PROFILPELAJAR.COM

Competition record
Strongman
Representing Denmark
Denmark's Strongest Man
Europe's Strongest Man

Sven-Ole Thorsen
Sven-Ole Thorsen
Born	24 September 1944 (age 80); Copenhagen, German-occupied Denmark
Occupation(s)	Actor, bodybuilder, stuntman, strongman
Years active	1977–2011
Height	6 ft 4 in (193 cm)
Spouses	Anniqa (m. 1982; div. 1991); Birgitta Sunding Thorsen (m. 2013);
Children	5

Sven-Ole Thorsen (born 24 September 1944) is a Danish former actor, stuntman, bodybuilder and strongman competitor. Thorsen won Denmark's Strongest Man in 1983.^[1]

Using his stature he often plays imposing giants and villains in his films who are somehow beaten by smaller opponents in a David and Goliath manner, but he has also played heroic characters such as Gunnar the legendary warrior in The Viking Sagas. His autobiography Stærk mand i Hollywood (Strong Man in Hollywood) was published on 26 October 2007, and was very well reviewed. The first printing of the book reportedly sold out in 24 hours.^[2]^[3]

Career

He is known for his frequent appearances in movies featuring close friend Arnold Schwarzenegger, like Conan the Barbarian, as the hammer-wielding Thorgrim; The Running Man, as the ultimately-sympathetic bodyguard Sven; and in Predator as a Soviet advisor that executes a hostage. His other characters have included the boater-wearing security guard La Fours in Mallrats, the fighter Tigris of Gaul in Gladiator, Lt. Michael 'Tank' Ellis in Captain Power, and the alien villain Secundus in Abraxas, Guardian of the Universe.

Thorsen has been credited in fifteen Arnold Schwarzenegger movies (as of 2006^[update]) (twelve as actor, three as stuntman or trainer), making him Schwarzenegger's most frequent collaborator. It began with Conan the Barbarian, when Schwarzenegger brought Thorsen and other of his bodybuilder friends (like Franco Columbu) with him to shoot the movie. Later, when Thorsen moved to the United States, he met Schwarzenegger again while he was acting in the movie Commando. Thorsen helped with some of the stuntwork in that movie, and quickly found work in many of the subsequent Schwarzenegger films.

In spite of Thorsen's thick Danish accent, his voice is almost never dubbed (an exception being Hard Target). Thorsen pursued his role as Tigris (of Gaul) in Gladiator for over a year, beating Lou Ferrigno for the part.^{[citation needed]} The part won him two TAURUS World Stunt Awards^[4] in the ceremony's inaugural year.

Thorsen has founded various federations, including The Danish Bodybuilding Federation in 1979 and Cigar Night at Schatzi in Santa Monica, California along with Schwarzenegger. He has a black belt in Shotokan karate and holds championship titles.^{[citation needed]}

Personal life

Thorsen is 193 centimetres (6 feet, 4 inches) tall and while appearing in Conan the Barbarian (1982) he weighed 138 kilograms (304 lbs), according to his autobiography (page 24 & 110).^[5]

Thorsen lives in Santa Monica, California and had two dogs, a Jack Russell Terrier named Jake and an American Bull Terrier named Cleo (now deceased). He won the Danish "Show of Winners" Award of the Year 2006, honouring people who have a special affiliation with dogs.^[6]

