Schwarzenegger, Arnold (1947- )

Austrian-born US film actor and politician. Having starred in sword-and-sorcery films such as Conan the Barbarian (1982), he graduated to big-budget action movies such as the Terminator series (1984-2003), Predator (1987), and True Lies (1994). He came to be regarded by many as the ultimate action hero. He entered politics in 2003, and became governor of the US state of California in 2004.

Schwarzenegger was born in Graz, Austria, and moved to the USA in 1968. He dominated the international bodybuilding scene in the 1970s, winning the Mr Olympia competition 1970-75 and 1980. He came to the attention of Hollywood in Pumping Iron (1976), a documentary about bodybuilding. He was cast in a series of roles that made much of his physique and little of his character, thus overcoming fears over the apparent obstacle of his Austrian accent. The power of his onscreen personality soon made him a big box-office attraction and enabled him to play a variety of roles, including comic roles in Twins (1988) and Kindergarten Cop (1991).

His other films include Running Man (1987), Total Recall (1990), Batman and Robin (1997), The Sixth Day (2000), and Collateral Damage (2002).