Before They Were Famous, Arnold Schwarzenegger

 Arnold Schwarzenegger, an American and Austrian actor, producer of motion pictures, businessman, former bodybuilder, and politician, was the 38th governor of California from 2003 to 2011. He was the most recent Republican governor of California as of 2022. In 2004 and 2007, Time magazine included Arnold Schwarzenegger in its list of the 100 most influential persons in the world.

But before all these, before becoming the governor of California, before Arnold Schwarzenegger won seven Mr. Olympia titles, before he spoke "arbi bach" as the Terminator, Here is a quick account of his life and profession prior to his notoriety.

In the Second World War, Arnold's father was a Nazi who was quite harsh and preferred Arnold's older brother Meinhard over him. The family didn't have much money growing up. Despite his academic difficulties, Arnold was seen as being quite popular and having exceptional athletic ability.

Arnold Alois Schwarzenegger was born in Thal, Styria, Austria on July 30, 1947. His father, Gustav Schwarzenegger, served as the police head in the little town where they lived. Arnold's father served in World War II and willingly applied to join the Nazi party in 1938, almost ten years before Arnold was born. In 1943, he was released from service due to malaria. Aurelia, Arnold's mother, wed Gustav when she was 23 and he was 38 years old. Every Sunday, the family attended church as devout Roman Catholics. Meinhard was Arnold's older brother by one year, and his father openly took preference over him. This resulted from rumors that Arnold wasn't his biological son, which were untrue.

Arnold was known for being upbeat, amusing, and vivacious at school. He participated in a variety of sports. At the age of 13, he began lifting weights, and at the age of 14, he made the decision to pursue a career in bodybuilding rather than soccer. He began his career in sports at the age of 17. Arnold then completed the full year of duty that Austrian law mandated at the time by serving in the army in 1965. He gained the title of junior Mr. Europe while serving in the army.

He chose to accept an invitation to travel to downtown Graz where he would train with other bodybuilders after being released from the army. His brother Meinhard was instantly killed in a drunk driving accident in 1971. A year later, his father had a stroke and died. Both of the funerals were missed by Arnold. He took his first flight in 1966, traveling to London to compete in the Mr. Universe pageant, where he finished in second place. Arnold charmed one of the coaches, Charles Wag Bennett, who volunteered to coach and house him in London.

The next year, Arnold won first place and was crowned the youngest Mr. Universe. Arnold won Mr. Universe four more times by the time he was 20. He moved to America in 1968 at the age of 21, achieving another goal in life. At Gold's Gym in Venice Beach, Los Angeles, California, he did his training there.

At the age of 23, he won his first Mr Olympia title in 1970. He set a record at the time by becoming the youngest person to ever win a record. He eventually won Mr. Olympia seven additional times. When he was selected to play the part of Hercules in the 1970s, Schwarzenegger finally realized his dream of transitioning from bodybuilding to acting. He was given the name Arnold Strong in the credits. Because no one could understand him due to his thick accent, they had to edit the film in order to dub over him.

Arnold's size, his accent, and even his last name initially served as barriers to his success before they became assets.

Everyone in Hollywood predicted it wouldn't happen, but he didn't become well-known until he was cast as Conan the Barbarian's title character. He has also starred in other movies including Commando, Terminator, Red Heat, Predator and many others.

I'll end here since this is the story of his life before becoming famous.