Arnold Schwarzenegger

Arnold Alois Schwarzenegger (born July 30, 1947) is an Austrian and American actor, film producer, businessman, retired professional bodybuilder and politician who served as the 38th governor of California between 2003 and 2011. He began lifting weights at the age of 15 and went on to win the Mr. Universe title at age 20 and subsequently won the Mr. Olympia title seven times. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest bodybuilders of all time, and has written many books and articles about bodybuilding. The Arnold Sports Festival, considered the second-most important bodybuilding event after Mr. Olympia, is named after him. He appeared in the bodybuilding documentary Pumping Iron (1977).

He made his acting debut in the low budget comedy Hercules in New York (1970), with Arnold Stang; with his voice being dubbed on initial release. He won a Golden Globe for Best Acting Debut in a Motion Picture (even with it not being his first film) for Bob Rafelson’s Stay Hungry (1976), with Jeff Bridges and Sally Field. Other films in the 1970s include an uncredited cameo in Robert Altman’s The Long Goodbye (1973), with Elliott Gould, Sterling Hayden, Nina Van Pallandt, Jim Bouton, and Mark Rydell; Hal Needham’s The Villain (1979), with Kirk Douglas, Ann-Margret, Paul Lynde, Foster Brooks, Strother Martin, Ruth Buzzi, Jack Elam, and Mel Tillis; and a cameo in Michael Schultz’s Scavenger Hunt (1979), with Richard Benjamin, James Coco, Scatman Crothers, Ruth Gordon, Cloris Leachman, Cleavon Little, Roddy McDowall, Robert Morley, Richard Mulligan, Tony Randall, Dirk Benedict, Willie Aames, Stephanie Faracy, Stephen Furst, Richard Masur, Meat Loaf, and Vincent Price.

His breakout role came with John Milius’s Conan the Barbarian (1982), with James Earl Jones,
Sandahl Bergman, Ben Davidson, Cassandra Gaviola, Gerry Lopez, Mako, Valerie Quennessen, William Smith, and Max von Sydow. This was followed by Richard Fleicher’s sequel Conan the Destroyer (1984), with Grace Jones, Wilt Chamberlain, Tracey Walter, Olivia d’Abo, and Sarah Douglas. His next breakout role was in James Cameron’s The Terminator (1984), with Michael Biehn, Linda Hamilton, Paul Winfield, Lance Henriksen, and Earl Boen.

Other films in the 1980s include Red Sonja (1985), with Brigitte Nielsen, Bergman, Paul Smith, Ernie Reyes Jr., and Ronald Lacey; Mark L. Lester’s Commando (1985), with Rae Dawn Chong, Alyssa Milano, Vernon Wells, Bill Duke, and Dan Hedaya; John Irvin’s Raw Deal (1986), with Kathryn Harrold, Darren McGavin, and Sam Wanamaker; John McTiernan’s Predator (1987), with Carl Weathers, Elpidia Carrillo, Duke, Richard Chavez, Jesse Ventura, Sonny Landham, Shane Black, R.G. Armstrong, and Kevin Peter Hall; The Running Man (1988), with María Conchita Alonso, Richard Dawson, Yaphet Kotto, and Ventura; Walter Hill’s Red Heat (1988), with James Belushi, Peter Boyle, Ed O’Ross, Laurence Fishburne, and Gina Gershon; and Ivan Reitman’s Twins (1988), with Danny DeVito, Kelly Preston, Chloe Webb, Bonnie Bartlett, and Tony Jay.

Films in the early 1990s include Paul Verhoeven’s Total Recall (1990), with Rachel Ticotin, Sharon Stone, Ronny Cox, and Michael Ironside; Reitman’s Kindergarten Cop (1990), with Penelope Ann Miller, Pamela Reed, Linda Hunt, Cathy Moriarty, Richard Tyson, and Carroll Baker; Cameron’s Terminator 2: Judgement Day (1991), with Hamilton, Edward Furlong, Robert Patrick, and Joe Morton; McTiernan’s Last Action Hero (1993), with F. Murray Abraham, Art Carney, Charles Dance, Frank McRae, Tom Noonan, Robert Prosky, Anthony Quinn, Mercedes Ruehl, and Austin O’Brien; Cameron’s True Lies (1994), with Jamie Lee Curtis, Tom Arnold, Art Malik, Tia Carrere, Bill Paxton, Eliza Dushku, Grant Heslov, and Charlton Heston; and Reitman’s Junior (1994), with DeVito, Emma Thompson, Frank Langella, and Reed.

Films in the mid to late 1990s to early 2000s include Chuck Russell’s Eraser (1996), with Vanessa Williams, James Caan, James Coburn, and Robert Pastorelli; Jingle All the Way (1996), with Sinbad, Phil Hartman, Rita Wilson, Robert Conrad, and Jake Lloyd; Joel Schumacher’s Batman & Robin (1997), with George Clooney, Chris O’Donnell, Uma Thurman, Alicia Silverstone, Michael Gough, Pat Hingle, and Elle Macpherson; Peter Hyams’s End of Days (1999), with Gabriel Byrne, Robin Tunney, Kevin Pollak, Rod Steiger, CCH Pounder, Miriam Margolyes, and Udo Kier; Roger Spottiswoode’s The 6th Day (2000), with Michael Rapaport, Tony Goldwyn, Michael Rooker, Sarah Wynter, and Robert Duvall; Andrew Davis’s Collateral Damage (2003), with Elias Koteas, Francesca Neri, Cliff Curtis, John Leguizamo, and John Turturro; Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines (2003), with Nick Stahl, Claire Danes, and Kristanna Loken; and a cameo in Around the World in 80 Days (2004), with Jackie Chan, Steve Coogan, Cécile de France, Jim Broadbent, and Karen Mok.

