Dolph Lundgren

Hans Lundgren was born in Spånga, Stockholm County, Sweden to Sigrid Birgitta ({{née}} Tjerneld; 1932–1992), a language teacher, and Karl Hugo Johan Lundgren (1923–2000), an engineer (M.Sc.){{citation needed|date=July 2024}} and economist (MBA){{citation needed|date=July 2024}} for the Swedish government. He lived in Spånga until the age of 13, when he moved to his grandparents' home in Nyland, Ångermanland.{{cite book|last1=Sundholm|first1=John|last2=Thorsen|first2=Isak|last3=Andersson|first3=Lars Gustaf|title=Historical Dictionary of Scandinavian Cinema|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Ae4QqlUDt9wC&pg=PA202|access-date=27 November 2012|date=31 August 2012|publisher=Scarecrow Press|isbn=978-0-8108-5524-3|page=202}}{{cite book|last1=Green|first1=Thomas A. |last2=Svinth|first2=Joseph R.|title=Martial Arts of the World: An Encyclopedia of History and Innovation|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=P-Nv_LUi6KgC&pg=PA541|access-date=27 November 2012|date=30 June 2010|publisher=ABC-CLIO|isbn=978-1-59884-244-9|page=541}}{{cite web|url=http://www.dolphlundgren.com/about/biography.html |title=Biography |publisher=Dolph Lundgren.com (Official website) |access-date=22 May 2011 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110814212807/http://dolphlundgren.com/about/biography.html |archive-date=14 August 2011}} Some sources wrongly state 1959 as his year of birth,{{cite book|last1=Phillips|first1=Alastair|last2=Vincendeau|first2=Ginette|title=Journeys of desire: European actors in Hollywood: a critical companion|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=xetkAAAAMAAJ|access-date=27 November 2012|date=17 July 2006|publisher=BFI|isbn=978-1-84457-123-9|page=346}}{{cite book|last=Corcoran|first=John|title=The Martial Arts Companion: Culture, History, and Enlightenment|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=pXJYAAAAYAAJ|access-date=27 November 2012 |date=January 1992|publisher=Simon & Schuster Australia|page=87|isbn=978-0-7318-0270-8}} but Lundgren himself has confirmed it to be 1957.{{cite web|url=http://www.stumpedmagazine.com/interviews/dolph-lundgren/|title=Dolph Lundgren Interview|publisher=Stumped Magazine|access-date=27 November 2012}}{{cite news|url=https://www.chicagotribune.com/1989/06/11/tell-me-about-dolph-lundgren-of/|title=Tell me about Dolph Lundgren of "Masters of the...|newspaper=Chicago Tribune|date=11 June 1989|access-date=6 September 2010}}{{cite web|url=https://movies.yahoo.com/movie/contributor/1800058493/bio|title=Dolph Lundgren Biography|website=Yahoo! Movies|access-date=6 September 2010}} He has two sisters, Katarina and Annika and an elder brother Johan. Lundgren claims his father was physically abusive and took out his own personal frustrations on his wife and son. He has stated that, during his tirades, his father would call him a "loser", which motivated him later as he grew more ambitious to prove himself. But he also said, "I still love my father, no matter what happened. There are many things about him I still admire. As a child, I was probably too much like him, very stubborn—perhaps that's what he couldn't deal with." He has cited his troubled relationship with his father as the reason he developed a desire to participate in heavy contact sports such as boxing and karate.

Lundgren has said that, as a child, he was insecure and suffered from allergies, describing himself as a "runt". He showed a keen interest in drumming and had aspirations to become a rock star. At age seven, he tried judo and Gōjū-ryū. He took up Kyokushin karate at the age of 10, and began lifting weights as a teenager.{{cite video|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iYNeJ56fUeQ| archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/youtube/20211030/iYNeJ56fUeQ| archive-date=30 October 2021|title=Dolph Lundgren on The Tonight Show Part 1|publisher=Joan River's The Tonight Show|access-date=22 May 2011}}{{cbignore}} Lundgren stated that "My dad always told me that if I wanted to make something special with my life, I had to go to America." After graduating from high school with straight A's, he spent time in the United States in the 1970s on various academic scholarships, studying chemical engineering at Washington State University 1976–1977,{{cite web |date=20 February 2015 |title=Washington State University Timeline, 1976 |url=https://timeline.wsu.edu/timeline/dolph-lundgren/}} and Clemson University{{cite news |title=Lundgren chose acting over ivy |url=https://www.baltimoresun.com/news/bs-xpm-1990-09-26-1990269210-story.html |work=The Baltimore Sun |date=26 September 1990 |access-date=21 May 2011}} prior to serving his mandatory one year in the Swedish Coastal Artillery at the Coastal Ranger School. In the late 1970s, he enrolled at the Royal Institute of Technology in Stockholm and graduated in the early 1980s with a degree in chemical engineering.{{cite news |last=Brady |first=Tara |date=23 November 2018 |title=Dolph Lundgren: Grace Jones would bring as many as five girls back... 'Exhausting' |url=https://www.irishtimes.com/culture/film/dolph-lundgren-grace-jones-would-bring-as-many-as-five-girls-back-exhausting-1.3704513 |newspaper=The Irish Times |access-date=23 November 2018}}

Amidst his years of studying, Lundgren honed his karate skills by training in a dojo for five years, and attained a black belt in Kyokushin by the late 1970s. He captained the Swedish Kyokushin karate team, and was a challenger at the 1979 World Open Tournament (arranged by the Kyokushin Karate Organization).{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=7nRPDgAAQBAJ&dq=Dolph+lundgren++1979+World+Open+Tournament&pg=PT74|title=How He-Man Mastered the Universe Toy to Television to the Big Screen|first=Brian C.|last=Baer|publisher=McFarland|location=Jefferson, North Carolina|year=2017|isbn=9781476627069|page=66}} He won the European championships in 1980 and 1981, and a full-contact karate tournament in Australia in 1982.{{cite web|url=https://www.jaehakim.com/1986/11/dolph-lundgren-muscles-his-way-to-movie-stardom/|title=Dolph Lundgren muscles his way to movie stardom|website=Jaehakim.com|date=4 November 1986|access-date=2 July 2023}} In 1982, Lundgren graduated with a master's degree in chemical engineering from the University of Sydney.{{cite news |last=Koltnow |first=Barry |date=20 July 1992 |title=DOLPH LUNDGREN: BIG, BUT NOT DUMB |url=https://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/fl-xpm-1992-07-20-9202200575-story.html |work=Sun-Sentinel |access-date=22 May 2011}} During his time in Sydney, he earned a living as a bouncer in a nightclub in the notorious King's Cross area.{{cite news |last=Sams |first=Christine |date=9 September 2014 |title=Action star Dolph Lundgren admits he was involved in a few scrapes as a Sydney bouncer but cops looked after him |url=https://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/entertainment/sydney-confidential/action-star-dolph-lundgren-admits-he-was-involved-in-a-few-scrapes-as-a-sydney-bouncer-but-cops-looked-after-him/news-story/77318c781de909d304e33fc453ba8537 |work=The Daily Telegraph |access-date=9 September 2014}}

Lundgren was awarded a Fulbright Scholarship to MIT in 1983.{{cite web|title=How Dolph Lundgren Went From Chemical Engineer To Action Star|url=https://www.npr.org/2014/09/07/345798402/how-dolph-lundgren-went-from-chemical-engineer-to-action-star|website=NPR|date=7 September 2014|access-date=19 September 2018|language=en}} However, while preparing for the move to Boston, he was spotted in the nightclub where he worked in Sydney and was hired by Grace Jones as a bodyguard, and the two became lovers.{{cite video|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9cTdWLBO8DM | archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/youtube/20211030/9cTdWLBO8DM| archive-date=30 October 2021|title=Dolph Lundgren interview|publisher=Blockbuster, Youtube|access-date=22 May 2011}}{{cbignore}} He moved with Jones to New York City, where he dabbled in modeling at the Zoli Agency but was described as "a bit too tall and muscular for a model's size 40". He earned a living as a bouncer at the Manhattan nightclub The Limelight, which was housed in the former Episcopal Church of the Holy Communion, working with Chazz Palminteri. In the daytime, he studied drama at the Warren Robertson Theatre Workshop and has said that "my time in New York City opened up my adolescent Swedish eyes to a multitude of different people and lifestyles, mostly in the arts. I hung out with Andy Warhol, Keith Haring, Iman, and Steve Rubell, danced at Studio 54, and studied acting with Andie MacDowell and Tom Hulce." Friends told him he should be in movies. He quit studying at MIT after two weeks to pursue acting.{{cite web|url=https://movies.yahoo.com/movie/contributor/1800058493/bio|title=Dolph Lundgren biography |website=Yahoo!|access-date=26 October 2010}} Lundgren said after being exposed to the entertainment business, he found it more attractive and rewarding than chemical engineering, so he decided to pursue a career in acting.

