Arnold Schwarzenegger

• 1. Introduction

  ›

  Arnold Alois Schwarzenegger arrived in the United States in October 1968 at age 21, speaking little English and carrying little money. He had already won the Mr. Universe title once, and he would go on to win it three more times. What drove a teenager from a small village in Styria, Austria, to break into locked gyms on weekends just to train? How does a man who was told his body was "too weird" and his name too long become, as one publication would put it decades later, "the most famous US immigrant"? And what happens when a bodybuilder turned action star decides the logical next step is governing the most populous state in America? The answers begin in the shadow of a father who never quite believed his second son was truly his own.

• 2. Thal and the Austrian Oak

  ›

  Arnold Alois Schwarzenegger was born on the 30th of July 1947, in Thal, Styria, the second son of Gustav Schwarzenegger and Aurelia, who was 23 when she married Gustav on the 20th of October 1945. Gustav was the local chief of police and had joined the Nazi Party after the Anschluss in 1938, later serving as a military policeman through the invasions of Poland, France, and the Soviet Union. He was wounded at Leningrad in the summer of 1942 and discharged from the Heer in February 1944. Holocaust scholar Michael Berenbaum noted that Gustav "served in theaters of the war where atrocities were committed. But there is no way to know from the documents whether he played a role."

  Gustav's favoritism toward his elder son Meinhard was, by Schwarzenegger's own account, "strong and blatant", stemming from an unfounded suspicion that Arnold was not his biological child. In a 2004 interview with Fortune, Schwarzenegger described what he called child abuse: "My hair was pulled. I was hit with belts... Many of the children I've seen were broken by their parents, which was the German-Austrian mentality. They didn't want to create an individual. It was all about conforming. I was one who did not conform, and whose will could not be broken."

  At school, Schwarzenegger was reportedly academically average but stood out for his "cheerful, good-humored, and exuberant" personality. He was later diagnosed with dyslexia. Money was scarce; he recalled that one household highlight was the day the family bought a refrigerator. His football coach took the team to a local gym in 1960, and by age 14, Schwarzenegger had chosen bodybuilding over football. In Graz, he frequented local movie theaters to watch bodybuilding idols such as Reg Park, Steve Reeves, and Johnny Weissmuller. When Reeves died in 2000, Schwarzenegger said: "As a teenager, I grew up with Steve Reeves. His remarkable accomplishments allowed me a sense of what was possible when others around me didn't always understand my dreams."

  In 1961, former Mr. Austria Kurt Marnul invited Schwarzenegger to train at the Graz gym. So committed was the teenager that he broke into the gym on weekends when it was closed. "It would make me sick to miss a workout... I knew I couldn't look at myself in the mirror the next morning if I didn't do it." He was also mentored in Graz by Alfred Gerstl, who had Jewish ancestry and later became president of the Federal Council, and he befriended Gerstl's son Karl.

• 3. The Road to Mr. Olympia

  ›

  Schwarzenegger made his first plane trip in 1966, flying to London for the NABBA Mr. Universe competition. He placed second to American winner Chester Yorton, whose leg definition was judged superior. Northern Ireland judge Ivan Dunbar invited him to Belfast after the contest, later recalling that Schwarzenegger had "enthusiasm and talent." Schwarzenegger stayed with Dunbar's family in Dundonald, County Down, before returning to London.

  Judge Charles "Wag" Bennett was also impressed, and offered to coach Schwarzenegger, inviting him to stay in his crowded family home above one of his two gyms in Forest Gate, in London's East End. The arrangement proved pivotal. Schwarzenegger later reflected: "Being with them made me so much more sophisticated... They saw that I needed that care and attention and love." Also in 1966, at Bennett's home, he met his childhood idol Reg Park, who became a friend and mentor.

  Training paid off quickly. In 1967 he won the Mr. Universe title for the first time, becoming the youngest winner at age 20. He won it three more times after that. He then attended business school in Munich and worked at Rolf Putziger's gym from 1966 to 1968, telling his English coach Roger C. Field, "I'm going to become the greatest actor!"

  Schwarzenegger moved to the United States in October 1968 at age 21 and trained at Gold's Gym in Venice, Los Angeles, under Joe Weider's supervision. From 1970 to 1974, one of his training partners was Ric Drasin, a professional wrestler who designed the original Gold's Gym logo in 1973. In 1969, Schwarzenegger lost his first Mr. Olympia attempt to three-time champion Sergio Oliva. He came back in 1970 and won, making him the youngest Mr. Olympia ever at age 23, a record he still holds. He continued winning through the 1971-1974 competitions.

  For the 1975 Mr. Olympia in Pretoria, South Africa, filmmakers George Butler and Robert Fiore persuaded him to compete and document his training. He had lost significant weight to appear in the film Stay Hungry with Jeff Bridges, leaving only three months to prepare. He won his sixth consecutive title, beating Franco Columbu, then announced his retirement from professional bodybuilding.

  The retirement did not last. Training for Conan the Barbarian put him into such good shape that he entered the 1980 Mr. Olympia in Sydney at the last moment, announcing while already hired as color commentator: "Why not compete?" He won with only seven weeks of preparation. The victory was controversial; fellow competitor Mike Mentzer felt cheated and withdrew from competitive bodybuilding afterward. Schwarzenegger was declared Mr. Olympia a seventh time, equaling a record that stood until Lee Haney won his eighth consecutive title in 1991.

• 4. Hollywood and the Terminator

  ›

  Schwarzenegger's first film role came when he was cast as the title character in Hercules in New York (1970), credited under the stage name "Arnold Strong." His accent was so thick that his lines were dubbed after production. He later recalled the industry's reaction to his ambitions: "I was told by agents and casting people that my body was 'too weird', that I had a funny accent, and that my name was too long. Basically, everywhere I turned, I was told that I had no chance."

