Dolph Lundgren began his career earning a master’s degree in chemical engineering and becoming a Fulbright scholar, military officer, and international black belt karate champion before switching tracks and entering the world of Hollywood as an action hero. His breakthrough came in Rocky IV (1985) when he played the formidable Soviet boxer Ivan Drago opposite Sylvester Stallone, with whom he reunited onscreen in the blockbusters The Expendables and The Expendables 2.