Lundgren made his film debut in the 1985 James Bond film A View to a Kill, Roger Moore's final film as 007, in the minor role of Venz, a KGB assassin.{{Cite web |title= A View to a Kill |url=https://catalog.afi.com/Film/58416-A-VIEW-TO-A-KILL?cxt=filmography |access-date=6 July 2023 |website=catalog.afi.com}}{{cite book|last=Rubin|first=Steven Jay|title=The complete James Bond movie encyclopedia|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=0HTQISb1hY0C|access-date=21 May 2011|year=2003|publisher=Contemporary Books |isbn=978-0-07-141246-9|page=432}} His former lover Grace Jones, who portrayed the villain May Day, personally recommended him.{{cite news |last=Ivan-Zadeh |first=Larushka |date=16 August 2010 |title=The Expendables' Dolph Lundgren on his big-screen comeback |newspaper=Metro |url=http://www.metro.co.uk/film/838189-the-expendables-dolph-lundgren-these-days-you-see-an-action-star-and-go-what-that-s-it#ixzz2CIUwrZQs |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121129090010/http://www.metro.co.uk/film/838189-the-expendables-dolph-lundgren-these-days-you-see-an-action-star-and-go-what-that-s-it#ixzz2CIUwrZQs |archive-date=29 November 2012}} According to Lundgren, Moore said of him, "Dolph is larger than Denmark."{{Cite web |date=13 August 2014 |title=Role Recall: Dolph Lundgren on Rocky, He-Man, and More |url=https://www.yahoo.com/entertainment/dolph-lundgren-best-movie-roles-interview-dolph-94581800507.html |access-date=6 July 2023 |website=Yahoo! Entertainment |language=en-US}}

Upon learning that Sylvester Stallone was seeking an imposing fighter to play Soviet boxer Ivan Drago in Rocky IV (1985), Lundgren sent videos and pictures of himself to a distant contact of Stallone, eventually reaching him. Lundgren tried out for the role, but as he himself has stated, he was initially turned down because he was too tall.{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=-ZcqAQAAIAAJ |title=Film review |publisher=Orpheus Pub. |year=1990 |access-date=21 May 2011}} Lundgren eventually beat 5,000 other hopefuls to land his breakout role opposite Stallone, Carl Weathers, and Brigitte Nielsen. To improve his physique and athletic abilities, he trained intensely in bodybuilding and boxing for five months before the film was shot. Lundgren said: "We trained six days a week—weights in the morning for about an hour, then boxing in the afternoon. We did a split of chest and back one day and then shoulders, legs, and arms the next. We boxed for an hour and a half, practiced the fight choreography, and did bag work and abs."{{cite magazine|url=http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0801/is_6_72/ai_n57642640/?tag=mantle_skin|title=He must break you: Dolph Lundgren reflects on playing Drago, crazed fans, and why you shouldn't break into his house|magazine=Muscle & Fitness|access-date=4 October 2011|year=2011|archive-date=7 January 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160107062450/http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0801/is_6_72/ai_n57642640/?tag=mantle_skin|url-status=dead}} He weighed {{convert|240|lb|kg|abbr=on}} during filming, but in the film he was billed at {{convert|260|lb|kg|abbr=on}}, one shipping above of Drago, "He's a exceptional {{convert|250|lb|kg|abbr=on}} of merciless fighting machine, Drago is listed come to behold {{convert|270|lb|kg|abbr=on}}, the best that Soviet science & medicine can create".{{cite book|title=Bowker's Complete Video Directory 2002: Entertainment : titles A-S.|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=KBJlAAAAMAAJ |access-date=22 May 2011|year=2002|publisher=R.R. Bowker|location=Chatham, New Jersey|isbn=978-0-8352-4478-7|page=1213}} His character's lines "If he dies, he dies" and "I must break you" are amongst the best known of the Rocky series, and have often been cited in popular culture.{{cite book|last=Kluck|first=Ted|title=The Reason for Sports: A Christian Fanifesto |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=i-I3IR838XgC&pg=PA117|access-date=22 May 2011|date=1 August 2009|publisher=Moody Publishers|location=Chicago, Illinois|isbn=978-0-8024-5836-0|page=117}}{{cite book|last=Allred|first=Lance|title=Longshot: The Adventures of a Deaf Fundamentalist Mormon Kid and His Journey to the NBA|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=pnENAQAAMAAJ|access-date=22 May 2011|date=15 May 2009|publisher=HarperOne|location=New York City|isbn=978-0-06-171858-8}} Lundgren hit Stallone so hard during the filming of a fight scene that Stallone was in intensive care in the St. John's Hospital for nine days with a blood pressure of 290, due to swelling of the pericardial sac around his heart.{{cite magazine|first=Mandi |last=Bierly|date=22 December 2006|title=Why 'Rocky IV' is the best fight—Ever!|magazine=Entertainment Weekly|url=https://ew.com/article/2006/12/22/why_rocky_iv_is/|quote=This accident is not in keeping with boxing. Usually this kind of pericardial swelling is the result of head on collisions, when the steering wheel hits you in the chest.|access-date=7 November 2009}} Lundgren later fought in a real boxing match against former UFC fighter Oleg Taktarov, and lost via decision.Strength Fighter, 5 June 2013. Video of [https://www.strengthfighter.com/2013/06/dolph-lundgren-vs-oleg-taktarov-boxing.html Dolph Lundgren and Oleg Taktarov Boxing Match] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210416223418/https://www.strengthfighter.com/2013/06/dolph-lundgren-vs-oleg-taktarov-boxing.html |date=16 April 2021 }}. {{Retrieved|access-date=4 March 2021}} Lundgren has highlighted the premiere of Rocky IV at the Mann Village Theatre,{{cite web | url=https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/the-marquee-of-the-fox-westwood-village-theatre-heralds-the-news-photo/79796220 | title=The marquee of the Fox Westwood Village Theatre heralds the 1985 West | date=16 February 2008 }}{{cite web | url=https://www.gettyimages.com.au/detail/news-photo/american-actor-tony-curtis-and-his-wife-andrea-savio-with-news-photo/1391055255 | title=American actor Tony Curtis and his wife, Andrea Savio, with Canadian | date=12 April 2022 }}{{cite web | url=https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/american-actress-lydia-cornell-wearing-a-red-outfit-and-news-photo/1849766087 | title=American actress Lydia Cornell, wearing a red outfit, and American | date=14 December 2023 }} in Westwood, Los Angeles, as the moment which changed his life, remarking: "I walked in to a Westwood movie theater as Grace Jones' boyfriend and walked out ninety minutes later as the movie star Dolph Lundgren. I was shell-shocked for years from the mind-boggling and daunting experience of being a student-athlete from tiny Sweden suddenly having to live up a new action-star persona."

In 1987, Lundgren released on home media a workout video called Maximum Potential,{{Cite journal |date=September 18, 1987 |title=Lundgren shoots for 'Maximum Potential' |journal=The News-Press |pages=2D}} and he also got his first lead role as He-Man in Masters of the Universe, based on the popular children's toyline and cartoon, directed by Gary Goddard.{{Cite web |title= Masters of the Universe |url=https://catalog.afi.com/Film/57732-MASTERS-OFTHEUNIVERSE?sid=f194241b-1dd6-49b6-be54-a972ce5ff828&sr=12.565846&cp=1&pos=0 |access-date=3 July 2023 |website=catalog.afi.com}} Lundgren weighed his all-time heaviest during the filming at {{convert|280|lb|kg|abbr=on}}. The film was a critical failure and viewed as far too violent for a family picture.{{cite news|title= 'Masters of the Universe' Misfires |newspaper=Los Angeles Times|date=12 August 1987|url= https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1987-08-12-ca-349-story.html|access-date=20 May 2011 | first=Michael | last=Wilmington}}{{cite book|last=Nash|first=Jay Robert|title=The Motion Picture Guide 1988 Annual: The Films of 1987|url=https://archive.org/details/motionpicturegui0000nash|url-access=registration|access-date=20 May 2011|year=1988|publisher=Cinebooks|isbn=978-0-933997-16-5|page=[https://archive.org/details/motionpicturegui0000nash/page/41 41]}} It is referred to as a "flop" by Variety magazine,{{cite web|url=http://www.superherohype.com/news/topnews.php?id=5736|title=He-Man Returning to the Big Screen|website=Superherohype.com|access-date=20 May 2011|date=24 May 2007|archive-date=18 December 2008|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081218195042/http://www.superherohype.com/news/topnews.php?id=5736|url-status=dead}} and has a 13% "rotten" rating at Rotten Tomatoes.{{cite web|url=https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/masters_of_the_universe|title=Masters of the Universe |date=7 August 1987 |website=Rotten Tomatoes|access-date=20 May 2011}} Lundgren was criticized for being too wooden as a leading man, and it was dismissed as "a glossy fantasy starring monosyllabic Dolph Lundgren".{{cite book|last=Julius|first=Marshall |title=Action!: the action movie A-Z|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=rlkbAQAAIAAJ |access-date=20 May 2011|date=5 September 1996|publisher=Batsford|isbn=978-0-7134-7851-8|page=6}}

In 1988, he starred in Joseph Zito's Red Scorpion. Lundgren plays a Soviet KGB agent who is sent to an African country to assassinate the leader of an anti-communist rebel movement, but eventually switches sides.{{Cite web |title=Red Scorpion |url=https://catalog.afi.com/Film/58246-RED-SCORPION?cxt=filmography |access-date=4 July 2023 |website=catalog.afi.com }} The film was poorly received and has an 17% "rotten" rating at Rotten Tomatoes.{{Cite web |date=22 November 2005 |title=Red Scorpion |url=https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/red_scorpion |access-date=4 July 2023 |website=Rotten Tomatoes |language=en}} Stephen Holden of The New York Times said: "Dolph Lundgren's pectorals are the real stars of Red Scorpion, an action-adventure movie set in the fictional African country of Mombaka. Filmed from below so that one has the sense of peering up at a massive kinetic sculpture, his glistening torso, which over the course of the film is subjected to assorted tortures, is the movie's primary visual focus whenever the action slows down. And since Mr. Lundgren remains stone-faced, rarely speaking except to issue commands in a surprisingly hesitant monotone, his heaving chest actually communicates more emotion than his mumbling lips."{{cite news|url=https://movies.nytimes.com/movie/review?res=950DE4D7143EF932A15757C0A96F948260 |first=Stephen|last=Holden|authorlink=Stephen Holden|title=Red Scorpion|newspaper=The New York Times|date=21 April 1989|access-date=21 May 2011}}

