History Creator / DolphLundgren

[[caption-width-right:270:[[Film/RockyIV He must break you.]]]]

Hans "Dolph" Lundgren (born 3 November 1957 in Stockholm, Sweden) is an actor from Sweden, often viewed as "the [[PoorMansSubstitute poor man's]] Creator/ArnoldSchwarzenegger" (but is no less of a MrFanservice). He has won European and Australian karate championships, as well as represented the United States in the 1996 Summer Olympics in pentathlon. He may be one of the best RealLife examples of HiddenDepths, as despite being famous for playing DumbMuscle characters, [[GeniusBruiser he has a master's degree in chemical engineering.]] He is rumoured to have a genius-level IQ, but he denies it.[[note]]In the commercials for ''Brain Games'' on the National Geographic channel he mentions that he has an IQ of 160 (which ''is'' genius level), as well as his master's degree in chemical engineering.[[/note]]

At about the mid 90's, Lundgren gradually disappeared from the consciousness of the movie-going audiences but remained active doing smaller DTV movies. After his time in ''Film/TheExpendables'' along with an AllStarCast, he had something of a CareerResurrection, including prominent roles in ''Series/{{Arrow}}'' and ''Film/{{Aquaman|2018}}''. He also featured prominently in the music video for [[Music/ImagineDragons Imagine Dragons']] single ''Believer''.

Some people consider him proof that the axiom "All other factors in a fight being equal, the biggest guy wins", especially after watching him knock Creator/JetLi on his butt in ''Film/TheExpendables''.

True fact: a bunch of [[http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/spain/5224797/Thieves-flee-after-breaking-into-Dolph-Lundgrens-Spanish-home.html burglars broke into his house and tied up his wife and daughter in 2009]]. Luckily, before they got to anything serious they saw a family photo and realized ''[[OhCrap they had just tied up Dolph Lundgren's wife.]]'' This was in itself enough reason for them to let her go and run away very quickly, thus also saving some wear and tear on the He-Man sword. Unfortunately both wife and daughter suffered from PTSD and trauma after the incident, which may have led to their divorce.

* ''Film/ShowdownInLittleTokyo'' (1991). In this movie he fights [[Film/MortalKombatTheMovie Shang Tsung]], makes love to Series/RelicHunter and his [[GagPenis penis size]] is praised by [[Film/TheCrow Eric Draven]]. Truly, a chain of feats that can only be pulled by the one and only Dolph Lundgren.
* ''Film/UniversalSoldier'' (1992), where he and Creator/JeanClaudeVanDamme play feuding Vietnam vets who after death are re-used in military's experimental [=UniSol=] project, which then goes haywire when the two start remembering who they were in the past. A defining film of TheNineties action movie scene.

[[quoteright:270:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/270px-Dolph_Lundgren.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:270:[[Film/RockyIV He must break you.]]]]

* TheBigGuy: He's 6'5 and very muscular.

* DarkAndTroubledPast: See the NeverAcceptedInHisHometown-entry below.

* ''[[WesternAnimation/SealTeam2021 Seal Team]]'' (2021), where he voices a dolphin named Dolph.

* PushedInFrontOfTheAudience: Supposedly happened to him in ''Film/AViewToAKill'' -- the bit-part actor who was meant to play General Gogol's KGB bodyguard failed to turn up. Lundgren was on the set because he was dating Grace Jones, and the director supposedly noticed his imposing size and asked him if he'd mind standing around during a scene holding a pistol.

* ''Film/{{Aquaman|2018}}'' (2018), where he plays King Nereus.

%% BadassBaritone: Has a very deep voice that fits his badass characters very well.

* BadassBaritone: Has a very deep voice that fits his badass characters very well.

* NeverAcceptedInHisHometown: Played straight and ultimately [[VindicatedByHistory averted]]. Lundgren's acting, the often poor quality of his films and a failed media stunt were he pretended to have [[JustAStupidAccent lost his ability to speak Swedish properly]] made him something a joke in Sweden. However, after agreeing to host an episode of ''Summer on P1''[[note]]a Swedish public service radio show were celebrities play their favorite music and talk about their life[[/note]] he shocked the [[DarkAndTroubledPast listeners by speaking openly about being abused as a child and starting bodybuilding to make up for his crippling insecurities]]. He followed this up with hosting Melodifestivalen, where the Swedish contribution to the Eurovision Song Contest is selected, in 2010. He ended up being hailed as one of the best hosts ever, in particular for his performance Elvis Presley's "A Little Less Conversation". This coincided with his minor CareerResurrection with ''Film/TheExpendables'' and nowadays Dolph Lundgren is much more well respected in Sweden as a pop-cultural figure.

True fact: a bunch of [[http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/spain/5224797/Thieves-flee-after-breaking-into-Dolph-Lundgrens-Spanish-home.html burglars broke into his house and tied up his wife and daughter in 2009]]. Luckily, before they got to anything serious they saw a family photo and realized ''[[OhCrap they had just tied up Dolph Lundgren's wife.]]'' This was in itself enough reason for them to let her go and run away very quickly, thus also saving some wear and tear on the He-Man sword. Unfortunately both wife and daughter suffered from PTSD and trauma after the incident.

* CoolOldGuy: Can be considered "old" by now but that hasn't mitigated his coolness.

* SilverFox: He's in his sixties with some grey hair but still quite handsome and in very good shape.

* NeverAcceptedInHisHometown: Played straight and ultimately [[VindicatedByHistory averted]]. Lundgren's acting, the often poor quality of his films and a failed media stunt were he pretended to have [[JustAStupidAccent lost his ability to speak Swedish properly]] made him something a joke in Sweden. However, after agreeing to host an episode of ''Summer on P1''[note]a Swedish public service radio show were celebrities play their favorite music and talk about their life[/note] he shocked the [[DarkAndTroubledPast listeners by speaking openly about being abused as a child and starting bodybuilding to make up for his crippling insecurities]]. He followed this up with hosting Melodifestivalen, where the Swedish contribution to the Eurovision Song Contest is selected, in 2010. He ended up being hailed as one of the best hosts ever, in particular for his performance Elvis Presley's "A Little Less Conversation". This coincided with his minor CareerResurrection with ''Film/TheExpendables'' and nowadays Dolph Lundgren is much more well respected in Sweden as a pop-cultural figure.