Arnold Alois Schwarzenegger
[July 30, 1947- ][German: aʁnɔlt ʃvaʁtsn̩ˌʔɛɡɐ][related: Predator]
Commonly known as "The Governator" - an Austrian-born actor and bodybuilder and the 38th Governor of California. Born in 1947 in Thal, Styria to Aurelia and Gustav Schwarzenegger [1], Arnold began lifting weights at age 15 becoming quickly obsessed with the practice [2], seeing it as his "ticket to America". Upon his arrival in California, Arnold trained exclusively at Gold's Gym, becoming close with Superstar Billy Graham and Ric Drasin, both fairly well-known professional wrestlers. In 1970, Schwarzenegger captured the Mr. Olympia title, a feat he would repeat seven times in succession - his training funded in part by a series of photoshoots for After Dark, a gay men's magazine. He later admittedly to regular steroid use throughout the 1970's, a habit he reportedly ended upon finding Transcendental Meditation (TM) in 1977. Arnold began his acting career in 1970 with Hercules in New York, a poorly received film in which Schwarzenegger's unintelligible english dialogue had to be replaced via overdub in post production. James Cameron's dystopian sci-fi feminist manifesto The Terminator (1984) marked Schwarzenegger's ascent into superstardom - success that was quickly followed by further futuristic/surreal action films such as Predator and Total Recall. Via special election, Schwarzenegger won the Californian governorship in 2003, later serving a second term. He was divorced from his longtime spouse Maria Shriver (niece of former American president John F. Kennedy) in 2011 after he was found to have fathered a child with their former housemaid.
- ↑ Gustav was a vocal member of the Nazi party and verbally and physically abusive for fear from the unfounded suspicion that Arnold was not his biological child.
- ↑ Arnold was absent from both his brother's and father's funerals so as to not disrupt his training regimen. He was also declared AWOL from a mandatory stint in the Austrian while attending a string bodybuilding competitions, thus risking jail time and jeopardizing a possible return to his home country.