Arnold Schwarzenegger went from famous bodybuilder to film star in no time, and he has quite a roster of film roles to prove it. He’s taken on some of the most memorable and explosive action roles of all time, but he’s played the goofball, too. Either way, he always kills it—and rarely does a movie without dropping a quotable line that will inevitably have everyone whipping out their best Arnold impersonations.
Check out some of our favorite Schwarzenegger roles, in chronological order.
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Conan the Barbarian (1982)
No Arnold list can begin without director John Milius’s Conan the Barbarian, which was arguably the film that propelled the former Mr. Olympia into the mainstream.
Fun fact: In the scene when Conan is crucified on the Tree of Woe and has to bite a vulture that is looking to attack him—well, that was a real vulture corpse he sunk his teeth into. Apparently the prop department couldn’t make one that looked real enough for Milius.
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The Terminator (1984)
TheTerminator was ranked #42 on the American Film Institute’s “100 Years…100 Thrills” list and ranked #22 on AFI’s “100 Years…100 Villians list.” The Terminator was one of Arnold’s earlier leading roles in Hollywood, but his performance proved that he’d be back to star in many, many more films to come.
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Commando (1985)
Commando was a commercial success, becoming the 7th top-grossing R-Rated film worldwide in 1985 and 25th top-grossing film overall. A line of action figures for the fim was released in 1986 featuring the “Austrian Oak” in 4-inch and 8-inch figurines!
For this film, both DeVito and Schwarzenegger agreed to take 20 percent of the film’s box’s office returns instead of their usual salaries. This turned out to be a pretty smart decision for the pair, with the film being a box office success.
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Total Recall (1990)
This 1990 smash hit featured Arnold as construction worker Douglas Quaid, who finds himself wrapped up in strange memories of being a secret agent on Mars. But did you know that Total Recall is actually loosely based on a short story by Philip K. Dick, We Can Remember for You Wholesale, published in 1966? The film won a special achievement Oscar for visual effects for its use of miniatures as well as early computer-generated imagery.
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Terminator 2: Judgement Day (1991)
Terminator 2 went on to be the highest-grossing film of 1991 as well as Arnold’s career. The movie was praised for its innovation in visual effects, winning the Academy Award for Best Achievement in Visual Effects, Sound Mixing, Sound Editing, and Makeup. The American Film Institute credits it as one of the best action films, science-fiction films, and sequels of all time.
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Last Action Hero (1993)
Following its release, Last Action Hero was initially trashed by critics, but it has since developed a devout cult following.
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True Lies (1994)
True Lies was the first film with a production budget exceeding $100 million. It turned out to be well worth the investment, as it became the third-best grossing film of 1994.
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Eraser (1996)
To film one of the incredible aerial stunts in Eraser, Arnold had to fall 65 feet and then perform a back-flip off a prop fuselage built on Warner Brothers’s largest soundstage. The shot took seven takes to get just right, with Arnold performing his own stunt.
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Jingle All The Way (1996)
The majority of Jingle All The Way was shot in the Twin Cities, including the Mall of America. Schwarzenegger was only able to join the cast after Fox’s reboot of Planet of the Apeswas delayed, which he was originally set to star in.
