- Source of Wealth: Film, Investments
- Age: 72
- Birth Place: Thal, Austria
- Height: 6′ 2″ (1.88 m)
- Weight: 260 lbs (117 kg)
- Marital Status: Separated (Maria Shriver)
- Full Name: Arnold Alois Schwarzenegger
- Nationality: American
- Date of Birth: July 30, 1947
- Ethnicity: Austrian
- Occupation: Actor, Bodybuilder, Businessman, Investor, Politician
- Education: University of Wisconsin–Superior, Santa Monica College
- Children: 5 (Katherine, Christina, Patrick, Christopher, Joseph)
Former California governor, actor, and businessman Arnold Schwarzenegger has an estimated net worth of $300 million.
While his police-chief father wanted him to become a soccer player, Austrian-born actor Arnold Schwarzenegger opted instead for a bodybuilding career. Born July 30, 1947, in the small Austrian town of Graz, Schwarzenegger went on to win several European contests and international titles (including Mr. Olympia) and then came to the U.S. for body-building exhibitions, billing himself immodestly but fairly accurately as “The Austrian Oak.” Though his thick Austrian accent and slow speech patterns led some to believe that the Austrian Oak was shy a few leaves, Schwarzenegger was, in fact, a highly motivated and intelligent young man. After graduating from the University of Wisconsin with a degree in business and economics, he invested his contest earnings in real estate and a mail-order bodybuilding equipment company.
Though his thick Austrian accent and slow speech patterns led some to believe that the Austrian Oak was shy a few leaves, Schwarzenegger was, in fact, a highly motivated and intelligent young man. After graduating from the University of Wisconsin with a degree in business and economics, he invested his contest earnings in real estate and a mail-order bodybuilding equipment company.
A millionaire before the age of 22, Schwarzenegger decided to try acting. Producers were impressed by his physique but not his mouthful of a last name, so it was as Arnold Strong that he made his film bow in the low-budget spoof Hercules in New York (1970, with a dubbed voice). He reverted to his own name for the 1976 film Stay Hungry, then achieved stardom as “himself” in the 1977 documentary Pumping Iron.
Arnold’s most notable role of the new millennium was political — Schwarzenegger replaced Gray Davis as governor of California in the highly controversial recall election of 2003. As a Republican, he was first elected on October 7, 2003, in a special recall election (referred to in Schwarzenegger campaign propaganda as a “Total Recall”) to replace then-Governor Gray Davis. Schwarzenegger was sworn in on November 17, 2003, to serve the remainder of Davis’s term. Schwarzenegger was then re-elected on November 7, 2006, in California’s 2006 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.
In January 2011, just weeks after leaving office in California, Schwarzenegger announced that he was reading several new scripts for future films. He hosted the 15th season of The New Celebrity Apprentice. In March 2017, he announced that he will not return for another season on the show.