A typical day at the beach for Roland Kickinger. Image: Kickinger.com

Ever thought something looked too good to be true? Then imagine you’re the casting director of the latest Terminator flick, Terminator: Salvation, and you’re looking for someone to play what is, in the cycle’s universe, a prototype T-800-series Terminator. And you come across Roland Kickinger.

“Surely that can’t be his real name!” you cry. Oh, but it is. Like the Austrian-born Governator, this 40-year-old from Vienna is an avid bodybuilder who came to the United States to chase a career as an actor, arriving in 1995 with $500 and two suitcases: as he puts it on his website, “one full of dreams, the other one stuffed with some clothes”.

His life could have been very different if his train conductor dad had managed to convince young Roland to take up soccer, tennis or skiing instead of weightlifting. “Obviously, his negativism did nothing to thwart my drive,” says Roland. “I am an Aries and as hardheaded as a steel plate. His attitude was no match for my very thick skull!”

Heading straight for the muscle-packing district of Venice Beach, Roland gradually got settled by bartering his personal training skills for accommodation and immigration legal services, and taking classes in English, business and theatre art. He racked up predictable TV spots as European bodybuilders and musclemen, actually portraying the young Arnold Schwarzenegger in the 2005 made-for-TV biopic See Arnold Run, and appeared as the Hulk in this year’s tedious Disaster Movie.

But he’s probably best known for his regular role on the Baywatch parody series, Son of the Beach. Not having seen it, I’m curious about whether this reveals comedic potential along the lines of “It’s not a too-mor!” Another of Roland’s more intriguing recent projects is an Andre the Giant biopic, which he acted in as well as co-executive producing.

Roland Kickinger, the New Arnie! Definitely an actor to watch.