Born in Sweden to a Russian mother and a Swedish father, Bo Svenson emigrated to the US as a teenager, and after spending six years in the US Marine Corps, headed to Hollywood to become an actor. He received critical acclaim for his role as The Creature in the 1973 TV movie Frankenstein, and appeared in several other made-for-TV films including Hitched, Target Risk and Snowbeast.

Svenson's most memorable roles are The Great Waldo Pepper, Walking Tall Part II, Walking Tall: The Final Chapter, North Dallas Forty, The Delta Force and Solitude Point and has appeared in several films with his friend Fred Williamson. Although he is best known as an actor, he also an accomplished writer, director and producer. He hosts PBS Television's The Di Palma Forum at UNLV and is a sought-after speaker and seminarian.

Svenson is also an accomplished athlete and has competed in world championships, Olympic selections and international competition in judo, yachting, track, ice hockey and auto racing (NASCAR, PRO-SCCA and F1A). He was Chairman of the Board and CEO of Motion Picture Group of America from 1984-1995.

While he has received numerous awards and nominations for his body of work, he especially values the Italian Institute of Art Award of Merit, the American Culture Foundation Man of the Year Award, Italy's Legione Garibaldina Ruole D'Onore, the NAACP Image Award, the Academy of Science Fiction and Fantasy Golden Scroll Award, and the Hollywood Women's Press Club Golden Apple.

He lives in Pacific Palisades, CA, and on the Sunshine Coast in British Columbia.


Served in the U.S. Marine Corps 1959-1965. Ph.D. candidate in Meta-Physics at UCLA 1970-1974. Chairman of the board and CEO of Motion Picture Group of America from 1984-1994. CEO of MagicQuest Entertainment from 1994 to present. He was television's highest-paid actor for his reprisal of Buford Pusser in the television series "Walking Tall" (1981). Only Johnny Carson was making more than he was at the time. A high-ranking black belt in judo and other martial arts, he was inducted into the Martial Arts Masters Hall of Fame on August 8, 2009. Speaker and lecturer on topics such as how to convey one's personality in an engaging manner in order to shine in one's private life as well as on stage and camera.