Arnold Schwarzenegger

Arnold Alois Schwarzenegger born July 30 1947 is an Austrian and American actor businessman former politician and former professional bodybuilder known for his roles in highprofile action films He served as the 38th governor of California from 2003 to 2011 Schwarzenegger began lifting weights at age 15 and won the Mr Universe title at age 20 and subsequently the Mr Olympia title seven times He is tied with Phil Heath for the jointsecond number of alltime Mr Olympia wins behind Ronnie Coleman and Lee Haney who are jointfirst with eight wins each Nicknamed the Austrian Oak in his bodybuilding days he is regarded as one of the greatest bodybuilders ever He has written books and articles about bodybuilding including the autobiographical Arnold The Education of a Bodybuilder 1977 and The New Encyclopedia of Modern Bodybuilding 1998 The Arnold Sports Festival the secondmost prestigious bodybuilding event after Mr Olympia is named after him He appeared in the bodybuilding documentary Pumping Iron 1977 which set him on his way to a film career After retiring from bodybuilding Schwarzenegger gained worldwide fame as a Hollywood action star with his breakthrough in the sword and sorcery epic Conan the Barbarian 1982 a boxoffice success with a sequel in 1984 After playing the title character in the science fiction film The Terminator 1984 he starred in Terminator 2 Judgment Day 1991 and three other sequels His other successful action films included Commando 1985 The Running Man 1987 Predator 1987 Total Recall1990 and True Lies 1994 in addition to comedy films such as Twins 1988 Kindergarten Cop 1990 and Jingle All the Way 1996 At the height of his career Schwarzenegger was known for his rivalry with Sylvester Stallone He is the founder of the film production company Oak Productions As a registered member of the Republican Party Schwarzenegger chaired the Presidents Council on Physical Fitness and Sports during most of the George H W Bush administration In 2003 he was elected governor of California in a special recall election to replace Gray Davis the governor at the time He received 486 per cent of the vote 17 points ahead of the runnerup Cruz Bustamante of the Democratic Party He was sworn in on November 17 to serve the remainder of Davis term He was reelected in the 2006 gubernatorial election with an increased vote share of 559 per cent to serve a full term In 2011 he reached his term limit as governor and returned to acting