In 1989, Lundgren then starred as Marvel Comics adaptation The Punisher playing the title role. Directed by Mark Goldblatt, the film changes some details of the character's origin, and eliminates the signature skull logo. These elements troubled fans of the comic book upon its release and were dismissive. Also initial reviews found it to be a trashy comic book film. The film had a troubled release as the studios who made it were changed ownership. While the film was theatrically released internationally, the film went direct-to-video in the US. However over the years the film developed a cult with some who think it's the best adaptation of the comic. The film was re-evaluated with a much more positive outlook who find Lundgren's performance solid as a ghostly and soul depraved vigilante.{{Cite web |last=Jolliffe |first=Tom |date=1 September 2020 |title=The Best Marvel Movie You Haven't Seen: The Punisher |url=https://www.flickeringmyth.com/2020/09/the-best-marvel-movie-you-havent-seen-the-punisher/ |access-date=2024-05-06 |website=Flickering Myth |language=en-US}}

File:Dolph Lundgren 1990.jpg premiere in 1990]]

In 1990, Lundgren starred in Craig R. Baxley's sci-fi thriller I Come in Peace (also known as Dark Angel) opposite Brian Benben, Betsy Brantley, Matthias Hues, and Jay Bilas. Lundgren plays a tough Houston cop with an inner sensitivity,{{cite book|title=New Statesman Society, Volume 3 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=H5kxAQAAIAAJ |access-date=21 May 2011|date=July 1990|publisher=Statesman & Nation Pub. Co. Ltd.}} who does not let the rules of police procedure prevent him pursuing his mission to wipe out a gang of drug dealers who killed his partner. Lundgren said of his role: "What attracted me to Dark Angel is that I get to do more than just action. There's some romance, some comedy, some drama. I actually have some clever dialogue in this one. I get to act."{{cite book|last=Clarke|first=Frederick S.|title=Cinefantastique |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=tiwnAQAAIAAJ|access-date=21 May 2011|year=1990}}

In 1991, Lundgren starred in Manny Coto's action film Cover Up opposite Louis Gossett Jr. Lundgren portrays a US Marine veteran turned reporter, who finds his own life in jeopardy after stumbling across a political cover-up.{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=nV4BvL8AqEwC&pg=PA80|title=Terrorism in American cinema: an analytical filmography, 1960–2008|last=Cettl|first=Robert|date=30 September 2009|publisher=McFarland|location=Jefferson, North Carolina|isbn=978-0-7864-4155-6|page=80|access-date=21 May 2011}} In Mark L. Lester's martial arts action film Showdown in Little Tokyo, he and Brandon Lee play police officers investigating the yakuza.{{cite web|title=Showdown in Little Tokyo |url=https://catalog.afi.com/Film/59045-SHOWDOWN-IN-LITTLE-TOKYO?cxt=filmography|access-date=15 September 2020|website=catalog.afi.com}}{{cite AV media|title=Showdown in little Tokyo|date=1992|last=Lester|first=Mark L.|language=en|publisher=Warner Brothers|location=Burbank, California|id=0 85391 32113 4|isbn=0-7907-0901-5|medium=VHS}} The film received a mainly negative reception from critics and was criticized for its violence; Vincent Canby of The New York Times described it as "violent, but spiritless."{{cite news|title= Review/Film; 'Showdown in Little Tokyo'|newspaper= The New York Times|date=22 September 1991|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1991/09/22/movies/review-film-showdown-in-little-tokyo.html|access-date=21 May 2011|first=Vincent|last=Canby|authorlink=Vincent Canby}} Variety wrote: "Lundgren can hold his own with other action leads as an actor and could easily be Van Damme-marketable if only he'd devote as much attention to quality control as he does to pectoral development."{{cite magazine|title=Showdown in Little Tokyo|magazine=Variety|date=31 August 1991|url=https://www.variety.com/review/VE1117794868?refcatid=31 |access-date=21 May 2011|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121107050724/http://www.variety.com/review/VE1117794868?refcatid=31|archive-date=7 November 2012}} David J. Fox of the Los Angeles Times, however, described the film as a "class act", and some retrospective critics find it to be entertaining for its genre.{{cite news|title=Weekend Box Office: List-Toppers Are Listless|newspaper=Los Angeles Times |date=27 August 1991|url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1991-08-27-ca-1886-story.html|access-date=21 May 2011|first=David J.|last=Fox}}{{cite web|title=The Best Movie You Never Saw: Showdown in Little Tokyo|url=https://www.joblo.com/movie-news/the-best-movie-you-never-saw-showdown-in-little-tokyo|date=7 December 2018|website=joblo.com|access-date=1 September 2019}}{{cite web|title=Film Review: Showdown in Little Tokyo (1991)|url=https://horrornews.net/137456/film-review-showdown-little-tokyo-1991/|date=23 November 2018|website=HNN {{!}} Horrornews.net|access-date=1 September 2019}}{{cite web|title=Showdown in Little Tokyo Blu-ray Review: The Ultimate Guilty Pleasure of the 90s |url=http://cinemasentries.com/review/showdown-in-little-tokyo-blu-ray-review-the-ultimate-guilty-pleasure-of-the-90s/|website=Cinema Sentries|date=2 September 2015 |access-date=1 September 2019}}

In 1992, Lundgren starred in the sci-fi action picture Universal Soldier directed by Roland Emmerich. Lundgren (as Sergeant Andrew Scott) and Jean-Claude Van Damme (as Luc Deveraux) play U.S. soldiers who died during the Vietnam War,{{cite journal|title=Black Belt |journal = Black Belt. Buyer's Guide|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=9c8DAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA19|access-date=21 May 2011|date=October 1992|publisher=Active Interest Media, Inc.|page=19|issn=0277-3066}} only to be later reanimated in a secret Army project to be sent on missions as GR operatives. At the 1992 Cannes Film Festival, Van Damme and Lundgren were involved in a verbal altercation that almost turned physical, but it was believed to have only been a publicity stunt.{{cite book|last=Ebert|first=Roger|authorlink=Roger Ebert|title=I Hated, Hated, Hated this Movie|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=4uCzo6NkpdsC&pg=PA365|access-date=1 August 2011|date=1 April 2000|publisher=Andrews McMeel Publishing|location=Kansas City, Missouri|isbn=978-0-7407-0672-1|page=365}} Universal Soldier opened in theatres on 10 July 1992, a moderate success domestically with $36,299,898 in US ticket sales, but a major blockbuster worldwide, making over $65 million overseas, which earned the film a total of $102 million worldwide, on a $23 million budget.{{cite news|title=Van Damme very determined|work=Hartford Courant|url=https://www.courant.com/1994/09/16/van-damme-very-determined/|date=16 September 1994|access-date=21 May 2011|archive-date=2 April 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120402135437/http://articles.courant.com/1994-09-16/features/9409210865_1_action-director-john-woo-movie-scripts|url-status=live}} Despite being a box office hit, it was not well-received; mainstream critics dismissed the movie as a Terminator 2 rip-off.{{cite news|title=Universal Soldier|newspaper=Chicago Sun Times|date=10 July 1992|url=http://rogerebert.suntimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/19920710/REVIEWS/207100302/1023|access-date=21 May 2011|archive-date=27 September 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120927041018/http://rogerebert.suntimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=%2F19920710%2FREVIEWS%2F207100302%2F1023|url-status=dead}}{{cite news|title=Van Damme and Lundgren Square Off in 'Soldier'|newspaper=Los Angeles Times |url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1992-07-10-ca-1584-story.html|date=10 July 1992 |access-date=21 May 2011|first=Kenneth|last=Turan|authorlink=Kenneth Turan}}{{cite news|title=FILM Review/Film; The Afterlife of Muscular Automatons|newspaper=The New York Times|date=10 July 1992|url= https://www.nytimes.com/1992/07/10/movies/review-film-the-afterlife-of-muscular-automatons.html|access-date=21 May 2011|first=Janet|last=Maslin|authorlink=Janet Maslin}}{{cite news|title=Universal Soldier|newspaper=The Washington Post|date=10 July 1992 |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/style/longterm/movies/videos/universalsoldierrharrington_a0ab2e.htm|access-date=21 May 2011}} Film critic Roger Ebert said: "it must be fairly thankless to play lunks who have to fight for the entire length of a movie while exchanging monosyllabic idiocies", and included Universal Soldier in his book I Hated, Hated, Hated This Movie.

In 1993, Lundgren starred opposite Kristian Alfonso and George Segal in Vic Armstrong's Joshua Tree.{{cite book|last1=Halliwell|first1=Leslie|last2=Walker|first2=John|title=Halliwell's film, video & DVD guide|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=GENAAQAAIAAJ|access-date=22 May 2011|date=1 October 2005|publisher=HarperPerennial|isbn=978-0-00-720550-9}} Lundgren plays Wellman Anthony Santee, a former racecar driver who is framed by police officer Frank Severance (Segal) for the murder of a highway patrolman. Much of the film was filmed in the Alabama Hills of the Sierra Nevada and the desert of the Joshua Tree National Park of southeast California.{{cite book|last1=Massey|first1=Peter|last2=Titus|first2=Angela|last3=Wilson|first3=Jeanne|title=California Trails Central Mountains Region|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=d5IdAYVc3nkC&pg=PA28|access-date=22 May 2011 |date=September 2006|publisher=Adler Publishing|isbn=978-1-930193-19-2|page=28}}

