Viggo Mortensen is a chameleon. He changes with his surrounding, becoming indistinguishable from the characters he plays on the screen. In short, he’s one of the greatest character actors in Hollywood .
The Oscar-nominated actor also just so happens to be celebrating a birthday this month (even though he doesn’t want you to know). Let’s celebrate him with these 10+ facts about Lord of the Rings star Viggo Mortensen fans didn’t know!
RELATED STORIES
1. Don’t wish Viggo a happy birthday.
Unlike the majority of us, Viggo doesn’t like to make a big deal about his birthday . He prefers to treat them as a day of solitude and reflection.
He goes on to say that he’s flattered that people remember, but he’d prefer it if they didn’t.
2. He is enamored with the roles of Meryl Streep.
One of Viggo’s favorite films is The Deer Hunter and it’s largely because of the work of Meryl Streep.
He also cites her performance in Sophie’s Choice as being an early inspiration in his acting career.
3. Viggo is a highly skilled swordsman.
Viggo wasn’t playing around when it came to the role of Aragorn. He scoffed at the idea of a body double and dedicated himself to the art of sword fighting.
Legendary swordmaster Bob Anderson has said that Viggo is the greatest pupil he has ever trained.
4. No, he doesn’t own a goat farm.
Karl Urban once convinced an entire room of reporters that Viggo Mortensen had bought a working goat farm .
On this farm, comprised of over one thousand goats, Viggo Mortensen was supposedly taking up the art of cheese making!
It was a brilliant prank that made the national news in Spain and around the world!
Karl was paying Viggo back for a prank he pulled on him while both men were working on The Lord of the Rings — nearly a decade earlier!
So the moral of the story is: don’t mess with Karl Urban.
5. Before becoming a world-famous actor, Viggo was a poet.
In 1993, Viggo published a short collection of poetry called ” Ten Last Night .” The book is currently out of circulation and is incredibly hard to find.
If you’re looking to add this rarity to your collection, be prepared to pay top dollar.
6. Viggo and his young costars went through intense training for *Captain Fantastic*.
Viggo and his fellow castmates actually lived together in the woods in isolation.
They underwent martial arts training and even learned how to skin and clean animals.
7. Viggo had a huge misunderstanding take place while filming *The Lord of the Rings*.
Viggo had just wrapped for the day and was making his way to his car.
According to him, he was still dressed partially in his Aragorn costume and was waving his sword around in the air.
It didn’t take long before the police converged and formed a barricade around Viggo’s car!
It took a while for Viggo to be able to explain to the police who he really was and what he was doing.
Can you imagine if Peter Jackson had to bail Aragorn out of jail?!
8. He broke his foot while filming *The Lord Of The Rings* trilogy.
It happens during the scene where Aragorn stumbles upon the burnt camp ruins and believes Pippin and Merry to be dead.
Viggo gives a scattered helmet one solid kick and screams out in agony. It turns out, Viggo wasn’t acting.
9. He’s a diehard fan of the Montreal Canadiens.
Viggo has been a fan of the sport of hockey for his entire life. For the Canadiens’ centennial celebration, Viggo was selected to introduce legendary Habs player, Guy LaFleur.
Which he did in flawless French.
10. Viggo is a master of languages.
Watching this video just makes me feel stupid. I have a hard enough time with my native tongue and here Viggo is giving interviews in seven different languages!
He doesn’t skip a beat and his accents are near perfect.
11. He’s a musician!
For his role in Captain Fantastic , Viggo truly was put to work. He had to learn how to play the bagpipes and the guitar as well.
If you listen to the film’s soundtrack, that’s actually Viggo playing on the cast cover of “Sweet Child Of Mine.”
12. Viggo has an uncommon and amazing Christmas tradition.
Viggo spent significant portions of his life living in Spain. One of the most beloved traditions of the people of Catalonia (Barcelona) is called Tió de Nadal .
A small log called Caga tió is placed in a room beginning around December 8th.
The children of the house are responsible for feeding and taking care of Caga Tió.
Each day, his belly (blanket) swells with more and more presents. Finally, on Christmas Eve, the parents place Caga Tió in the fire and order him to defecate.
The children hit him with sticks while singing the “Caga Tió” song, which literally translates into “[expletive] log”.
