Sven-Ole Thorsen

Sven-Ole Thorsen
Thorsen from the 1991 sci-fi movie Abraxas, Guardian of the Universe, as the villain 'Secundus' saying the infamous one-liner: "Have a nice day!"
Born	September 24 1944 (1944-09-24) (age 63) Copenhagen

Sven-Ole Thorsen (born September 24, 1944) is a Danish actor, stuntman, and athlete. Most of his characters are big, strong henchmen and villains who are somehow beaten by smaller opponents, 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 October 26, 2007, and was very well reviewed. The first printing of the book reportedly sold out in 24 hours.^[1][2]

Biography

Career

Tigris of Gaul (Sven-Ole Thorsen - left) battles Maximus (Russell Crowe - right) in Ridley Scott's Gladiator (2000)

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 sympathetic bodyguard Sven; and in Predator, where he played a one-second role as a Russian General ('Knock Knock'). Some of his other most memorable characters have varied widely, from the gritty 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 appeared in fifteen Arnold Schwarzenegger movies (as of 2006) (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. In spite of Thorsen's thick Danish accent, his voice is almost never dubbed (an exception being Hard Target). Thorsen pursued his award-winning role as Tigris in Gladiator for over a year, beating Lou Ferrigno for the part. The part won him two TAURUS World Stunt Awards^[3] in the ceremony's inaugural year. Thorsen has founded various federations, including The Danish Bodybuilding Federation in 1979 and Cigar Night at Shatzi in Santa Monica, California along with Arnold Schwarzenegger. He has a black belt in Shotokan Karate, holding championship titles. Thorsen once won the Danish "Verdens Stærkeste Mand" ("Strongest man in the world") competition by powerlifting a massive 247 kilograms.

Personal life

Mallrats-artwork featuring Sven-Ole Thorsen (left) as security-guard LaFours

Sven-Ole Thorsen is 193 centimetres tall and while appearing in Conan the Barbarian (1982) weighed 138 kilograms, according to his autobiography (page 24 + 110) from which most of the folowing info is taken. He has two sons, Michael and Martin, from his first marriage. Thorsen met his second wife, the Swedish circus-artist, snake-charmer, pop-singer and athlete Anniqa (born Anniqa Järle) in the 1970s, when she married his close friend, boxing champion Hans Jørgen Jacobsen; Anniqa and Sven-Ole Thorsen were married in 1982. On his fortieth birthday, Anniqa and Sven-Ole Thorsen decided to move from Denmark to the USA, which they did in April, 1985. The couple divorced in 1991. Thorsen started dating Grace Jones in 1990, and as of 2007 they have maintained an open relationship. According to his autobiography, all his romantic relationships, marriages included, have been open relationships since the late 1970's. In 1995, Thorsen started dating Erica Huff, daughter of the legendary soul-singer Leon Huff. Sven-Ole Thorsen lives in Santa Monica in California and has two dogs, a Jack Russell Terrier named Jake and an American Bull Terrier named Cleo; he won the Danish "Show of Winners" Award of the Year 2006, honouring people who has a special affiliation with dogs.^[4] In his sparetime, Thorsen creates wooden sculptures and enjoys art, which he showed in Danish magazine Euroman. He is also famously fond of a good cigar.

Films

Television

References

External links

• Sven-Ole Thorsen at the Internet Movie Database
• Sven-Ole Thorsen Official site (in Danish).