After 40 years of living on and off in America, actor, writer, director, and international martial artist Dolph Lundgren and his new bride decided to become citizens, and they are very happy about it.

Congrats to Dolph Lundgren on becoming a U.S. citizen! 🇺🇸
“"Finally did it! I’ve been in this country on and off for 40 years now. First as a student then as a fighter and an actor. America has given me some wonderful opportunities and an amazing life. I’m proud to become a US… pic.twitter.com/6Wz6OHyDTS

— Josh Power 🇺🇸 (@JoshPower80) February 14, 2024

"Rocky" star Dolph Lundgren and his new wife Emma Krokdal got their U.S. citizenship this week. The actor explained that his naturalization ceremony came 40 years after he moved to the country. 

"Finally did it!" he wrote on Instagram Tuesday. "I’ve been in this country on and off for 40 years now. First as a student then as a fighter and an actor. America has given me some wonderful opportunities and an amazing life. I’m proud to become a US citizen and officially make this my home."

Wonder what took him so long? Lundgren's life has been an epic ride, and it is wonderful that he attributes the opportunities he has received and his amazing life to being in this country. Lundgren went from being an international entertainer and model Grace Jones' boyfriend and protégé, to co-starring in Rocky IV alongside Sylvester Stallone and Carl Weathers, to an international acting, fitness, and public speaking career. Like his friends and fellow thespians Stallone and the late Weathers, Lundgren has spanned generations. He is currently part of The Expendables franchise with Stallone and other 1980s and current action stars. 

So, it is fascinating that Lundgren thought his ticket to the States would come through academics. Lundgren was originally a chemical engineering major who earned scholarships internationally from Clemson University to the University of Sydney in Australia to an MIT Fulbright scholarship. Lundgren chose MIT, but that summer, he worked as a bouncer at a concert venue, and met Grace Jones, who took a liking to him. This began their four-year romance and signaled the end to his chemical engineering aspirations. Lundgren followed Jones to New York, where he was immersed in the world of show business. Goodbye, Massachusetts, Hello Hollywood. Lundgren earned money modeling and studied acting. The movie Rocky IV launched him into the stratosphere and cemented his new path.  

He's also had a hard battle with kidney cancer, which he kept relatively quiet until around 2020. It was American doctors in Los Angeles who helped him with an alternative treatment that saved his life.

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Lundgren not only exhibits gratitude but exemplifies hard work. Even in his desire to get to America, he never expected a free ride and had a vision of how he would go about it.

The movie star "Dolph" Lundgren was actually born Hans Lundgren. (He took on the name Dolph, a relative's name from his mother's side of the family, with the release of the Rocky film in 1985.) He grew up largely in and around Stockholm, and excelled in school from an early age.

"I had some allergies when I was younger," Lundgren says, and, as a result, "I wasn't very good at sports. So my kind of way to feel like I was somebody was to answer all the questions the teacher asked."

From early on, Lundgren also dreamed of going to the United States, but, he says, his family couldn't afford to send him: "So the way to get there for me was to get academic scholarships."

Contrast this to what is happening at our southern border — mostly young men desirous of economic opportunity but without the dedication to hard work that Lundgren exhibited to come into America legally. Even worse? Young men born into this country who have swallowed wholesale the leftist narrative of a hateful America and who refuse to do the hard work of combatting obstacles and mining what is their inherent right. You think hateful thoughts and assume failure, then failure is what you get. You embrace gratitude and strive for success, then ultimately, you achieve it. In my almost 60 years of being a native-born citizen, I can attest that this is true.

Tiktoker says he hates America so much he would commit treason to get out of here. @DHSgov

Anyone want to chip in with me to help him relocate? pic.twitter.com/DgHYu4oYWP

— Libs of TikTok (@libsoftiktok) February 11, 2024

When I hear stories like that of Lundgren and his wife or stories of other legal immigrants who took their time, did the hard work to legally be in this country, and then embraced citizenship, their language and attitude are always tinged with gratitude. So, it boggles my mind how this escapes other native-born or naturalized immigrants — like this young man on TikTok or Ilhan Omar, for that matter.

Personally, America is my birthright, and like Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., I will demand the privileges of that birthright and oppose those who wish to block my way to it. Many like to cherry-pick the last part of the I Have A Dream speech and wax eloquent about a "colorblind society," but that's not what King was advocating. King advocated that color or status should not be used as a barrier to the American Dream because, as Americans, we have full rights like any other citizen. 

When the architects of our republic wrote the magnificent words of the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence, they were signing a promissory note to which every American was to fall heir. This note was a promise that all men, yes, black men as well as white men, would be guaranteed the unalienable rights of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.  

It is tragic that a Swedish-born action star understands more about how to mine and capture opportunity than the people born in America who are supposed to be educated in its principles and founding documents do. It is even more tragic that Lundgren's gratitude and embrace of American citizenship is lacking in those who can still automatically benefit from having been born under it.

Takeaway: In a world of Ilhan Omars, be a Dolph Lundgren.

Editor's Note: This article has been updated to reflect that Lundgren was born in Sweden rather than Norway. We apologize to our readers for the error.