Arnold Schwarzenegger on the day he received his American citizenship

Arnold Schwarzenegger on the day he received his American citizenship

Arnold Alois Schwarzenegger (/ˈʃwɔːrtsənˌɛɡər/; German: [ˈaɐ̯nɔlt ˈalɔʏs ˈʃvaɐ̯tsn̩ˌɛɡɐ]; born July 30, 1947) is an Austrian-American actor, producer, businessman, investor, author, philanthropist, activist, and former professionalbodybuilder and politician. He served two terms as the 38th Governor of California from 2003 until 2011.

Schwarzenegger began weight training at the age of 15. He won the Mr. Universe title at age 20 and went on to win theMr. Olympia contest seven times. Schwarzenegger has remained a prominent presence in bodybuilding and has written many books and articles on the sport. He is widely considered to be among the greatest bodybuilders of all time as well as bodybuilding's biggest icon.[1] Schwarzenegger gained worldwide fame as a Hollywood action film icon. His breakthrough film was the sword-and-sorcery epic Conan the Barbarian in 1982, which was a box-office hit and resulted in a sequel.[2]

In 1984, Schwarzenegger appeared in James Cameron's science-fiction thriller film The Terminator, which was a massive critical and box-office success. Schwarzenegger subsequently reprised the Terminator character in thefranchise's later installments in 1991, 2003, and 2015.[2][3][4] He appeared in a number of successful films, such asCommando (1985), The Running Man (1987), Predator (1987), Twins (1988), Total Recall (1990), Kindergarten Cop(1990) and True Lies (1994). In 2015, it was announced Schwarzenegger would replace Donald Trump as the host ofThe Celebrity Apprentice. He was nicknamed the "Austrian Oak" in his bodybuilding days, "Arnie" during his acting career, and "The Governator" (a combination of "Governor" and "The Terminator", one of his best-known movie roles) during his political career.

As a Republican, he was first elected on October 7, 2003, in a special recall election to replace then-Governor Gray Davis. Schwarzenegger was sworn in on November 17, to serve the remainder of Davis's term. Schwarzenegger was then re-elected on November 7, 2006, in the 2006 California gubernatorial election, to serve a full term as governor, defeating Democrat Phil Angelides, who was California State Treasurer at the time. Schwarzenegger was sworn in for his second term on January 5, 2007.[5] In 2011, Schwarzenegger completed his second term as governor.