In 1994, Lundgren starred in Bruce Malmuth's Pentathlon as an East German Olympic gold medalist pentathlete on the run from an abusive coach.{{cite book|last1=Findling|first1=John E.|last2=Pelle|first2=Kimberly D.|title=Encyclopedia of the modern Olympic movement |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=QmXi_-Jujj0C&pg=PA526|access-date=22 May 2011|year=2004 |publisher=Greenwood Publishing Group|isbn=978-0-313-32278-5|page=526}} Lundgren trained with the U.S. pentathlon team in preparation for the role,{{cite magazine|last1=Hadden|first1=Briton|last2=Luce|first2=Henry Robinson|title=Volume 147, Issue 19-26|magazine=Time |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=f2nuAAAAMAAJ|access-date=22 May 2011|date=1 May 1996}} which later led to him being selected to serve as the (non-competing) Team Leader of the 1996 U.S. Olympic Modern Pentathlon team during the Atlanta Games, to promote the image of the sport and to coordinate planning and other details between the team and the United States Olympic Committee.{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1995/08/30/style/chronicle-570095.html|title=Chronicle |access-date=14 June 2007|work=The New York Times|first=Elaine|last=Louie|date=30 August 1995}} The film was seen negatively by most critics; Film Review said it was "appallingly acted and monotonous"{{cite book|last1=Speed|first1=F. Maurice |last2=Cameron-Wilson|first2=James|title=Film review|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=LAQqAAAAYAAJ|access-date=22 May 2011|year=1995|publisher=W. H. Allen & Co.|location=London, England|isbn=978-0-86369-928-3}} and Video Movie Guide 2002 described it as a "silly Cold War thriller".{{cite book|last1=Martin|first1=Mick|last2=Porter|first2=Marsha|title=Video movie guide 2002|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=IbuER6Iw6lUC|access-date=22 May 2011|date=28 August 2001|publisher=Ballantine Books|location=New York City|isbn=978-0-345-42100-5}}

Later in 1994, Lundgren appeared in Perry Lang's Men of War (scripted by John Sayles) alongside Charlotte Lewis and BD Wong, as Nick Gunar, a former Special Ops soldier who leads a group of mercenaries to a treasure island in the South China Sea. The film was well received by some critics. One author said "Men of War invokes the most vividly remembered fighting in a foreign land of recent Western history. This innovation, associating the muscle image with the Vietnam experience, is carried over into other contemporary muscle films."{{cite book|last1=Adams|first1=Rachel |last2=Savran|first2=David|title=The Masculinity Studies Reader|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ec8w6ZiwQD8C&pg=PA267|access-date=22 May 2011|year=2002|publisher=Wiley-Blackwell |location=Hoboken, New Jersey |isbn=978-0-631-22660-4|page=267}} Another said, "fine performances by an all-star Dolph Lundgren as a mercenary assigned to 'convince' a cast in this offbeat and disturbing film."{{cite book|last1=Martin|first1=Mick|last2=Porter|first2=Marsha|title=DVD & Video Guide 2005|url=https://archive.org/details/dvdvideoguide20000mart|url-access=registration|access-date=22 May 2011|date=31 August 2004|publisher=Ballantine Books|location=New York City|isbn=978-0-345-44995-5}}

In 1995, Lundgren appeared in Robert Longo's Johnny Mnemonic, co-starring Keanu Reeves. The film portrays screenwriter William Gibson's dystopian cyberpunk view of the future with the world dominated by megacorporations and with strong East Asian influences.{{cite book|title=World Art: the Magazine of Contemporary Visual Arts|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=QFNUAAAAMAAJ|access-date=22 May 2011|date=1 January 1995|page=49}} Reeves plays the title character, a man with a cybernetic brain implant designed to store information. Lundgren plays Karl Honig, a Jesus-obsessed hitman and street preacher who wears a robe and carries a shepherd's staff.{{cite news|url=https://movies.nytimes.com/movie/review?res=990CE3DC1131F935A15756C0A963958260|first=Caryn|last=James|title=Johnny Mnemonic (1995) FILM REVIEW; Too Much on His Mind|newspaper=The New York Times|date=26 May 1995|access-date=22 May 2011}} Critical response was negative overall; Roger Ebert said, "Johnny Mnemonic is one of the great gestures of recent cinema, a movie which doesn't deserve one nanosecond of serious analysis."{{cite book|last=Ebert|first=Roger|title=Roger Ebert's Video Companion|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=j30my5dJ_5sC|access-date=22 May 2011|date=October 1995|publisher=Andrews and McMeel |location=Kansas City, Missouri |isbn=978-0-8362-0457-5}} The film was a financial disappointment, grossing $19,075,720 in the domestic American market against its $26m budget. The cloak worn by Lundgren in the film is now located in the lobby of the Famous Players Coliseum in Mississauga, Ontario, it was his last theatrical release film until 2010.{{cite book|last=Acland|first=Charles R.|title=Screen traffic: movies, multiplexes, and global culture|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=8wIbg7fpPgMC&pg=PA116|access-date=22 May 2011|date=January 2003|publisher=Duke University Press|isbn=978-0-8223-3163-6|page=116}} Later in 1995, Lundgren appeared in Ted Kotcheff's The Shooter, an action drama in which he plays Michael Dane, a U.S. Marshall who gets caught up in politics when he is hired to solve the assassination of a Cuban ambassador.

In 1996, Lundgren starred in Russell Mulcahy's Silent Trigger, playing a former Special Forces agent who joins a secretive government agency as an assassin.{{cite book|last=Grant|first=Edmond|title=The Motion Picture Guide, 1998 Annual: The Films of 1997|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=nE8OAQAAMAAJ|access-date=22 May 2011 |date=August 1998|publisher=CineBooks|isbn=978-0-933997-41-7|page=376}}{{cite book|last=Craddock|first=Jim|title=Videohound's Golden Movie Retriever 2005|url=https://archive.org/details/videohoundsgolde00jimc|url-access=registration|access-date=22 May 2011|date=20 January 2005|publisher=Thomson/Gale|isbn=978-0-7876-7470-0}} The Motion Picture Guide to the films of 1997 said, "this stylish but empty thriller gives square-jawed Dolph Lundgren another shot at straight-to-video immortality".

In 1997, Lundgren starred in Frédéric Forestier's The Peacekeeper, playing Major Frank Cross of the US Air Force and the only man who can prevent the president being assassinated and with the ability to thwart an imminent nuclear holocaust. The film co-starred Michael Sarrazin, Montel Williams, Roy Scheider and Christopher Heyerdahl, and was shot on location in Montreal.{{cite book|last=Pratley|first=Gerald|author-link=Gerald Pratley|title=A century of Canadian cinema: Gerald Pratley's feature film guide, 1900 to the present|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=nI8aAQAAIAAJ|access-date=22 May 2011|date=November 2003|publisher=Lynx Images |isbn=978-1-894073-21-9|page=168}} The film was praised for its exciting action sequences.{{cite book|title=Film review|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=RaMqAQAAIAAJ|access-date=22 May 2011|year=1997|publisher=Orpheus Pub.}} Doug Pratt described the first half of the film as "excellent" and described Lundgren's character as "tenacious",{{cite book|last=Pratt|first=Douglas|title=Doug Pratt's DVD: Movies, Television, Music, Art, Adult, and More!|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=vxmg-LuBTWIC&pg=PA912|access-date=22 May 2011|date=1 January 2005|publisher=UNET 2 Corporation |isbn=978-1-932916-01-0|page=912}} although Robert Cettl wrote "the Peacekeeper trades on the presence of B-movie action star Dolph Lundgren, an actor who never became as popular as his action contemporaries Jean-Claude Van Damme and Steven Seagal."{{cite book|last=Cettl|first=Robert|title=Terrorism in American cinema: an analytical filmography, 1960–2008|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=nV4BvL8AqEwC&pg=PA205|access-date=22 May 2011 |date=30 September 2009|publisher=McFarland|isbn=978-0-7864-4155-6|page=205}}

In 1998, he appeared in Jean-Marc Piché's action/supernatural horror film The Minion alongside Françoise Robertson Lundgren portrays Lukas Sadorov, a middle eastern templar and member of an order who are charged with guarding the gateway to Hell that, if opened, will unleash all evil. The DVD and Video Guide of 2005 described the film as being "possibly one of the worst films ever". Later in 1998, Lundgren appeared alongside Bruce Payne and Claire Stansfield in Sweepers as Christian Erickson, a leading demolition expert and head of an elite team of specialists, trained to disarm mine fields in a humanitarian minesweeping operation in Angola.{{cite book|title=Bowker's Complete Video Directory 2002: Entertainment : titles A-S.|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=KBJlAAAAMAAJ|access-date=22 May 2011|year=2002|publisher=Bowker|isbn=978-0-8352-4478-7|page=1390}} The Video Guide to 2002 said, "that noise you hear isn't the numerous on-screen explosions but action star Lundgren's career hitting rock bottom."{{cite book|last1=Martin|first1=Mick|last2=Porter|first2=Marsha|title=Video movie guide 2002|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=IbuER6Iw6lUC|access-date=22 May 2011|date=28 August 2001|publisher=Ballantine |isbn=978-0-345-42100-5|page=1082}} He also featured in the TV pilot Blackjack (directed by John Woo) as a former US Marshal who becomes the bodyguard and detective of a young supermodel (Kam Heskin), who becomes the target of a psychotic assassin (Phillip MacKenzie).{{cite book|last=Craddock|first=Jim|title=Videohound's Golden Movie Retriever 2005 |url=https://archive.org/details/videohoundsgolde00jimc|url-access=registration|access-date=22 May 2011|date=20 January 2005 |publisher=Thomson/Gale|isbn=978-0-7876-7470-0|page=[https://archive.org/details/videohoundsgolde00jimc/page/115 115]}}{{cite book|last=Heard|first=Christopher |title=Ten thousand bullets: the cinematic journey of John Woo|url=https://archive.org/details/tenthousandbulle00hear|url-access=registration|access-date=22 May 2011|year=2000|publisher=Lone Eagle Pub. |isbn=978-1-58065-021-2}} One review described the narrative as "laughably stupid", while the DVD and Video Guide to 2005 said, "dull, lightweight, made-for-TV action fully to a satisfying climax".{{cite book|title=The Laser disc newsletter |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=MoAHAQAAMAAJ|access-date=22 May 2011|year=1998|publisher=Laser Disc Newsletter}}

