Viggo Mortensen Is Politically Active and Later Endorsed Barack Obama For President

Viggo Mortensen Performance In Eastern Promises Resulted In His Winning The Best Performance-

Viggo Mortensen
Born	Viggo Peter Mortensen, Jr. October 20, 1958 (age 52) New York City, New York, U.S.
Occupation	Actor, poet, musician, photographer and painter
Years active	1984–present
Spouse	Exene Cervenka (1987–1998)

Viggo Peter Mortensen, Jr. (born October 20, 1958) is a Danish-American actor, poet, musician, photographer and painter. 

He made his film debut in Peter Weir's 1985 thriller Witness, and subsequently appeared in many notable films of the 1990s, including The Indian Runner (1991), Carlito's Way (1993), Crimson Tide (1995), The Portrait of a Lady (1996), G.I. Jane (1997), A Perfect Murder (1998), and A Walk on the Moon (1999).

Mortensen made his major breakthrough in 2001 with the epic film trilogy The Lord of the Rings.

In 2005, Mortensen won critical acclaim for David Cronenberg's crime thriller A History of Violence. 

Two years later, another Cronenberg film Eastern Promises (2007) earned him an Academy Award nomination for Best Actor. Other well-received films in recent years have included Appaloosa (2008) and the 2009 film adaptation of Cormac McCarthy's novel The Road.

Aside from acting, his other artistic pursuits include fine arts, photography, poetry, and music. In 2002, he founded the Perceval Press to publish the works of little-known artists and authors. 

Mortensen is politically active. He campaigned for Dennis Kucinich in the 2008 United States presidential election, and later endorsed Barack Obama for President.

 

Career-

Acting career

In 2005, Mortensen starred in David Cronenberg's A History of Violence. He was nominated for a Satellite Award for Outstanding Actor in a Motion Picture for this role. In the DVD extras for A History of Violence, David Cronenberg relates that Mortensen is the only actor he'd come across who would come back from weekends with his family with items he had bought to use as props on the set.

Interviewed by eTalk Daily at the 2005 Toronto Film Festival, for A History of Violence

In 2006, he starred as Captain Diego Alatriste in Alatriste, based on the series of novels The Adventures of Captain Alatriste, written by the Spanish writer Arturo Pérez-Reverte.

In September 2007, the film Eastern Promises, directed by David Cronenberg, was released to critical acclaim for the film itself and for Mortensen's performance as a Russian gangster on the rise in London. His nude fight scene in a steam room was applauded by Roger Ebert: "Years from now, it will be referred to as a benchmark." Mortensen's performance in Eastern Promises resulted in his winning the Best Performance by an Actor in a British Independent Film award from the British Independent Film Awards. He was also nominated for an Academy Award for Best Actor.

In 2009, Mortensen appeared as himself in the film Reclaiming The Blade, in which he discussed his passion for the sword and his sword-work in films such as The Lord of the Rings and Alatriste. Mortensen also talked about his work with Bob Anderson, the swordmaster on The Lord of the Rings, Alatriste, Pirates of the Caribbean and many others.

In 2009, Mortensen performed in The People Speak, a documentary feature film that uses dramatic and musical performances of the letters, diaries, and speeches of everyday Americans, based on historian Howard Zinn's A People's History of the United States.

In April 2009 Mortensen revealed in an interview that he had, at least temporarily, retired from film acting as the schedule required for promoting a film is too stressful. In 2010 he joined the cast of The Road, a film adaptation of the Cormac McCarthy novel of the same name, and collaborated with David Cronenberg for a third time on A Dangerous Method.

He has recently made a cameo appearance in Dirty Raymond's Neighbor.

Visual arts and discography

Mortensen at the 2008 Toronto International Film Festival

Mortensen is a painter and photographer. His paintings are frequently abstract and often contain fragments of his poetry in them. His paintings have been featured in galleries worldwide, and the paintings of the artist he portrayed in A Perfect Murder are all his own.

Viggo's discography includes:

• 2006: 3 Fools 4 April
• 2007: Time Waits for Everyone
• 2008: At All
• 2010: Canciones de Invierno
• 2011: Reunion

Mortensen is featured on The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King soundtrack, singing "Aragorn's Coronation" (the name of the extended version of this song in the 3rd original sound track is "The Return of the King"), the words by Tolkien and the music composed by Mortensen. 

Mortensen has owned property in northern Sandpoint Idaho, and spends time there when not filming movies. He also has a home in the Malasaña neighborhood of Madrid where he spends long seasons with friends.

On October 13, 2006, Viggo Mortensen was awarded the Gold Medal of the Province and the City of León, Spain.

On April 16, 2010, Viggo Mortensen was awarded the Knight's Cross of the Order of Dannebrog.

Filmography-

Year	Film	Role	Notes

2008	Slacker Uprising	Himself	Mortensen speaks at a 2004 "Slacker Uprising" rally in Columbus, Ohio.
	Appaloosa	Everett Hitch
	Good	John Halder
2009	Reclaiming the Blade	Himself
	The People Speak	Himself	Documentary
	The Road	The Man	Utah Film Critics Association Award for Best Actor Nominated — Broadcast Film Critics Association Award for Best Actor Nominated — Denver Film Critics Society Award for Best Actor Nominated — Houston Film Critics Society Award for Best Actor Nominated — San Diego Film Critics Society Award for Best Actor Nominated — Saturn Award for Best Actor Nominated — Toronto Film Critics Association Award for Best Actor Nominated — Washington D.C. Area Film Critics Association for Best Actor
2011	A Dangerous Method	Sigmund Freud	Post-production
	On the Road	Old Bull Lee	In production

source- From Wikipedia