  His profile shifted with a small but significant part in Stay Hungry (1976), for which he won the Golden Globe Award for New Star of the Year. The bodybuilding documentary Pumping Iron (1977) then set him on a wider path; he purchased the rights to the film, its outtakes, and associated still photography in 1991. His breakthrough came with Conan the Barbarian in 1982, a box-office hit, followed by a sequel in 1984. That same year, James Cameron cast him as the eponymous character in The Terminator, a role that would be called his acting career's signature part.

  Throughout the 1980s, Schwarzenegger competed in the press with Sylvester Stallone in what became a well-publicized rivalry. The two tried to surpass each other with more on-screen killings and larger weapons. His films from this period included Commando (1985), Raw Deal (1986), The Running Man (1987), Predator (1987), Red Heat (1988), and the comedy Twins (1988) with Danny DeVito. On Twins, Schwarzenegger recalled: "For Twins I took no salary. I just wanted to give it a shot. And it just happened to be my first movie to make $100 million domestically." The film netted him over $40 million of the film's profits after expenses.

  His commercial peak was Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991), the highest-grossing film of that year. Film critic Roger Ebert observed that "Schwarzenegger's genius as a movie star is to find roles that build on, rather than undermine, his physical and vocal characteristics." In 1993, the National Association of Theatre Owners named him the "International Star of the Decade." Total Recall (1990) had earned him $10 million plus 15 percent of the film's gross. Films in which he has appeared have grossed over $5.4 billion worldwide.

• 5. From Governator to Climate Advocate

  ›

  Schwarzenegger announced his candidacy in the 2003 California recall election on the 6th of August 2003, episode of The Tonight Show with Jay Leno. He had never held public office, and media outlets immediately dubbed him the "Governator." On the 7th of October 2003, Governor Gray Davis was recalled with 55.4% of the Yes vote, and Schwarzenegger won the right to succeed him with 48.6% of the vote, 17 points ahead of runner-up Cruz Bustamante. He was sworn in on the 17th of November 2003, and became the second foreign-born governor of California after Irish-born Governor John G. Downey in 1862.

  He describes himself as fiscally conservative and socially liberal, a self-declared pro-choice moderate who supported domestic partnerships and performed a same-sex marriage as governor, yet also vetoed bills that would have legalized same-sex marriage in California in 2005 and 2007. His early victories included repealing an unpopular vehicle registration fee increase, but he lost significant momentum in a November 2005 special election in which four of his own ballot measures were defeated. He later commented that "no one could win if the opposition raised 160 million dollars to defeat you."

  In the 2006 re-election against Democrat Phil Angelides, Schwarzenegger won with 56.0% of the vote to Angelides' 38.9%, a margin of well over a million votes. San Francisco mayor Gavin Newsom said after hearing a Schwarzenegger speech at the 2006 Martin Luther King Jr. Day breakfast: "He's becoming a Democrat... I would say center-left."

  Schwarzenegger's most lasting policy legacy may be environmental. On the 27th of September 2006, he signed the Global Warming Solutions Act of 2006, creating the nation's first cap on greenhouse gas emissions. The legislation set new rules on what utilities, refineries, and manufacturing plants could release into the atmosphere. A second bill prohibited large utilities and corporations from making long-term contracts with suppliers who did not meet the state's greenhouse gas standards. The plan targeted a 25 percent reduction in California's emissions to 1990s levels by 2020.

  He did not accept his governor's salary of $175,000 per year because of his personal wealth from his acting career. He reached his term limit in 2011, leaving office with a near-record low approval rating of 23%. In 2011, he founded R20 Regions of Climate Action, and in 2017 launched the Austrian World Summit, an annual international climate conference held in Vienna organized by the Schwarzenegger Climate Initiative.

• 6. Business, Family, and Scandal

  ›

  Schwarzenegger became a millionaire by age 25, well before achieving Hollywood fame. In 1968, he and fellow bodybuilder Franco Columbu started a bricklaying business that flourished after the 1971 San Fernando earthquake. Profits from bricklaying rolled into a mail-order business selling bodybuilding equipment and tapes, and those profits funded his first real estate investment: an apartment building purchased for $10,000.

  He later invested in Planet Hollywood alongside Sylvester Stallone, Bruce Willis, and Demi Moore, the same rival he had sparred with publicly for years in Hollywood. He severed his ties with the chain in early 2000, remarking that it did not achieve the success he had hoped for. In 1992, he and his wife opened a restaurant in Santa Monica called Schatzi On Main; he sold it in 1998. He also has significant equity ownership in Dimensional Fund Advisors, an Austin-based investment firm. In 2024, Forbes estimated Schwarzenegger was a billionaire.

  On the 26th of April 1986, Schwarzenegger married Maria Shriver, niece of President John F. Kennedy, in Hyannis, Massachusetts. They had four children and lived in an 11,000 square foot home in the Brentwood neighborhood of Los Angeles. On the 9th of May 2011, Shriver moved out of their Brentwood mansion after 25 years of marriage. The divorce was finalized in 2021. In June 2022, a jury ruled that Shriver was entitled to half of her ex-husband's post-divorce savings earned from 1986 to 2011.

  On the 17th of May 2011, the Los Angeles Times revealed that Schwarzenegger had fathered a son, Joseph, more than 14 years earlier with Mildred Patricia Baena, a household employee who had worked for the family for 20 years. Baena's son was born five days after Shriver gave birth to the youngest of their four children. Schwarzenegger said it took seven or eight years before he recognized the resemblance. During the 2003 governor's campaign, allegations of sexual misconduct from multiple women had also surfaced in the days before the election; in 2023, while promoting his Netflix documentary Arnold, he stated he was "totally wrong" in how he had behaved.