In 1999, Lundgren played a mercenary in Isaac Florentine's Bridge of Dragons,{{cite web|title=Bridge of Dragons|url=https://www.tvguide.com/movies/bridge-of-dragons/2030112947/|access-date=18 August 2021|website=TVGuide.com|language=en}} a military pilot in Anthony Hickox's Storm Catcher,{{cite book|title=TV guide |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=9mPvAAAAMAAJ|access-date=22 May 2011|year=2004|publisher=Triangle Publications}} and a cop who's a former boxer in Jill Rips, also directed by Hickox, based on a 1987 novel by Scottish writer Frederic Lindsay.{{cite book|last=Cettl|first=Robert|title=Serial killer cinema: an analytical filmography with an introduction|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=koZZAAAAMAAJ|access-date=22 May 2011|date=January 2003|publisher=McFarland & Co.|isbn=978-0-7864-1292-1|page=234}}

In 2000, Lundgren starred in The Last Warrior as Captain Nick Preston under director Sheldon Lettich. In Damian Lee's Agent Red (also known as Captured), co-starring Alexander Kuznetsov and Natalie Radford and Randolph Mantooth, Lundgren plays a soldier trapped on a submarine during the Cold War who must work with his wife, a virologist, to prevent a terrorist chemical attack against the United States.{{cite book|last=Cettl|first=Robert|title=Terrorism in American cinema: an analytical filmography, 1960–2008|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=nV4BvL8AqEwC&pg=PA18|access-date=22 May 2011|date=30 September 2009|publisher=McFarland|isbn=978-0-7864-4155-6|page=18}} After the film was completed, producer Andrew Stevens thought it was too poor to be released and multiple people had to be hired to at least make the film half-competent.{{cite web|url=http://www.dolph-ultimate.com/dolph-in/agent.html|title=Agent Red|publisher=Dolph:The Ultimate Guide|access-date=22 May 2011}} The film was very poorly received, given its "shoestring budget"; the DVD and Film Guide of 2005 wrote, "low-budget mess stars Dolph Lundgren as a navy special operations commander trying to keep a deadly virus out of the hands of terrorists. This subpar effort sinks to the bottom of the ocean in a tidal wave of cliche."{{cite book|last1=Martin|first1=Mick |last2=Porter|first2=Marsha|title=DVD & video guide 2005|url=https://archive.org/details/dvdvideoguide20000mart|url-access=registration|access-date=22 May 2011|date=31 August 2004|publisher=Ballantine Books |isbn=978-0-345-44995-5|page=[https://archive.org/details/dvdvideoguide20000mart/page/14 14]}} During an interview on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno in May 2008, Gladiator director Ridley Scott said Lundgren had been considered for the part of undefeated fighter Tigris of Gaul in 2000, but was eventually rejected because "as an actor, he just didn't fit in with what we were trying to achieve".The Tonight Show with Jay Leno, featuring Ridley Scott, May 2008

In 2001, Lundgren starred in Hidden Agenda, directed by Marc S. Grenier. He plays Jason Price, an ex-FBI agent who protects a witness. In 2003, Lundgren featured in Sidney J. Furie's Detention.{{cite book|last=Craddock|first=Jim|title=Videohound's Golden Movie Retriever 2005|url=https://archive.org/details/videohoundsgolde00jimc|url-access=registration|access-date=22 May 2011|date=20 January 2005|publisher=Thomson/Gale|isbn=978-0-7876-7470-0|page=[https://archive.org/details/videohoundsgolde00jimc/page/235 235]}}{{cite book|author1=Katholisches Institut für Medieninformation (Germany)|author2=Katholische Filmkommission für Deutschland|title=Film-Dienst|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=tENfAAAAMAAJ|access-date=22 May 2011|year=2007|publisher=Katholisches Institut für Medieninformationen|page=40}}

In 2004, Lundgren appeared opposite Polly Shannon in Direct Action under Sidney J. Furie, portraying Sergeant Frank Gannon, an officer who has spent the last three years on the Direct Action Unit (DAU) task force, fighting gang crime and corruption and after he leaves he is hunted down by former colleagues for betraying the brotherhood.{{cite book|title=African drum|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=VE4nAQAAIAAJ|access-date=22 May 2011|date=1 October 2004|publisher=African Drum Publications|page=152}} That year, he played a role in Ed Bye's comedy Fat Slags.{{Cite web |title=Fat Slags |url=https://www.tvguide.com/movies/fat-slags/cast/2000100506/ |access-date=6 July 2023 |website=TVGuide.com |language=en}} His next starring role was in the science fiction picture Retrograde. In it, Lundgren plays a man who is in a group of genetically unique people who travel back in time to prevent the discovery of meteors containing deadly bacteria."{{cite book|title=African drum|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=L1InAQAAIAAJ|access-date=22 May 2011|date=1 January 1951|publisher=African Drum Publications|page=48}}

In 2004, Lundgren made his directorial debut with The Defender, when he replaced Sidney J. Furie, who was sick during pre-production. Lundgren also stars, playing the bodyguard of the head of the National Security Agency during a war on terror.{{cite web |url=https://www.ign.com/articles/2006/01/05/the-defender |title=The Defender |last=Gilchrist |first=Todd |date=5 January 2006 |website=IGN |access-date=22 May 2011}}

In 2005, Lundgren starred and directed his second picture The Mechanik (a.k.a. The Russian Specialist), playing a retired Russian Special Forces hitman caught in the crossfire with Russian mobsters. Sky Movies remarked that The Mechanik is "hardcore death-dealing from the Nordic leviathan" and said that "The Mechanik delivers all the no-nonsense gunplay you'd want of a Friday night".{{cite web|url=http://movies.sky.com/the-mechanik/review |title=The Mechanik|publisher=Sky Movies|access-date=22 May 2011}}

In 2006, Lundgren played gladiator Brixos in the Italian-made historical/biblical drama, The Inquiry (L'inchiesta) a remake of a 1986 film by the same name, in an ensemble that includes Daniele Liotti, Mónica Cruz, Max von Sydow, F. Murray Abraham and Ornella Muti. Set in AD 35 in the Roman Empire, the story follows a fictional Roman general named Titus Valerius Taurus, a veteran of campaigns in Germania, who is sent to Judea by the emperor Tiberius to investigate the possibility of the divinity of the recently crucified Jesus.{{cite web|url=http://www.dolph-ultimate.com/films/inquiry.html|title=The Enquiry|publisher=Dolph:The Ultimate Guide|access-date=22 May 2011}} The film, shot on location in Tunisia and Bulgaria, premiered at the Capri, Hollywood and the Los Angeles Italia Film Festival.

File:Dolph2.jpg

In 2007, Lundgren directed and starred in the Mongolia-based action adventure, Diamond Dogs. Lundgren plays a mercenary hired by a group of fortune hunters to act as their guide and bodyguard. The film, a Canadian-Chinese production, was shot on location in Inner Mongolia.{{cite book|title=The Hollywood reporter|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=07cqAQAAIAAJ|access-date=22 May 2011|year=2006|work=The Hollywood Reporter Inc.|page=112}} Later in 2007, Lundgren wrote, directed and starred in the modern western film, Missionary Man alongside Charles Solomon Jr.{{cite video|url=http://vimeo.com/863364|title=Dolph Lundgren, "Missionary Man" at AFI Dallas 08|publisher=Dallas International Film Festival|year=2008|access-date=22 May 2011}} Lundgren plays a lone, Bible-preaching stranger named Ryder who comes into a small Texas town on his 1970's Harley-Davidson motorcycle to attend the funeral of his good friend J.J., a local Native American carpenter, only to later get mixed up in a series of brawls with a local gang. According to Lundgren, it had long been a desire of his to direct a western, having long been a fan of Clint Eastwood and John Wayne, yet he did not want to spend the time and money building an old western town and hiring horses, so decided to set it in modern times with a motorbike. The film, shot on location in Waxahachie, south of Dallas, Texas, was specially screened at the 2008 AFI Dallas Film Festival.{{cite book|title=The Hollywood Reporter|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Y0cbAQAAIAAJ|access-date=22 May 2011|year=2007|publisher=The Hollywood Reporter Inc.}}

In 2008, Lundgren starred in the direct-to-video action flick Direct Contact. He plays an ex-US Special forces operative on a rescue mission. This was followed by another direct to video film Command Performance (2009), a hostage action drama in which Lundgren, a proficient musician in real life, plays a rock drummer forced to face terrorists at a concert. The film co-starred Canadian pop singer Melissa Smith, playing a world-famous pop singer in the film and his own daughter, Ida, on her screen debut, who played one of the daughters of the Russian president. The story was inspired by a concert Madonna put on for Russian President Vladimir Putin, although Lundgren has also likened the pop singer to Britney Spears.{{cite news|last=Kit |first=Borys |url=https://www.reuters.com/article/filmNews/idUSN2831844920080328 |title=Reuters/Hollywood Reporter Article |publisher=Reuters.com |date=28 March 2008|access-date=18 August 2011}} The film premiered at the Ischia Global Film & Music Festival on 18 July 2009.{{cite web|url=http://www.dolph-ultimate.com/whatsnew.html|title=What's New|publisher=Dolph:The Ultimate Guide|access-date=22 May 2011}}

In 2009, The Dolph Lundgren Scholarship was instituted in his name, which is awarded to the student with the best grades at Ådalsskolan in Kramfors, the school where he himself studied.{{cite web|url=http://dolphlundgrenscholarship.com/|title=Dolph Lundgren Scholarship |publisher=Dolph Lundgren Scholarship|access-date=30 May 2011|url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110814211900/http://dolphlundgrenscholarship.com/ |archive-date=14 August 2011}} Lundgren then reunited with Jean-Claude Van Damme in Universal Soldier: Regeneration, where he plays Andrew Scott's clone. The film was released theatrically in the Middle East and Southeast Asia and directly to video in the United States and other parts of the world. Since its release, the film has received better than average reviews for a straight-to-DVD franchise sequel, with film critic Brian Orndorf giving the film a B, calling it "moody, pleasingly quick-draw, and knows when to quit, making the Universal Soldier brand name bizarrely vital once again."{{cite web|url=http://www.brianorndorf.com/2010/01/film-review-universal-soldier-regeneration.html|title=This is Briandom – Universal Soldier: Regeneration |publisher=Brian Orndorf|access-date=2 May 2011}} Dread Central gave it three out of five knives, saying: "there is almost nothing but solid b-level action until the credits roll."{{cite news|url=https://www.dreadcentral.com/reviews/universal-soldier-regeneration-2009|title=Universal Soldier: Regeneration Review|work=Dread Central|access-date=22 May 2011}} On the negative side, Pablo Villaça said in his review that while he praised Van Damme's performance, he criticized that of Lundgren and described the film "dull in concept and execution".{{cite web|url=https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/universal_soldier_3/comments.php?reviewid=1865455|title= Universal Soldier: Regeneration Review |author= Villaca, Pablo|language= pt |website=Rotten Tomatoes|access-date=22 May 2011}}

