Arnold Schwarzenegger
Born in 1949 in Austria, near to Graz, in the family of a highly ranked Nazi soldier, Arnold Schwarzenegger has become a prominent figure in such spheres as politics, sports, business, and acting. He proved me that American Dream is not dead, and that one should always seek his or her dream and never succumb. Arnold Schwarzenegger influenced my life, and showed me that a single person can become prosperous and successful in many different spheres and branches.
First, I admire a sportsman in Arnold. He is considered one of the most important athletes in bodybuilding history. Not only he won Mr. Olympia title seven times, he also won Mr. Universe five times, Mr. World, and Junoir Mr. Europe. His contribution to bodybuilding is evident even now; Arnold Classic bodybuilding competition is held annually in Columbus, Ohio. Such high achievements in sports, especially bodybuilding, are admirable, in my opinion. While many young men nowadays spend most of their time sitting in front of monitors, which actually may cause serious harm if done without breaks, Arnold Schwarzenegger devoted very much time to physical advancement, and this is exactly what nearly every man wishes to do, but only a few actually do it. Arnold Schwarzenegger is a real man, and his bodybuilding career made me reconsider my approach to physical exercises and workout. 
Secondly, I admire an actor in Arnold Schwarzenegger. Such movies like Terminator, Predator, and Commando are known throughout the United States (and farther). Surely, directors of these movies did a good job, but Schwarzenegger had a completely new approach to action movie heroes. His contemporaries - Sylvester Stallone and Jean-Claude Van Damme - were simply playing tough guys, while Arnold Schwarzenegger had this shining charm, which distinguished him among the other very serious action actors. This very charm, a “self-deprecating sense of humor” is the most admirable trait, I reckon. This amusing little charm has influenced my perception of how a real man should behave. Unlike those rock hard “universal soldiers,” who are silent and ruthless, Arnold Schwarzenegger reminded me that a strong and powerful man is still a human, and still possesses natural human qualities such as humor, morality, compassion, empathy, fear, etc. Moreover, unlike other contemporary action heroes, Arnold Schwarzenegger even played in comedies, such as Twins, Kindergarten Cop, and Last Action Hero. This way, he stood out from the crowd of action heroes for me, and my respect toward this person climbed so high that he became a role model.
Thirdly, I admire Arnold Schwarzenegger as a politician, as family man, and as a businessman. Along with his (successful) acting and bodybuilding careers, Arnold Schwarzenegger has a family and four children. His wife, Maria Shriver, is the niece of former United States President John F. Kennedy, and a television journalist. The elite couple has two boys (Patrick and Christopher) and two girls (Katherine and Christina), and lives happily in Los Angeles. Such family life is a role model for many married couples, and I hope I would also have my beloved woman and many children. 
Arnold has become 38th Governor of California in 2003, which cemented by respect to this person. In addition, Arnold has been constantly changing in a positive way lives of Californians, but this is another big topic. Along with his political, sport, and acting careers, Arnold Schwarzenegger is executive editor of sports magazines Flex and Muscle & Fitness. Furthermore, he owns several fitness magazines and gyms, which makes him a prosperous businessperson.
Generally, Arnold Schwarzenegger has served as a role model for me, because out of a twenty-year old Austrian youngster with twenty dollars in his pocket, he became a legend of bodybuilding, a movie star, a prosperous businessperson, a caring husband and father, and finally a successful politician. He demonstrated strong will in sports and persistence in business, great talent in acting and justice in politics. His achievements have shown that American dream still exists, and is waiting for the seeker to come and get it...
Bibliography
1.	Arnold Schwarzenegger. 2005. From WikiPedia – the Free Encyclopedia at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arnold_Schwarzenegger
2.	Biographies. 2005. From State of California at http://www.governor.ca.gov/state/govsite/gov_htmldisplay.jsp?BV_SessionID=@@@@1671790984.1122487994@@@@&BV_EngineID=ccciaddffgeglldcfngcfkmdffidfng.0&sFilePath=%2fgovsite%2fbiography%2fbio_arnold_schwarzenegger.html&sTitle=Arnold+Schwarzenegger+Biography&sCatTitle=Biographies
3.	Arnold Schwarzenegger. 2005. From About.com at http://german.about.com/library/blaschwarz.htm