Arnold Alois Schwarzenegger (born July 30, 1947 in Thal, Styria, Austria) is an Austrian-American actor, Republican politician, bodybuilder, and businessman, currently serving as the 38th Governor of California. He was elected on October 7, 2003 in a special recall election which removed sitting Governor Gray Davis from office. Schwarzenegger was sworn in on November 17, 2003 to serve the remainder of Davis' term, which lasts until January 2007, and has confirmed he will seek a second term as Governor.
Nicknamed The Austrian Oak in his body-building days, and more recently Conan the Republican and The Governator, Schwarzenegger as a young man gained widespread attention as a highly successful bodybuilder, and later gained worldwide fame as a Hollywood action film star. His most famous films include The Terminator (and its sequels), Predator, Hercules in New York, Conan the Barbarian, True Lies, Junior , Kindergarten Cop, Total Recall, and Jingle All the Way.
Personal background
Schwarzenegger was born in Thal, Austria, four miles (6 km) from Graz, to a Gendarmerie-Kommandant policeman, Gustav Schwarzenegger (1907-1972) and his wife, the former Aurelia Jadrny (1922-1998).
s parents were members of the Nazi party.
After working in Romford, England for a short time, Arnold moved to the U.S. in 1968. At that time, he was not fluent in English, and had very little money. He became a U.S. citizen in 1983, although he has also retained his Austrian citizenship. During this time, he earned a B.A. from the University of Wisconsin-Superior where he graduated with degrees in international marketing of fitness and business administration in 1979.
In 1971 Schwarzenegger's brother Meinhard was killed in an automobile accident, and his father died the following year. He did not attend either funeral. In 1977 his autobiography, Arnold: The Education of a Body-Builder was published. In 1986, Schwarzenegger married TV journalist Maria Shriver, niece of late President John F. Kennedy. The couple have four children: daughters Katherine and Christina, and sons Patrick and Christopher. Together, the couple own a home in the fabled Kennedy Compound.
His distinctive and oft-imitated accent has led many entertainers and pundits to refer to him simply as "Ah-nuld". ['ah-nulled']
Bodybuilding career
Schwarzenegger first gained fame as a bodybuilder. His well-developed physique earned him the moniker "The Austrian Oak" (or "The Styrian Oak") and won him the titles of Junior Mr. Europe, Mr. World, IFBB Mr. Universe (1969), NABBA Mr. Universe (four times, 1967-1970), and Mr. Olympia (seven times, 1970-1975 and 1980). The seven wins at Mr. Olympia was a record set in 1980, cementing him as a legend of the sport. The record would remain until Lee Haney won his eighth straight Olympia in 1991. Schwarzenegger is considered among the most important figures in the history of bodybuilding, and his legacy is commemorated in the Arnold Classic annual bodybuilding competition.
Schwarzenegger has admitted to using performance-enhancing anabolic steroids, writing in 1977 that "[steroids] were helpful to me in maintaining muscle size while on a strict diet in preparation for a contest. I did not use them for muscle growth, but rather for muscle maintenance when cutting up." However, some bodybuilders who used the same steroid cocktails as Schwarzenegger in the 1970s dispute the notion that they were used merely for "muscle maintenance." Even Schwarzenegger has called the drugs "tissue
der. His well-developed physique earned him the moniker "The Austrian Oak" (or "The Styrian Oak") and won him the titles of Junior Mr. Europe, Mr. World, IFBB Mr. Universe (1969), NABBA Mr. Universe (four times, 1967-1970), and Mr. Olympia (seven times, 1970-1975 and 1980). The seven wins at Mr. Olympia was a record set in 1980, cementing him as a legend of the sport. The record would remain until Lee Haney won his eighth straight Olympia in 1991. Schwarzenegger is considered among the most important figures in the history of bodybuilding, and his legacy is commemorated in the Arnold Classic annual bodybuilding competition.
Schwarzenegger has admitted to using performance-enhancing anabolic steroids, writing in 1977 that "[steroids] were helpful to me in maintaining muscle size while on a strict diet in preparation for a contest. I did not use them for muscle growth, but rather for muscle maintenance when cutting up." However, some bodybuilders who used the same steroid cocktails as Schwarzenegger in the 1970s dispute the notion that they were used merely for "muscle maintenance." Even Schwarzenegger has called the drugs "tissue building." [2] In 1999, Schwarzenegger sued Willi Heepe, a German doctor who publicly predicted an early death for the bodybuilder based on a link between steroid use and later heart problems. Because the doctor had never examined him personally, Schwarzenegger collected a DM 20,000 ($12,000 USD) libel judgment against him in a German court. In 1999 Schwarzenegger also sued and settled with Globe Magazine, a U.S. tabloid which had made similar predictions about the bodybuilder's future health. As late as 1996, a year before open heart surgery to replace an aortic valve, Schwarzenegger publicly defended his use of anabolic steroids during his bodybuilding career.[3] Schwarzenegger was born with a bicuspid aortic valve; a normal heart has tricuspid valves. According to a spokesman, Schwarzenegger has not used anabolic steroids since 1990 when they were made illegal.[4] In bodybuilder slang, steroids are sometimes called "Arnolds".[5]
Schwarzenegger has remained a prominent face in the bodybuilding sport long after his retirement, in part due to his ownership of gyms and fitness magazines. He has presided over numerous contests and awards shows. For many years he wrote a monthly column for the bodybuilding magazines Muscle & Fitness and Flex. Shortly after being elected Governor, he was appointed executive editor of both magazines in a largely symbolic capacity. The magazines agreed to donate $250,000 a year to the Governor's various physical fitness initiatives. The magazine MuscleMag International has a monthly two page article on him and refers to him as "The King".
Schwarzenegger's first political appointment was to the President's Council on Physical Fitness and Sports, on which he served from 1990 to 1993. He was nominated by George H. W. Bush, who called him "Conan the Republican".
In 2003 two African-American bodybuilders came forward claiming that Schwarzenegger has a history of making racist comments. Schwarzenegger has allegedly said ."If you gave these blacks a country to run, they would run it down the tubes."
Acting career
Growing bored with professional bodybuilding, which he began to view as a "go nowhere" career, Schwarzenegger began to pursue a career as an actor. His uniquely muscular appearance earned him several movie roles. His first film appearance was as
