20 Things You Probably Didn’t Know About Dolph Lundgren

Dolph Lundgren is most well known in the world as Ivan Drago, the terrifying Russian giant that killed Apollo Creed in the boxing ring and nearly did the same to Rocky Balboa. Despite the role of Ivan Drago being his most iconic and the one that he is most known for, there is a lot about the man behind the monster that most people who have seen either Rocky IV or Creed II do not know about. Dolph Lundgren has had a pretty amazing life by any measurement, going from what he described as a runt in his childhood, to becoming a scholar, to martial arts champion, to celebrity bodyguard, to model, before eventually becoming the actor that he is today.

20
He’s Swedish.
Yup, the man whose most iconic and known role is a giant Russian boxer isn’t Russian, what movie magic! Dolph Lundgren was born in the small community of Spånga which is in the Stockholm county in Sweden. He was born on 3 November 1957 making him 62 years young.

19
His Real Name Isn’t Dolph
Yup, he wasn’t born with the name Dolph. Somewhere along the line, he picked up the name, stating that it comes from a distant relative on his mother’s side of the family. Dolph was born with an even more Swedish name, Hans Lundgren, but took the name Dolph later in life.

18
Speaks 6 Languages
And before anyone asks, no one of them isn’t Russian, maybe that’s why he didn’t speak a lot of it in Rocky IV. Lundgren has stated that he can speak both English and Swedish fluently and smaller amounts of French, German, Italian, Japanese, and Spanish, but is not fluent in five languages as has often been reported.

17
His Two Children
In 1994, Dolph Lundgren married Anette Qviberg (born 1966), a jewellery designer and fashion stylist, in Marbella. Before the pair got divorced in 2011, they had two children, both daughters, Ida Sigrid and Greta Eveline Lundgren. The girls we raised outside of Hollywood to give them a normal life.

16
Really Loves Soccer
Lundgren is a very avid Soccer fan, or how he refers to it, a Football Fan. He supported Everton FC when he lived in Europe, but developed more of an interest in international football tournaments like the UEFA European Championship and the FIFA World Cup after moving to Los Angeles.

15
He Was A Marine
A little fact about Sweden you probably didn’t know is that the country had mandatory military service for men from 1901 all the way to 2010. When Lundgren came of age he served his mandatory one year in Swedish Marine Corps at the Amphibious Ranger School.

14
He Was He-Man
Yup, he was a master of the universe once. The first role that Lundgren appeared in after his iconic role as Ivan Drago in Rocky IV was none other than He-Man in the 1987 film, Masters of the Universe. The film also featured Frank Langella, Jon Cypher, Chelsea Field, Billy Barty, Courteney Cox, Robert Duncan McNeill, and Meg Foster.

13
He Was The Punisher
He-Man wasn’t the only character that Lundgren played that was from an existing property though. Lundgren also took on the role of Frank Castle, AKA The Punisher in the 1989 film simply titled The Punisher. The film wasn’t received too well, but maybe Lundgren could try to get a spot in the MCU.

12
He Turned Down Gladiator
Lundgren turned down an opportunity to appear in the film, or at least an early version of it, six years before its official release. Lundgren told Esquire “It had no action. This was before Russell Crowe and director Ridley Scott were on board. I can’t remember what happened, but I remember not liking it. Huge mistake. But another skimpy outfit?”

11
Frail Childhood
This will probably come as a surprise to a lot of people as well, just look at him, he is 6’5 and weighs over 200 pounds. Lundgren has said that, as a child, he was insecure and suffered from allergies, describing himself as a runt. This changed when he started training in martial arts and weight lifting in his preteen years.

10
He Went To Australia For School
Lundgren is a very smart man and we’ll talk more about that in the next entry on the list but for now, let’s focus on his studies abroad. Lundgren’s studied at a lot of different institutions all over the world, one of them being the University of Sydney where he got his master’s in chemical engineering.

9
He’s A Genius
Dolph Lundgren might just be one of the smartest men in the world, let alone in Hollywood. After graduating from high school with straight A’s, he spent some time in the United States in the 1970s on various academic scholarships. Lundgren has attended Washington State University, The University of Sydney, Clemson University, The Royal Institute of Technology in Stockholm and The Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

8
Karate Champion
On top of just being a genius, Lundgren was able to make time to become a second-degree black belt in Karate and a champion. He captained the Swedish Kyokushin karate team and was a formidable challenger at the 1979 World Open Tournament. He won the European championships in 1980 and 1981, and a heavyweight tournament in Australia in 1982.

7
Ivan Drago Wasn’t His First Role
Yup, the role that Dolph Lundgren is most known for isn’t the first one, even though most people couldn’t name anything he was in before. Ivan Drago is the second role that Lundgren took on, the first being a minor role as Venz in the James Bond film, A View To Kill.

6
Stallone Didn’t Want Him As Drago
Pretty surprising considering how you probably couldn’t have found anyone who could have fitted into the role better at the time. Stallone himself thought the six-foot, five-inch Lundgren was going to be too much of a stretch for the character of Drago and rejected him during their first meeting. Lundgren persevered, getting into boxing trunks and sending the photos to Stallone, who hired him six months later.

5
He Put Stallone In The Hospital
Stallone may have regretted taking on Lundgren when filming for Rocky IV started as during one of the tappings Lundgren sent Stallone to the hospital. Lundgren and Stallone decided to spar, This ended with Stallone taking a body punch from Lundgren that put Stallone in the hospital and insurance companies thought Stallone was hit by a car, not a person.

4
He Was A Bodyguard
While Lundgren was preparing to move to Boston, he was working as a bouncer in Sydney in order to bring in some extra cash. While working one night, he was spotted by an agency that provided personal protection for celebrities and was offered a job. Lundgren accepted and become the bodyguard of Grace Jones

3
He Dated Grace Jones
You might not have ever heard of Grace Jones before but in the 80s she was pretty big. Jones was a singer, songwriter, and actress and not too long after taking on Lundgren as her bodyguard the two began dating. Their relationship developed dramatically, and he moved with her to New York City. Jones is actually a big reason behind Lundgren’s choice to get into acting.

2
He Boxed A Professional Fighter
In June 2007, Lundgren accepted an exhibition boxing match for Russian television against Oleg Taktarov, a former UFC competitor. It was a boxing match and was 5 rounds long, supposedly Lundgren was a replacement for Mike Tyson. After all five rounds, Lundgren lost the decision to Taktarov.

1
Home Invasion
In early May 2009, Lundgren’s 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 realized that the house was owned by Lundgren. Yeah, the man is so intimidating that a photo of him made the invaders run home scared.