between the cities, between the thrills

soren lundgren was born to johan lundgren (an architect) and ann lundgren (an english teacher) in the cultural hub of malmo, sweden. from a very young age, it was clear soren was unlike most future actors; he was shy, withdrawn, and preferred to climb trees in his free time on his parents' acreage. soren's childhood was frighteningly average, and most of his childhood photos depict that accurately--holidays spent dressed as an elf, gleeful snowmen, him helping his father build a rickety treehouse. despite his quiet demeanor and boring upbringing, soren proved to be quite the troublemaker as soon as he hit puberty--not only did he grow a few feet taller, but he regularly stole his parents' car in the middle of the night to explore nearby towns at the young age of 12, craving excitement and adventure (his parents, having three daughters to care for, hardly had the time to notice most of soren's shenanigans). at the age of 13, soren and his younger sisters were trucked off to the united states from sweden as their father pursued a lucrative career in architecture in southern california--it was here that soren's awkward entrance into the film industry would occur.

due to soren's introverted nature, his father pushed him to pursue extracurricular activities that would build his social skills. unfortunately, most of these activities bored him--he wasn't particularly good at competitive athletic sports, and chess put him to sleep more often than not. however, he found theater to be an exciting prospect on top of his newfound love for the american game dungeons & dragons, which he played semi-regularly. with a metric ton's worth of luck and a giant serving of "in the right place," soren landed his role as the troubled charlie conway in the mighty ducks in 1992, at the young age of 15. he found himself fumbling through the transition from theater acting to film acting, and remained relatively clueless as to how he bagged a role so big. this confused mentality would continue into his roles for the next three years, and practicing multiple acting styles became more like a passion and less like an activity he was forced by his father to participate. as a result of his obsession with perfecting this new art form, soren dropped out of high school, and took to exploring the arts full-time.

after proving himself worthy of captivating audiences onscreen in smaller roles throughout the early 90s, soren was cast as the iconic romantic romeo in the daring adapatation of the shakespearean classic romeo & juliet. it was here soren became noticed as somewhat of a heartthrob, adored for his height and big swedish meatball blue eyes. the role gained him a small amount of fame and appreciation, and his status as a heartthrob soared when he was cast as the swoon-worthy jack dawson in the epic film titanic at the young age of 20. titanic would change his life forever, thrusting him into the spotlight and forcing him into awkward teen magazine photoshoots, answering questions about what his favorite type of pizza was and how he liked to spend his sunday mornings. while the attention was interesting and appreciated, he felt entirely overwhelmed by it, and immediately misunderstood. acting was something he pursued to experiment with and to grow with, and the unwanted attention shaped him into the "bad boy boyfriend" type.

for the next five years, soren attempted to undo the damage done by the epic romance. not only did he take roles that were purposely unattractive and strange, but he made it a point to date no one, and developed war-like tactics to avoid papparazzi interested in his workout clothes and lunch spots. continuing to stay out of the media's attention, he would pop up every now and again in successful films, retreating to his grandparent's land in sweden between filming to escape the stress of stardom. by 2007 he began to question his reasons for acting and his dedication to the art form, and turned his attention to activist work instead.

in 2007, soren founded a theater program for at-risk youth in california called classical curiosity, which focuses primarily on making shakespearean plays accessible to children of all socioeconomic backgrounds. while staying out of the headlines, soren began funding multiple other projects and nonprofits, including several national anti-domestic violence efforts and pro-choice activist groups. it was until 2009 that soren would continue his humanitarian efforts to squeeze some good from his otherwise useless fame, participating in a few voice acting gigs and the comedic it's always sunny in philadelphia along the way.

2010 marked his return to the big screen with shutter island and inception, two films that did well in the box office, yet struggled in their critical reception. slightly disheartened, soren was pleasantly surprised when he was approached for the role of thor, a character he had long since admired since high school and a deity he joked he was "probably related to anyway." despite his promise to himself to avoid becoming the heartthrob type again, soren found himself occupying the mold of a muscular, popular comic book character, requiring little to no acting effort on his part, and instead being more of a fun project than a serious role. the film would open up a variety of other possibilities in the comicverse for him to explore, and allowed him a space to make fun of himself as a sex object. not only does he regularly play up his "sexy superhero" role in television shows, interviews, and movie cameos, but he also feels more comfortable exposing his geeky tendencies and flawed traits to the public eye.

the success of his directorial debut birdman has put him on the spot--he is currently unsure as to whether or not he wants to continue acting, or pursue directing with the skills he has developed as an actor on multiple platforms. at the moment, he is not taking on new projects outside of his role as thor and lives on a small plot of land in upstate new york with a dozen different animals (three pigs, two dogs, four cats, two chickens, and one ferret). occasionally he can be found appearing in avengers-related media and lip sync battle.