Arnold Schwarzenegger’s transition into acting and why he stopped bodybuilding

There is a very simple reason behind Arnold Schwarzenegger’s career change from bodybuilding to acting.

Arnold Schwarzenegger’s career path from bodybuilder to movie star may seem puzzling at first glance. Before the natural-born Austrian immigrated to America and made his name in Hollywood, he was the youngest person ever to win the Mr. Universe title at the age of 20. He then proceeded to win the title another five times, as well as winning seven Mt. Olympia titles, all of which secured his status as a world-renowned athlete and bodybuilder in the 1960s and 70s.

In 1970, he had his first role as Hercules in New York, his first movie in America after moving there in 1968. Schwarzenegger’s breakout role in Conan The Barbarian didn’t happen until 1982, however, and paved the way for him to become the Terminator. It was from this point on that Arnold’s titanic place in cinematic history was cemented, and there was no turning back.

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Arnold’s transition from bodybuilder to the world-famous actor was always his plan. Since he was a child, the disparate careers were inextricably linked in his mind, two adjacent steps on a grandiose path. As a teenager, he was hungry for a better life growing up in a devastated, impoverished post-WWII Austria. The future Schwarzenegger envisioned likely didn’t include Mr. Freeze, but despite questionable roles, he achieved success. Arnold Schwarzenegger revealed how he envisioned his path from bodybuilder to actor in a 2001 speech in Sacramento, California (via Schwarzenegger):

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“My own plan formed when I was 14 years old… One day, I saw a magazine in a store window. The cover showed a muscle man in an ancient warrior costume… It said, “Mr. Universe Now Starring In Hercules Movie….” It turned out that Hercules was an English guy who’d won the Mr. Universe title in bodybuilding, and parlayed that into a movie career…. Bingo! I had my role model! If he could do it, I could do it! I’d win Mr. Universe. I’d become a movie star. I’d get rich. One, two, three – bing, bang, boom! I found my passion. I got my goal.”

Schwarzenegger’s transition from bodybuilder to ’80s action star wasn’t straightforward, though. His first movie was the campy Hercules in New York from the 1970s. He struggled to find work for the next 12 years, appearing in small roles in movies and guest appearances on TV. He starred in classic action films Conan the Destroyer, The Terminator, Commando, Red Sonja, Predator, and The Running Man over the next five years before breaking through to mainstream success in 1982 with Conan the Barbarian. Before he landed his breakout role, Schwarzenegger stuck with it for over a decade, never giving up.

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Schwarzenegger’s iconic career in entertainment and his upcoming films and TV shows make it easy to forget he was ever anything but a movie star. The transition from bodybuilder to actor seemed as unlikely then as it does now, but he defied the odds and made it work. It seems likely that he would have found another career to pivot his way onto the silver screen if he hadn’t become an actor through bodybuilding.  In the same way as the Terminator, Arnold Schwarzenegger was unstoppable.

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