After his tenure as governor of California ended, Schwarzenegger returned to acting. Films in the 2010s include the first 3 films in the Expendables Franchise (2010, 2012, 2014), collectively with Sylvester Stallone, Jason Statham, Jet Li, Dolph Lundgren, Randy Couture, Terry Crews, Steve Austin, Mickey Rourke, Bruce Willis, Liam Hemsworth, Jean-Claude Van Damme, Chuck Norris, Wesley Snipes, Kelsey Grammar, Ronda Rousey, Glen Powell, Victor Ortiz, Mel Gibson, and Harrison Ford. Schwarzenegger and Stallone would also costar in Escape Plan (2013), with Jim Caviezel, 50 Cent, Vinnie Jones, Vincent D’Onofrio, and Amy Ryan.

Other films in the 2010s include Kim Jee-woon’s The Last Stand (2013), with Forest Whitaker, Johnny Knoxville, Rodrigo Santoro, Jaimie Alexander, Luis Guzmán, Eduardo Noriega, Peter Stormare, Zach Gilford and Genesis Rodriguez; David Ayer’s Sabotage (2014), with Sam Worthington, Olivia Williams, Terrence Howard, Joe Manganiello, Joshua Holloway, and Mireille Enos; Maggie (2015), with Abigail Breslin and Joely Richardson; Alan Taylor’s Terminator Genisys (2015), with Jason Clarke, Emilia Clarke, Jai Courtney, J.K. Simmons, Dayo Okeniyi, Matt Smith, Courtney B. Vance, Michael Gladis, Sandrine Holt, and Lee Byung-hun; Aftermath (2017), with Scoot McNairy, Maggie Grace, and Martin Donovan; Killing Gunther (2017), with Taran Killam (who also directed), Cobie Smulders, and Bobby Moynihan; Viy 2: Journey to China (2019), with Jason Flemyng, Dance, Rutger Hauer, Chan, Helen Yao, and Yuri Kolokolnikov; and Tim Miller’s Terminator: Dark Fate (2019), with Hamilton, Mackenzie Davis, Natalia Reyes, Gabriel Luna, and Diego Boneta.

Each review will be linked to the title below.

(*seen originally in theaters)

(**seen rereleased in theaters)

Hercules in New York (1970) – directed by Arthur Allan Seidelman
The Long Goodbye (1973) – directed by Robert Altman – uncredited cameo
Happy Anniversary and Goodbye (1974) – directed by Jack Donohue – cameo – TV movie
Stay Hungry (1976) – directed by Bob Rafelson
Pumping Iron (1977) – directed by George Butler & Robert Fiore – himself – documentary
The Villain (1979) – directed by Hal Needham
Scavenger Hunt (1979) – directed by Michael Schultz – cameo
The Comeback (1980) – directed by Kit Laughlin – himself – documentary
The Jayne Mansfield Story (1980) – directed by Dick Lowry – TV movie
Conan the Barbarian (1982) – directed by John Milius
Conan the Destroyer (1984) – directed by Richard Fleischer
The Terminator (1984) – directed by James Cameron
Red Sonja (1985) – directed by Richard Fleischer
Commando (1985) – directed by Mark L. Lester
Raw Deal (1986) – directed by John Irvin
Predator (1987) – directed by John McTiernan
The Running Man (1987) – directed by Paul Michael Glaser
Red Heat (1988) – directed by Walter Hill
Twins (1988) – directed by Ivan Reitman
Total Recall (1990) – directed by Paul Verhoeven
Kindergarten Cop (1990) – directed by Ivan Reitman
Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991) – directed by James Cameron
Christmas in Connecticut (1992) – uncredited cameo – also director – TV movie
Lincoln (1992) – directed by Peter W. Kunhardt & James A. Edgar – voice – TV documentary
Dave (1993) – directed by Ivan Reitman – cameo as himself
Last Action Hero (1993)* – directed by John McTiernan – also executive producer
Beretta’s Island (1993) – directed by Michael Preece – cameo as himself – straight to video
True Lies (1994) – directed by James Cameron
Junior (1994) – directed by Ivan Reitman
Eraser (1996) – directed by Chuck Russell
Jingle All the Way (1996) – directed by Brian Levant
Batman & Robin (1997)* – directed by Joel Schumacher
End of Days (1999) – directed by Peter Hyams
The 6th Day (2000) – directed by Roger Spottiswoode – also producer
Collateral Damage (2002) – directed by Andrew Davis
Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines (2003) – directed
The Rundown (2003) – directed by Peter Berg – uncredited cameo
Around the World in 80 Days (2004) – directed by Frank Coraci – cameo
The Kid & I (2005) – directed by Penelope Spheeris – cameo as himself
The Expendables (2010)* – directed by Sylvester Stallone – uncredited cameo
The Expendables 2 (2012)* – directed by Simon West
The Last Stand (2013)* – directed by Kim Jee-woon
Escape Plan (2013) – directed by Mikael Håfström
Sabotage (2014) – directed by David Ayer
The Expendables 3 (2014) – directed by Patrick Hughes
Maggie (2015) – directed by Henry Hobson – also producer
Terminator Genisys (2015) – directed by Alan Taylor
Aftermath (2017) – directed by Elliott Lester – also producer
Wonders of the Sea 3D (2017) – directed by Jean-Michel Cousteau & Jean-Jacques Mantello – narrator – documentary – also producer
Killing Gunther (2017) – directed by Taran Killam – also executive producer
The Game Changers (2018) – directed by Louie Psihoyos – himself – documentary – also executive producer
Viy 2: Journey to China (2019) – directed by Oleg Stepchenko – also executive producer
Terminator: Dark Fate (2019) – directed by Tim Miller
Kung Fury 2 (2023) – directed by David Sandberg

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