Filmography

Year	Film	Role	Notes
1977	Pas på ryggen, professor (Mind Your Back, Professor)	Russisk Håndlanger (Russian Henchman)
1982	Conan the Barbarian	Thorgrim	(as Sven Ole Thorsen)^[1]
1984	Conan the Destroyer	Togra	(as Sven Ole Thorsen)^[1]
1985	Red Sonja	Stuntman	Stunts (uncredited)^[1]
1986	Raw Deal a.k.a. Triple Identity	Patrovita's Bearded Bodyguard (uncredited)	Stunts^[1]
1987	Lethal Weapon	Mercenary	(as Sven Thorsen)
	Predator	Russian Officer (uncredited)	^[1]
	The Running Man	Sven	(as Sven Thorsen)^[1]
	Overboard	Olaf, Stayton Flunky (uncredited)
1988	Red Heat	Nikolai, Georgian Mafia	^[1]
1988	Twins	Sam Klane	^[1]
1989	Pink Cadillac	Birthright Thug
1989	Ghostbusters II	Stuntman	Stunts
1990	The Hunt for Red October	Russian Chief of The Red October
1990	Total Recall	Trainer	Trainer^[1]
1991	Abraxas, Guardian of the Universe	Secundus	(as Sven Ole-Thorsen)
	Harley Davidson and the Marlboro Man	David
	Terminator 2: Judgment Day	Galleria Security Guard	^[1]
1992	Death Becomes Her	Stuntman	Stunts (uncredited)
	Dead On: Relentless II a.k.a. Relentless II: Dead On	Patrick Vergano, Mechanic	Stunts
	Lethal Weapon 3	Henchman #2
	Bram Stoker's Dracula	Stuntman	Stunts (as Sven Thorsen)
1993	Cyborg 2	Doorman	(as Sven Thorsen)
	Nowhere to Run	Prisoner
	Nemesis	Cyborg Interrogating Old Woman (uncredited)	Stunts
	Dragon: The Bruce Lee Story	The Demon
	Last Action Hero	Gunman	^[1]
	Hard Target	Stephan
1994	A Little Tailor's Christmas Story	Schultz
	The Dangerous	Sven
	On Deadly Ground	Otto	(as Swen-Ole Thorsen)
	A Low Down Dirty Shame a.k.a. Mister Cool	Mob Boss' Bodyguard (uncredited)	Stunts (as Sven Thorsen)
1995	The Viking Sagas a.k.a. The Icelandic Sagas	Gunnar
	No Exit a.k.a. Fatal Combat	Darcona
	The Quick and the Dead	"Swede" Gutzon
	Mallrats	La Fours	Stunts (as Sven Thorsen)
	Heat	Stuntman	Stunts (uncredited)
1996	The Undercover Kid a.k.a. How I Saved the President	Terrorist #1
	Fox Hunt	Huge Man
	Eraser	Russian Gunman (uncredited)	Stunts^[1]
	Bulletproof	Gunman At Motel (uncredited)	Stunts
	Jingle All the Way	Stuntman	Stunts (as Sven Thorsen)^[1]
1997	Breakdown	Stuntman	Stunts Only
	Back in Business a.k.a. Heart of Stone	Stuntman	Stunts Only
	Batman & Robin	Stuntman	Stunts Only^[1]
	George of the Jungle	Mercenary	(as Sven-Ole-Thorsen)
	Kull the Conqueror	King Borna
1998	The Bad Pack	Sven
	Best of the Best 4: Without Warning	Boris
	Soldier	Stuntman	Stunts Only
	Winchell	German Man
1999	Foolish	Paris
	The 13th Warrior	Would-Be King
	End of Days	Thug (uncredited)	also Utility Stunts^[1]
2000	Ready to Rumble	Stuntman	Stunts Only
	Façade a.k.a. Death Valley	General Schweinkopf	(as Sven Ole-Thorsen)
	Gladiator	Tigris of Gaul (Tiger)	Won Stunt Award
	The Alternate a.k.a. Agent of Death	Secret Service Agent (uncredited)
2001	The Gristle	Butcher Boy
	Bandits (2001 film)	Oregon State Prison Guard On Watchtower (uncredited)
	Route 666	Sergei, Russian Hitman
	Extreme Honor a.k.a. Last Line of Defence 2	Baker's Bodyguard
2002	Hollywood Next 8 Exits	The Landlord
	Collateral Damage	Bomb Victim (uncredited)	^[1]
	The Sum of All Fears	Haft
2003	Masked and Anonymous	Stuntman	Stunts (as Sven Thorsen)
	Charlie's Angels: Full Throttle	Machine Gun Mongol (uncredited)
	The Rundown a.k.a. Welcome to the Jungle	Goon (uncredited)	^[1]
	Timecop 2: The Berlin Decision	SS Bodyguard	(as Sven Ole Thorson)
2004	In Enemy Hands a.k.a. U-Boat	U-429: Hans
	Dodgeball: A True Underdog Story	Lumberjack Hit By Ball (uncredited)	Stunts (uncredited)
	Collateral	Stuntman	Stunt Driver Only
	Hidalgo	The Laughing Raider (uncredited)
2005	Hostage	Hooded Thug Guarding Hostages (uncredited)
2011	Ronal Barbaren (Ronald the Barbarian)	The General (voice only)	Animated feature

Notes

1 ^{^} Arnold Schwarzenegger also appeared in this movie.

Television

Year	Title	Role	Notes
17 October 1986	The A-Team	Rolf	"Quarterback Sneak" (episode # 5.4)
1987	Captain Power and the Soldiers of the Future	Lieutenant Michael 'Tank' Ellis	Entire series
11 May 1991	The Flash	Cyborg Omega	"Alpha" (episode # 1.19)
13 May 1996	Nowhere Man	Phone Repairman/Assassin	"Marathon" (episode # 1.24)
8 February 1997	Baywatch Nights	Viking	"Frozen Out of Time" (episode # 2.13)
18 March 1997	The Guardian	Baiya	"Pilot" (episode # 1.1)
1 February 1998	Mike Hammer, Private Eye	Rolf (as Sven Ole Thorsen)	"The Art of Murder" (episode # 2.3)
21 September 1998	Baywatch	Hans Ulpan	"Crash: Part 1" (episode # 9.1)
28 September 1998	Baywatch	Hans Ulpan	"Crash: Part 2" (episode # 9.2)
1999	Biker-Jens i USA	as himself	episode "Hos Sven-Ole Thorsen"
1 December 2000	Helle for Høgsbro	as himself	"Dovenskab" (episode # 1.13)
27 December 2005	Go'morgen Danmark	as himself
3 February 2006	Showtime	as Himself	Episode #2.1
17 February 2006	2 Kaffe, Tak	as himself	[1]
6 February 2006	Go' Aften Danmark	as himself
15 March 2007	Andy Barker, P.I.	Thug #1	Pilot (episode # 1.1)
October 2009	Vild med dans (Strictly Come Dancing)	first two programs as himself
14 December 2009	Kristian	as Sven Ole	"Sekten" (episode # 1.5)
13 December 2010	Go' Aften Danmark	as himself