Later in 2009, Lundgren directed and starred as a businessman whose shady past as a KGB special agent is discovered in the hit-man thriller Icarus (retitled in the US and the UK as The Killing Machine).{{cite news|url=https://www.dreadcentral.com/news/35860/dolph-lundgren-gets-regenerated |title=Dolph Lundgren Gets Regenerated |work=Dread Central |access-date=22 May 2011|date=11 February 2010 }}

File:The Expendables Comic-Con Panel.jpg at ComicCon 2010]]

In 2010, Lundgren made a guest star appearance on the TV series Chuck in the fourth-season premiere episode, "Chuck Versus the Anniversary", as Russian spy Marco, with references to Rocky IV's Ivan Drago.{{cite web |title=Bio |url=http://www.dolph-ultimate.com/bio.html |access-date=22 May 2011 |publisher=Dolph:The Ultimate Guide}} He then played a drug-addled assassin in the ensemble action film The Expendables, in a cast which includes popular action stars such as Stallone, Jason Statham, Jet Li, and Randy Couture as a group of elite mercenaries, tasked with a mission to overthrow a Latin American dictator. It was described by Lundgren as "an old-school, kick-ass action movie where people are fighting with knives and shooting at each other."{{cite web|url=http://suicidegirls.com/interviews/Dolph+Lundgren%3A+Direct+Contact|title=Dolph Lundgren: Direct Contact|publisher=SuicideGirls.com|date=31 May 2009|access-date=2 June 2009}} The film received mixed reviews from critics but was very successful commercially, opening at number one at the box office in the United States, the United Kingdom{{cite web|url=http://www.metro.co.uk/film/839187-the-expendables-takes-no-1-uk-box-office-spot|title=Expendables Takes No. 1 Spot|publisher=Metro.co.uk|date=26 August 2010|access-date=30 August 2010|archive-date=8 October 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121008053007/http://www.metro.co.uk/film/839187-the-expendables-takes-no-1-uk-box-office-spot|url-status=dead}} China{{cite news|url=https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/|title='Expendables' emerges overseas winner|work=The Hollywood Reporter|first=Frank|last=Segers|access-date=30 August 2010|date=29 August 2010}}{{Dead link|date=November 2019 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }} and India.{{cite web|url=http://www.glamsham.com/movies/scoops/10/aug/03-rajat-enterprise-to-release-the-expendables-in-india-081013.asp|title='Expendables' beats 'Eat Pray Love' over fight for overseas No. 1 in India|publisher=The Glamsham|first=Ashna|last=Ray|date=August 3, 2010|access-date=30 August 2010|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100806070707/http://www.glamsham.com/movies/scoops/10/aug/03-rajat-enterprise-to-release-the-expendables-in-india-081013.asp|archive-date=6 August 2010}}

Lundgren was one of three hosts for the 2010 Melodifestivalen, where the Swedish contribution to the Eurovision Song Contest is selected. In the first installation on 6 February, Lundgren co-hosted the competition together with comedian Christine Meltzer and performer Måns Zelmerlöw. Lundgren's appearance was hailed by critics and audience, particularly his rendition of Elvis Presley's "A Little Less Conversation".{{cite web|url=http://www.aftonbladet.se/nojesbladet/melodifestivalen2010/article6562902.ab|title=Nu slåss kanalerna om Dolph|date=8 February 2010|work=aftonbladet.se|language=sv|access-date=22 May 2011}}{{cite web|url=http://www.aftonbladet.se/nojesbladet/melodifestivalen2010/article6558411.ab|title=Läsarna: Fem plus Dolph!|date=6 February 2010 |work=aftonbladet.se|language=sv|access-date=22 May 2011}}{{cite web|url=http://allehanda.se/noje/1.1792386|title=Allehanda|last=Tavér|first=Hasse|date=8 February 2010|work=allehanda.se|language=sv|access-date=23 May 2011|url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100209232758/http://allehanda.se/noje/1.1792386|archive-date=9 February 2010}}{{cite web|url=http://www.vg.no/musikk/grand-prix/artikkel.php?artid=589081|title=Dolph Lundgren stjal showeti Melodifestivalen|last=Haugen|first=Ida Anna Haugen|date=2 July 2010|work=vg.no|publisher=VG Nett|language=no|access-date=23 May 2011}}{{cite web|url=http://www.metro.se/2010/02/08/85335/darfor-alskar-vi-dolph/|title=Därför älskar vi Dolph|date=8 August 2010|work=metro.se|language=sv|access-date=23 May 2011|url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100210033940/http://www.metro.se/2010/02/08/85335/darfor-alskar-vi-dolph/|archive-date=10 February 2010}}

Lundgren played the lead role in Uwe Boll's In the Name of the King 2: Two Worlds, and had supporting roles in Jonas Åkerlund's Small Apartments and a thriller called Stash House. Principal photography for Universal Soldier: Day of Reckoning began on 9 May 2011 in Louisiana, and filming wrapped on One in the Chamber (co-starring Cuba Gooding Jr.) around the same time.{{cite web|url=http://www.dolph-ultimate.com/films/index.html|title=Dolph: the ultimate guide filmography|publisher=Dolph-ultimate.com|access-date=18 August 2011}} The Expendables 2 entered principal photography in late September/early October 2011, with Lundgren reprising his role as Gunner Jensen. Filming wrapped in January 2012, and it was released by Lionsgate on 17 August later that year.

In 2013, Lundgren starred alongside Steve Austin in The Package. Directed by Jesse Johnson, principal photography wrapped in March 2012, and the film was released on 9 February 2013. For a direct-to-DVD film, The Package was not a financial success. In its first week of release, the film debuted at no. 81; grossing $1,469 at the domestic box office.[https://www.boxofficemojo.com/movies/?page=daily&id=package2013.htm The Package (box office performance)],Box Office Mojo; retrieved 4 September 2015. He starred in a number of other films later that year, including Legendary, Battle of the Damned, Ambushed, and Blood of Redemption.

In 2014, Lundgren co-starred opposite Cung Le in the action film Puncture Wounds, and reprised his role as Gunner Jensen for the third time in The Expendables 3. He then wrote, produced, and starred alongside Tony Jaa and Ron Perlman in Skin Trade, an action thriller about human trafficking.{{cite web|url=http://ramascreen.com/dont-mess-with-dolph-lundgrens-skin-trade|title=Don't Mess With Dolph Lundgren's SKIN TRADE |publisher=Ramascreen.com|access-date=18 August 2011|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110809183907/http://www.ramascreen.com/dont-mess-with-dolph-lundgrens-skin-trade |archive-date=9 August 2011}}{{cite web|url=http://www.dolph-ultimate.com/dolph-in/skintrade.html|title=DOLPH: Skin Trade|publisher=Dolph-ultimate.com|date=9 April 2010 |access-date=18 August 2011}} Principal photography started on 2 February 2014 in Thailand, and wrapped in Vancouver; April the same year.{{cite web|url=https://deadline.com/2014/02/global-showbiz-briefs-revenge-thriller-skin-trade-sets-cast-bbc-films-options-novel-that-part-was-true-676412/|title=Global Showbiz Briefs: Revenge Thriller 'Skin Trade' Sets Cast; BBC Films Options Novel 'That Part Was True' |last=Tartaglione|first=Nancy|website=Deadline Hollywood|date=3 February 2014|access-date=12 February 2014}}Friel, Eoin (19 March 2014) [http://theactionelite.com/2014/03/tony-jaa-interview "Tony Jaa Interview"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150822171614/http://theactionelite.com/2014/03/tony-jaa-interview |date=22 August 2015 }}, The Action Elite; retrieved 9 March 2015. The film received a limited theatrical release, followed by a Blu-ray and DVD release on 25 August 2015.[http://www.dvdsreleasedates.com/movies/7447/skin-trade "'Skin Trade' DVD release"], dvdreleasedates.com; retrieved 20 August 2015.[http://www.movieinsider.com/dvds/august/2015 "August 2015 DVD Releases"], movieinsider.com; retrieved 20 August 2015. In February, he filmed a cameo for the Coen brothers' 2016 comedy film Hail, Caesar!, portraying a Soviet submarine captain.

