Arnold Schwarzenegger is best known for the Terminator films and his two terms as Governor of California, but he has been a published author since 1977. Born in 1947 in the village of Thal, in the Austrian province of Styria, he became Mr. Universe at 21, moved to Los Angeles, and within a decade was a millionaire from bodybuilding, real estate, and landscaping investments. The film career and the politics came later.
His first book, Arnold: The Education of a Bodybuilder, came out in 1977 and has stayed in print ever since. Part memoir of his rise through European bodybuilding competition and part introduction to the sport, it is one of the bestselling fitness books of the late twentieth century. The New Encyclopedia of Modern Bodybuilding, first published in 1985 and revised in 1998, has sold more than half a million copies and is the reference most serious bodybuilders learn from.
His autobiography Total Recall: My Unbelievably True Life Story, co-written with Peter Petre, was published by Simon & Schuster in 2012 and topped the New York Times bestseller list. It covers all three of his careers: bodybuilder, actor, and Governor of California from 2003 to 2011. His most recent book, Be Useful: Seven Tools for Life (2023), lays out the principles he uses for work, ambition, and reinvention.
His film career stretches from Stay Hungry, for which he won a Golden Globe for Best Newcomer, through the Terminator series, Predator, Twins, Total Recall, True Lies, and dozens more. He has been a longtime supporter of the Special Olympics through his marriage to Maria Shriver and was honorary chairman of the Inner-City Games Foundation. He remains a public voice on climate policy, public health, and immigrant success.
