Before he was dropping killer one-liners, battling extraterrestrials and becoming the most recognisable action star on the planet, Arnold Schwarzenegger was a bodybuilding obsessive from rural Austria with a dream of becoming the biggest man in the world. Seven Mr. Olympia titles later, he’d done it, and then turned his sights on America. What followed was one of the most unlikely acts of self-invention, as Schwarzenegger conquered Hollywood with a run of era-defining blockbusters: Conan the Barbarian, The Terminator, Predator, Total Recall, and True Lies, each helping to build the myth of an indestructible action hero who also had immaculate comedic timing – in classics like Twins and Kindergarten Cop. Then, he inexplicably swapped movie sets for politics, serving as Governor of California from 2003 to 2011.