File:2015 Gumball 3000 09.jpg at the 2015 annual Gumball 3000 event in Stockholm, Sweden]]

On 21 January 2015, Lundgren started filming straight-to-video film Shark Lake on the Mississippi Gulf Coast.Clarion-Ledger. [http://jackson.suntimes.com/jms-news/7/130/51951/dolph-lundgren-shark-movie-to-film-on-gulf-coast-2 "Dolph Lundgren 'Shark' movie to film on Gulf Coast"]{{dead link|date=December 2017 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}, www.jackson.suntimes.com, published 1 July 2015. Retrieved 4 September 2015. This was followed by a further six weeks of filming in the "Reno-Tahoe area".Haiden, Jayme. [http://www.mynews4.com/news/story/Action-movie-starring-Dolph-Lundgren-filming-in/yHq5DR0z50SeT3hxKCL4wg.cspx "Action movie starring Dolph Lundgren filming in Reno-Tahoe this fall"] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151208191241/http://www.mynews4.com/news/story/Action-movie-starring-Dolph-Lundgren-filming-in/yHq5DR0z50SeT3hxKCL4wg.cspx |date=8 December 2015 }}, www.mynews4.com, published 25 August 2014. Retrieved 9 April 2015. In the film, he portrays Clint Gray, a black-market dealer of exotic species responsible for releasing a dangerous shark into Lake Tahoe.Golden, Lee. [http://filmcombatsyndicate.blogspot.co.uk/2015/05/dolph-lundgren-thriller-shark-lake-gets.html "Dolph Lundgren Thriller SHARK LAKE Gets Its Grub On With A New Trailer"], filmcombatsyndicate.blogspot.co.uk, published 31 May 2015; retrieved 12 August 2016. Directed by Jerry Dugan, the film's budget was $2 million. On 23 May, straight-to-video film War Pigs premiered at the GI Film Festival. In the film, Lundgren co-starred (alongside Luke Goss) as Captain Hans Picault, a French Legionnaire who trains a U.S. Army Infantry group to go behind enemy lines and exterminate the Nazis. In August 2015, he started filming Kindergarten Cop 2 in Ontario, Canada, a straight-to-video sequel to the 1990 comedy film that starred Arnold Schwarzenegger.Williams, Owen. [https://www.empireonline.com/news/story.asp?NID=45107 "Dolph Lundgren Starring In Kindergarten Cop 2"], www.empireonline.com, published 14 August 2015. Retrieved 14 August 2015.Orange, B. Alan. [http://movieweb.com/kindergarten-cop-2-dolph-lundgren-photos/ "First Look at Dolph Lundgren in 'Kindergarten Cop 2'"], www.movieweb.com, published 13 August 2015. Retrieved 14 August 2015. He portrays Agent Reed, a law enforcement officer who must go undercover as a kindergarten teacher, in order to recover a missing flash drive from the Federal Witness Protection Program.Mink, Casey. [http://hollywoodlife.com/2015/08/14/kindergarten-cop-2-sequel-dolph-lundgren-pic/ "'Kindergarten Cop 2': Arnold Schwarzenegger Film Gets Sequel — First Pic"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180920045454/https://hollywoodlife.com/2015/08/14/kindergarten-cop-2-sequel-dolph-lundgren-pic/ |date=20 September 2018 }}, hollywoodlife.com, published 14 August 2015; retrieved 12 August 2016. Throughout that year, he starred in a number of other straight-to-video films, including the crime thriller The Good, the Bad and the DeadThe Night Rider. [http://www.manlymovie.net/2015/06/lundgren-trejo-in-the-good-the-bad-the-dead.html "Lundgren, Trejo In The Good, The Bad & The Dead"], www.manlymovie.net, published 16 June 2015. Retrieved 14 September 2015. and the prison film Riot.Saathoff, Evan. [http://birthmoviesdeath.com/2015/05/11/dolph-lundgren-is-going-to-make-you-riot-in-this-new-riot-trailer "Dolph Lundgren Is Going To Make You Riot In This New RIOT Trailer"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150719111441/http://birthmoviesdeath.com/2015/05/11/dolph-lundgren-is-going-to-make-you-riot-in-this-new-riot-trailer |date=19 July 2015 }}, birthmoviesdeath.com, published 11 May 2015; retrieved 12 August 2016. He starred in the music video of Imagine Dragons's Believer, which was released on 7 March 2017.{{cite magazine|url=https://www.billboard.com/articles/columns/rock/7710351/imagine-dragons-dolph-lundgren-believer-video |title=Imagine Dragons Face Off Against Dolph Lundgren in New 'Believer' Video: Watch |date=7 March 2017 |magazine=Billboard |first=Colin |last=Stutz}} In August 2017, he portrayed the future version of Gil Shepard in the Syfy film Sharknado 5: Global Swarming.

In 2018, Black Water, an action thriller, directed by Pasha Patriki was released. Also starred Van Damme, this was their fifth collaboration between both actors as well as the first time they appear together as on-screen allies.Baldwin, Daniel. [http://www.cinemarunner.com/2017/05/02/trailer-lundgren-jcvd-deep-black-water/ "JCVD & Lundgren Are Deep In 'Black Water'"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170503085041/http://www.cinemarunner.com/2017/05/02/trailer-lundgren-jcvd-deep-black-water/ |date=3 May 2017 }}, www.cinemarunner.com, published 2 May 2017. Retrieved 15 May 2017.Kit, Borys. [https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/heat-vision/jean-claude-van-damme-dolph-lundgren-team-action-thriller-black-water-960784 "Jean-Claude Van Damme, Dolph Lundgren Team for Action Thriller 'Black Water'"], The Hollywood Reporter, published 4 January 2017. Retrieved 23 April 2017. Lundgren reprised his role of Ivan Drago from Rocky IV in Creed II, the 2018 sequel to Creed.{{cite web|author=Michael Roffman |url=https://consequenceofsound.net/2017/07/russian-bastard-ivan-drago-confirmed-for-creed-ii/ |title=Russian bastard Ivan Drago confirmed for Creed II|publisher=Consequence Of Sound|date=22 July 2017|access-date=22 July 2017}} He played an older, impoverished Drago in the film, which also introduces the character's son, Viktor. This marked the beginning of what New York has described as Lundgren's "comeback."{{cite web|url=https://www.vulture.com/2018/11/dolph-lundgren-ivan-drago-creed-ii-profile.html |title=Dolph Lundgren's Long Road Back to Ivan Drago and Creed II |website=Vulture |date=19 November 2018 |first=Abraham |last=Riesman }} Also that year, Lundgren appeared in the DC Extended Universe film Aquaman, from director James Wan, as the underwater king Nereus. Later in 2021, Lundgren starred and directed in the 2021 action film Castle Falls as Richard Ericson, in his first feature film as directed in nearly 12 years.

In 2022, Lundgren starred in a series of Old Spice advertisements to promote a new antiperspirant line of deodorant spray. The advertisements depicted the 65 year old actor as a young adult doing an "80s action movie spoof."{{cite web | url=https://screenrant.com/dolph-lundgren-deaged-deepfake-old-spice-commercial-video/ | title=Dolph Lundgren Gets De-Aged for Weird Old Spice Ad | website=Screen Rant | date=19 February 2022 }} He would later appear in FanDuel's "Powerful Hunch" campaign.{{cite web | url=https://www.ispot.tv/ad/fSEI/fanduel-powerful-hunch-bet-5-get-200-featuring-dolph-lundgren | title=FanDuel Sportsbook TV Spot, 'Powerful Hunch: Bet $5 Get $200' Featuring Dolph Lundgren | website=iSpot.tv | date=26 September 2024 }}

Although Lundgren has never competed as a professional bodybuilder, he has been closely associated with bodybuilding and fitness since his role as Drago in the mid-1980s. Bodybuilding.com said, "Looking like a man in his 30s rather than his 50s, Lundgren is the poster boy of precise nutrition, supplementation and exercise application that he has practiced for over 35 years".{{citation|title=Dolph Lundgren Interview|publisher=Bodybuilding.com}} In an interview with them, he claimed to often train up to six days a week, usually one-hour sessions completed in the morning, saying that "it's just one hour a day, and then you can enjoy the other 23 hours".{{cite web|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oboq-208Xx8 | archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/youtube/20211030/oboq-208Xx8| archive-date=30 October 2021|title=Dolph Lundgren: Interview (Part 1)| date=9 July 2008|publisher=Youtube.com|access-date=22 May 2011}}{{cbignore}} Although he had begun lifting weights as a teenager, he cites co-star Sylvester Stallone as the man who got him into serious bodybuilding for a period in the 1980s after he arrived in the U.S. Stallone had a lasting influence on his fitness regimen and diet, ensuring that he ate a much higher percentage of protein and split his food intake between five or six smaller meals a day. In 2023, he said in an interview that he took anabolic steroids off and on from the mid-'80s to the mid-'90s.{{Cite web |date=11 May 2023 |title=Dolph Lundgren Admits to Taking Steroids |url=https://thebarbell.com/dolph-lundgren-steroids/ |access-date=10 November 2023 |website=The Barbell |language=en-US}} Lundgren has professed never to have been "super strong", saying that, "I'm too tall and my arms are long. I think back then [Rocky IV] I was working with around 300 pounds on the bench and squat."

In a January 2011 interview with GQ, he announced he was working on releasing his own range of vitamins and supplements.{{cite web|url=http://www.dolphsports.com|title=DolphSports, svensktillverkade kosttillskott|publisher=Dolphsports.com|access-date=18 August 2011|archive-date=13 April 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120413174839/http://www.dolphsports.com/|url-status=dead}} He wrote an autobiographical fitness book, Train Like an Action Hero: Be Fit Forever, published in Sweden (by Bonnier Fakta) on 9 August 2011, offering tips he learned over the years to work out in various situations (with a busy schedule and a lot of traveling).{{cite web|url=http://www.bonnierfakta.se/Bocker/Bokpresentationssida/?isbn=9789173630399|title=Bonnier Fakta|publisher=Bonnierfakta.se|date=10 August 2011|access-date=18 August 2011}} It also discusses a detailed account of his earlier life and troubles. He cites a better quality of life as having inspired him to maintain his physical fitness.{{cite book|url=https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00KIX3W2C/|title=Dolph Lundgren: Train Like an Action Hero: Be Fit Forever|website=Amazon|date=9 September 2014 |publisher=Skyhorse |access-date=27 September 2014}}

