth of opportunities, including the critically acclaimed and award-nominated History of Violence (2005) directed by David Cronenberg. This was followed in 2006, by the role of Captain Diego Alatriste in Alatriste, the most expensive Spanish-language film ever made. In 2007 he collaborated with Cronenburg again in the movie Eastern Promises,. His role as a scheming Russian gangster in East London earned him a BAFTA nomination at the Orange British Academy Film Awards in 2008.

He will next appear in an adaptation of Cormac McCarthy’s Pulitzer Award winning novel, The Road, directed by John Hillcoat and set for UK release in January 2010.