Dolph Lundgren

Muscular Dolph Lundgren (1957), with his square jaw and bold blue eyes, is a Swedish actor, director, martial artist, screenwriter, and producer. Since his breakthrough in Rocky IV (1985), he has starred in more than 80 action films.


British postcard by Athena International, no. 335233, 1987.


English postcard by Star-Graphics, London, no. S 133. Sylvester Stallone and Dolph Lundgren in Rocky IV (Sylvester Stallone, 1985).


Vintage postcard by Amazing Movie Cards by Taro, no. 30. Dolph Lundgren and Jean-Claude van Damme in Universal Soldier (Roland Emmerich, 1992).

A desire to participate in heavy-contact sports

Dolph Lundgren was born Hans Lundgren in 1957 in Stockholm to Sigrid Birgitta née Tjerneld, a language teacher, and Karl Johan Hugo Lundgren, an engineer and economist for the Swedish government. At age seven, he tried judo and Gōjū-ryū. He took up Kyokushin karate at the age of 10 and began training with weights as a teenager.

Lundgren claims his father was physically abusive and took out his own personal frustrations on his wife and son. He has cited his troubled relationship with his father as the reason he developed a desire to participate in heavy contact sports such as boxing and karate. Despite an early interest in music and the fine arts, Dolph decided to follow in his father's footsteps and pursue an Engineering degree.

After having completed his military service, he enrolled at the Royal Institute of Technology in Stockholm. He later received a degree in chemistry from Washington State University and a master's degree in chemical engineering from the University of Sydney in 1982. He holds the rank of 3rd dan black belt in Kyokushin karate and was the European champion from 1980 to 1981.

While in Sydney, he became a bodyguard for Jamaican singer Grace Jones and began a relationship with her. He received a Fulbright scholarship to MIT and moved to Boston. Jones convinced him to leave the University and move to New York City to be with her and begin acting. He changed his forename to Dolph.

After a short stint as a model and bouncer at the Manhattan nightclub The Limelight, Grace Jones got him a small debut role as a KGB henchman in the James Bond film A View to a Kill (John Glen, 1985) starring Roger Moore in his final film as 007. Lundgren's breakthrough came when he starred in Rocky IV (Sylvester Stallone, 1985) as the imposing Soviet boxer Ivan Drago. Since then, he has starred in more than 80 films, including dozens of direct-to-video films in the action genre.


Italian postcard by Vittorius, Roma (Rome), no. VR 510. Sylvester Stallone and Dolph Lundgren in Rocky IV (Sylvester Stallone, 1985).


Italian postcard by Vittorius Roma, no. VR 618. Photo: Cannon / Scotia. Dolph Lundgren in Masters of the Universe (Gary Goddard, 1987).


Spanish poster postcard by Editions Mercuri, no. 531. Spanish poster of Dolph Lundgren in The Punisher (Mark Goldblatt, 1989). The Spanish title was Vengador.

A ghostly and soul-depraved vigilante

Dolph Lundgren received his first lead role as the mighty He-Man in Masters of the Universe (Gary Goddard, 1987), based on the popular children's toy line and cartoon. He next starred in Red Scorpion (Joseph Zito, 1989), opposite M. Emmet Walsh. He portrayed Marvel Comics character Frank Castle in The Punisher (Mark Goldblatt, 1989), opposite Louis Gossett, Jr. and Jeroen Krabbé. Over the years, the film developed a cult following with some who think it's the best adaptation of the comic and find Lundgren's performance solid as a ghostly and soul-depraved vigilante.

Lundgren appeared in the Martial Arts action film Showdown in Little Tokyo (Mark L. Lester, 1991) opposite Brandon Lee as police officers investigating the yakuza. In 1992, Lundgren starred opposite Jean-Claude Van Damme in one of the biggest blockbusters of the year, the Sci-Fi action picture Universal Soldier (Roland Emmerich, 1992). Film critic Roger Ebert did not like the film: "It must be fairly thankless to play lunks who have to fight for the entire length of a movie while exchanging monosyllabic idiocies".

In the early 1990s, he also appeared in films such as Dark Angel (Craig R. Baxley, 1990), Joshua Tree (Vic Armstrong, 1993), Johnny Mnemonic (Robert Longo, 1995), co-starring Keanu Reeves, and Blackjack (1998), by Hong Kong action legend John Woo. In 2004, he directed his first film, The Defender (2004), and subsequently directed The Mechanik (2005), Missionary Man (2007), Command Performance (2009), and Icarus (2010), in which he also starred. After a long spell performing in direct-to-video films since 1995, Lundgren reunited with co-star Jean-Claude Van Damme for Universal Soldier: Regeneration (John Hyams, 2009).

Lundgren returned to Hollywood with the role of Gunner Jensen in The Expendables (Sylvester Stallone, 2010), alongside Sylvester Stallone and an all-action star cast. He reprised his role in The Expendables 2 (Simon West, 2012) and The Expendables 3 (Patrick Hughes, 2014). Also in 2014, he co-starred in Skin Trade (Ekachai Uekrongtham, 2014), an action thriller with Tony Jaa and Ron Perlman about human trafficking. He filmed a cameo for the Coen brothers' comedy film Hail, Caesar! (2016), portraying a Soviet submarine captain. Lundgren played King Nereus in the popular action epic Aquaman (James Wan, 2018), starring Jason Momoa, and reprised his breakthrough role as Soviet boxer Ivan Drago in the eighth instalment in the Rocky franchise, Creed II (Steven Caple Jr., 2018). Lundgren also returned as Gunner Jensen in Expend4bles (Scott Waugh, 2023).

In 1994, Dolph Lundgren married Anette Qviberg, a jewellery designer and fashion stylist in Marbella. They have two daughters: Ida Sigrid Lundgren and Greta Eveline Lundgren, both born in Stockholm. In early May 2009, Lundgren's Marbella home was reportedly broken into by three masked burglars who tied up and threatened his wife, but fled when they found a family photo and realised that the house was owned by Lundgren. His wife was traumatised, and they later divorced in 2011. Lundgren married Norwegian personal trainer Emma Krokdal, nearly 40 years his junior, in 2023.


German collector card by Bravo.


British postcard by Heroes, London, no. SPC1052.


French postcard by Colour dr. Photo: Gaumont / Columbia / TriStar. Jean-Claude van Damme and Dolph Lundgren in Universal Soldier (Roland Emmerich, 1992). Caption: Van Damme - Lundgren: The clash of the Titans. A total spectacle.


Spanish collector card by Accion.

Sources: Sylvie Pazoutova (IMDb), Roger Ebert (RogerEbert.com), Wikipedia and IMDb.