When in Los Angeles, he trains at the Equinox Gym in Westwood and previously at home in Marbella, Spain, he trained at the Qi Sport Gym in Puerto Banús.{{cite web|url=http://www.iohmagazine.com/dolph-lundgren-in-marbella-interview.php|title=Dolph Lundgren in Marbella Interview|publisher=IOH Magazine|access-date=30 May 2011|url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120310001452/http://www.iohmagazine.com/dolph-lundgren-in-marbella-interview.php|archive-date=10 March 2012}} Lundgren also spars and practices karate aside from weight lifting. He cites dead lifting and squats as the best exercises for muscle building. Lundgren is not a heavy drinker, but has professed on many occasions to being fond of tequila and cocktails, citing his knowledge in chemical engineering as "making really good drinks".{{cite video|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8tfVZSQeLBE| archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/youtube/20211030/8tfVZSQeLBE| archive-date=30 October 2021|title=Dolph Lundgren Interview|publisher=The Richard and Judy Show |year=2008|access-date=22 May 2011}}{{cbignore}}

Lundgren splits his time between Stockholm and Los Angeles. He speaks Swedish and English fluently, as well as smaller amounts of French, German, Italian, Japanese, and Spanish, but is not fluent in those five languages as has often been reported.{{cite book|last=Holmlund|first=Chris|title=Impossible bodies: feminity and masculinity at the movies |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=VOiWX2prhn0C&pg=PA193|access-date=20 May 2011|date=18 January 2002|publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-0-415-18575-2|page=193}}{{cite video|title=The Graham Norton show|publisher=Channel 4 |year=2003}}

He is an avid football fan. He supported Everton when he lived in Europe, but developed more of an interest in international football tournaments (such as the UEFA European Championship and the FIFA World Cup) after moving to Los Angeles.{{cite news|url=http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p00tw8b0 |title=Dolph Lundgren talks England v Sweden|work=bbc.co.uk|access-date=22 December 2012}}

During the 1980s, Lundgren had relationships with Jamaican singer Grace Jones and American model Paula Barbieri.{{cite book|last=Chafetz|first=Gary S.|title=The Perfect Villain: John McCain and the Demonization of Lobbyist Jack Abramoff|url=https://archive.org/details/hewhohuntedbirds00snyd |url-access=registration|access-date=21 May 2011|date=September 2008|publisher=Martin and Lawrence Press |isbn=978-0-9773898-8-9|page=[https://archive.org/details/hewhohuntedbirds00snyd/page/60 60]}} While Lundgren was completing a master's degree in chemical engineering on an exchange program with the University of Sydney in Australia, Jones spotted him at a dance club and hired him as a bodyguard. Lundgren was whisked off to the United States, where he completed his final thesis.{{cite web|url=https://www.yahoo.com/entertainment/dolph-lundgren-best-movie-roles-interview-dolph-94581800507.html?guccounter=1&guce_referrer=aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cuZ29vZ2xlLmNvbS8&guce_referrer_sig=AQAAAMtqOPYavep5810menZAlgq2TCH7PkRXrtSvsSJ51rpqQdPK-KkRJg2Ca6t_Ne04IfHrKoHsaCBrOuXM3FvEEZVemJAN0xBRMa6_Yu-c6_EjM51iANBLF0cTySkW2fyGByMw9pR_uuByZ1D8Hnj--HFbffjaXO2LYTMAuBz8k9Gj |title=Role Recall: Dolph Lundgren on Rocky, He-Man, and More|website=Yahoo|date=13 August 2014|accessdate=2 July 2023}}

In 1994, he married Anette Qviberg (b. 1966), a jewellery designer and fashion stylist, in Marbella. The couple decided they liked Marbella so much that they rented accommodations there for years, before eventually buying a family home there. They have two daughters: Ida Sigrid Lundgren (b. 1996) and Greta Eveline Lundgren (b. 2001), both born in Stockholm. Lundgren and Qviberg cited the reason for living outside Hollywood was to give their children as normal a childhood as possible. In early May 2009, three masked burglars reportedly broke into Lundgren's Marbella home. The burglars tied up and threatened his wife, but fled when they found a family photo and realized that the house was owned by Lundgren. Lundgren later stated he believed the intruders to be Eastern European and had asked contacts in Bulgaria to investigate them, but to no avail.{{cite video|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K764v_Bs4oo | archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/youtube/20211030/K764v_Bs4oo| archive-date=30 October 2021|title=Dolph Lundgren on getting burgled, playing the drums and working with Stallone|publisher=Talk Sport|access-date=22 May 2011}}{{cbignore}} After the incident, Lundgren's elder daughter, Ida, suffered from PTSD. His wife was the "most traumatized."Rader Dotson. [http://parade.com/398052/dotsonrader/30-years-after-rocky-iv-dolph-lundgren-turns-new-page-in-skin-trade "30 Years After 'Rocky IV', Dolph Lundgren Turns New Page in 'Skin Trade'"], parade.com, published 15 May 2015; retrieved 4 September 2015. He and his wife divorced in 2011.{{cite web|url=https://www.news.com.au/entertainment/celebrity-life/hook-ups-break-ups/action-star-dolph-lundgrens-engagement-to-much-younger-woman-brutally-mocked/news-story/ad4c8479fe5f58ff524aeee7c9848837 |title=Action star Dolph Lundgren's engagement to much younger woman brutally mocked|publisher=News.com.au|author=Bond, Nick|date=20 June 2020|access-date=2 July 2023}}

Lundgren was in a relationship with Jenny Sandersson from 2011 to 2017.{{cite web|url=http://www.aftonbladet.se/nojesbladet/klick/article13349230.ab |title=Dolp Lundgren lämnar sin familj – för Hollywood|date=19 July 2011 |publisher=Aftonbladet.se|access-date=18 August 2011}}{{cite web|author=Foto: Rex Features/Ibl Bildbyrå |url=http://www.expressen.se/noje/extra/1.2513210/dolph-lundgrens-nya-liv-med-karleken-jenny |title=Dolph Lundgrens nya liv med kärleken Jenny – Extra – Expressen Extra | Kändisar Hänt i Veckan Skvaller|publisher=Expressen.se|access-date=18 August 2011|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110925091518/http://www.expressen.se/noje/extra/1.2513210/dolph-lundgrens-nya-liv-med-karleken-jenny |archive-date=25 September 2011|url-status=dead}} Lundgren became engaged to Norwegian personal trainer Emma Krokdal, nearly 40 years his junior, in June 2020.{{cite web |last=Pedersen |first=Ruben |title=Stjerna fridde til norske Emma |url=https://www.dagbladet.no/kjendis/stjerna-fridde-til-norske-emma/72577371 |website=Dagbladet.no |language=no |date=17 June 2020}} They married at their villa in Mykonos on July 13, 2023.{{cite web |title=Newlyweds |url=https://greekcitytimes.com/2023/07/21/mykonos-magic-for-newlyweds-dolph-lundgren-and-emma-krokdal/ |date=21 July 2023}}

In May 2023, Lundgren revealed that he had been battling kidney cancer since 2015.{{cite web|url=https://www.msn.com/en-ie/news/other/rocky-star-dolph-lundgren-is-battling-cancer-and-fears-steroids-early-in-career-to-blame/ar-AA1b0VkQ |title=Rocky star Dolph Lundgren is battling cancer and fears steroids early in career to blame|publisher=MSN|accessdate=10 May 2023}}{{cite web|url=https://www.cinemablend.com/movies/dolph-lundgren-reveals-longterm-battle-with-cancer-said-he-was-given-2-3-years-to-live-at-one-point |title=Dolph Lundgren Reveals Longterm Battle With Cancer, Said He Was Given 2-3 Years To Live At One Point|date=10 May 2023 |publisher=CinemaBlend|access-date=10 May 2023}}{{cite web |url=https://www.is.fi/urheilu/art-2000009578044.html |title=Dolph Lundgrenilta karu paljastus – epäilee syövän johtuvan nuorena tekemästään ratkaisusta |trans-title=A harsh revelation from Dolph Lundgren - he suspects that [his] cancer is caused by a decision he made when he was young|last=Tiira |first=Jaakko |date=May 11, 2023|website=Ilta-Sanomat |publisher=Sanoma|language = FI |access-date=May 12, 2023|quote=(In Finnish) Lundgrenin mukaan syöpä oli jo saatu kuriin, mutta vuonna 2020 hän hakeutui lääkäriin voimakkaan reflux-taudin takia. Hän oli tuolloin Ruotsissa. Magneettikuvauksesta paljastui, että syöpäkasvaimia oli sekä Lundgrenin keuhkoissa että maksassa. Myöhemmin ilmeni, että syöpä oli levinnyt munuaisiin ja selkäytimeen. Lääkäri antoi miehelle elinaikaa sai 2–3 vuotta.
(In English) According to Lundgren, the cancer had been contained, but in 2020 he sought a doctor because of a strong reflux disease. He was in Sweden at the time. The MRI revealed that there were cancerous tumors in both Lundgren's lungs and liver. It later emerged that the cancer had spread to the kidneys and spinal cord. The doctor gave [Lundgren] 2-3 years to live.}}

In February 2024, Lundgren and his wife, Emma Krokdal, officially became US citizens.{{Cite web |last=McDougall |first=A. J. |date=13 February 2024 |title=Dolph Lundgren Finally Becomes a U.S. Citizen |url=https://www.thedailybeast.com/dolph-lundgren-and-wife-emma-krokdal-finally-become-us-citizens |access-date=13 February 2024 |website=The Daily Beast |language=en}}{{Cite web |title=Instagram |url=https://www.instagram.com/p/C3S4OHER3qa/?igsh=OWM5MnVtbXpjN202 |access-date=13 February 2024 |website=www.instagram.com}}{{Cite web |last=Sviggum |first=Silje Kathrine |date=14 February 2024 |title=Dolph Lundgren og Emma Krokdal ble amerikanere: – Feiret med treningsøkt |url=https://www.vg.no/i/76blP8 |access-date=14 February 2024 |website=VG |language=no}}

{{Main|Dolph Lundgren on screen and stage}}

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• {{Official website|https://web.archive.org/web/20151106092421/http://dolphlundgren.com/}}
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