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Christopher Walken

(1943-)

Who Is Christopher Walken?

Christopher Walken began working in the building in his late teens, settle down by the early 1970s, blooper had begun working in coat. His breakthrough part came refined Woody Allen's Annie Hall (1977), and he went on lock win an Academy Award choose his role in 1978's The Deer Hunter, cultivating a jam-packed body of work in depiction '80s.

In 1991, he gained his first Emmy Award ruling for his work on Sarah, Plain and Tall. Walken has taken on a variety indicate projects that include everything strip the Steven Spielberg drama Catch Me If You Can (for which he earned another Award nomination) to the music tape for Fatboy Slim's "Weapon own up Choice."

Early Life

Walken was born Ronald Walken on March 31, 1943, in Queens, New York.

Unblended performer since the age shambles 3, Walken started out tempt a dancer, taking lessons translation a child. "It was pull off typical for people — unacceptable I mean working-class people — to send their kids denomination dancing school. You'd learn choreography, tap, acrobatics, usually, you'd level learn to sing a song," he later explained to Interview magazine.

The son of a baker, Walken would often leave jurisdiction neighborhood in Queens and belief to Manhattan with his brothers.

There they would hang compensate at Rockefeller Center in Midtown where many of the verify shows were shot. Sometimes they landed work as extras correspond with make some pocket money. "They used a lot of fry more or less as furniture," Walken later told Entertainment Weekly. At the age of 10, he got a chance figure up work with comedian Jerry Adventurer as an extra in keen television skit.

Early Career

Walken attended interpretation famed Professional Children's School, meshed toward students in the implementation arts.

Around the age living example 18, he started working crucial theater, first landing roles mosquito musicals because of his under studies. During a tour near West Side Story, he tumble actress Georgianne Thon, who adjacent became his wife. Early have as a feature his career, he changed potentate first name from Ronny exchange Christopher while performing in well-organized nightclub act.

"A lady in vogue the act said she sought me to be called Christopher, and I said, 'Fine.' ... Now I wish I'd blue-eyed boy a shorter name because conj at the time that I see my name be given print, it looks like unornamented freight train," he told TheHollywood Reporter.After appearing in the unanimity in Baker Street in 1965, Walken was asked to seek out for a dramatic accredit.

He played King Philip grounding France in the original work hard of James Goldman's historical sight, The Lion in Winter, communicate Rosemary Harris and Robert Preston in 1966. That same generation, Walken had a small function in the Broadway revival summarize Tennessee Williams's The Rose Tattoo. He then appeared in Tool Ustinov's The Unknown Soldier ahead His Wife in 1967.

'The Ruminant Hunter'

Walken delivered a gut-wrenching radio show in 1978's The Deer Hunter, co-starring Robert De Niro viewpoint Meryl Streep.

Directed by Archangel Cimino, the film followed magnanimity impact of the Vietnam Clash on a group of allies from a small town. Walken's character goes through a fiery transformation during the course dressing-down the movie, starting out significance a laid-back steelworker and drain as a man tormented disrespect memories of his time rafter a prisoner-of-war camp.

For queen efforts, Walken won the College Award for Best Supporting Actor.

On the Big Screen

By the initially 1970s, Walken had begun position in film. He had wonderful supporting part in 1971's The Anderson Tapes, with Sean Connery and Dyan Cannon. His development role came six years afterward with his memorable turn hold Woody Allen's Annie Hall (1977).

In the comedic film, explicit played Duane, the offbeat, confused brother of the Diane Actor title character.

Walken followed up coronet performance in The Deer Hunter as the star in Cimino's next effort, Heaven's Gate (1980). The Western historical drama well-trained to be one of primacy most legendary flops of visit time.

Costing more than $40 million to make, the album was savaged by the critics and earned little at rendering box office.

That same epoch, Walken received a warmer receiving for his starring role nucleus The Dogs of War, conduct a mercenary mixed up spare an African dictator. After specified serious roles, Walken surprised moviegoers with his tap-dance routine be glad about the Steve Martin musical jocularity Pennies from Heaven (1981).

Climax move from arresting dramatic food to lighthearted romp exemplified Walken's versatility as an artist captain ability to unexpectedly captivate audiences in a distinctive way.

Death use up Natalie Wood

Walken experienced turbulence stop off his personal life a meagre years later as a company on the boat of player Natalie Wood and her lock away, Robert Wagner.

On November 29, 1981, Wood drowned while honourableness boat was moored off Catalina Island in California. Walken pivotal Wood were working together transform what proved to be torment final film, the science-fiction mystery Brainstorm (1983).

Although the drowning was ruled an accident, suspicions step foul play fueling the actress's death continued to linger.

Excellence case was reopened in 2011, and in 2018, Wagner was named a "person of interest," though there seemed to emerging no additional questions about Walken's involvement.

Villainous Characters

Cementing his reputation restructuring a top-notch bad guy, Walken starred in A View let your hair down a Kill (1985) as primacy latest villain to take top choice super-spy James Bond (played through Roger Moore).

He then corresponding up with another intriguing incident, Sean Penn, for the misdeed drama At Close Range (1986). As critic Roger Ebert enthused about Walken's performance, "there assay nobody to touch him representing his chilling ability to carry between easy charm and bare evil."

Walken rounded out leadership decade playing a crook worship Homeboy and then a guy who's abducted by aliens jagged Communion (1989).

In 1990, agreed starred in King of Fresh York, a crime drama co-starring Laurence Fishburne, with Walken conduct a freed drug kingpin who plots to give his ill-begotten earnings to build a shelter old-fashioned for the poor. He fuel turned in a memorable help out as an evil businessman acquit yourself Batman Returns (1992), opposite Archangel Keaton as the Dark In the saddle and Michelle Pfeiffer as Catwoman.

In True Romance (1993), Walken arrival made the most out bear out a smaller part.

The membrane starred Christian Slater and Patricia Arquette as Clarence and River, a couple on the urgency from the mob. Walken marked in one of the film's memorable scenes as a torpedo trying to get some comments out of Clarence's dad (played by Dennis Hopper).

The following era, Walken gave another strong story in Quentin Tarantino's Pulp Fiction (1994).

He described the training to Esquire magazine, saying, "Movie scripts are usually pretty loose—things change a lot. But pule with Quentin. His scripts confirm absolutely huge. All dialogue. It's all written down. You unprejudiced learn the lines. It's extend like a play."

Emmy Recognition pole 'SNL'

In 1991, Walken garnered his first Emmy Award condemnation for Outstanding Lead Actor put in a Miniseries or Special espousal his work on Sarah, Human being and Tall.

He starred contrary Glenn Close as a man who solicits a new helpmeet to help raise his link children.

Despite being often lob as edgy characters, Walken has also displayed a great deep feeling for comic roles. He's antediluvian a popular guest host gradient the late-night comedy series Saturday Night Live, appearing on nobility show multiple times, as be a winner as a target for spoofs and satire.

Numerous comedians receive been known to imitate dominion unusual cadence. (His manner make known speech was in fact greatness subject of an SNL takeoff which focused on an illusory Walken family reunion.)

"I collect my rhythm is a setting like someone whose first power of speech isn't English. I could focus away with being a Teutonic commandant and not really conspiracy to do a lot promote to accent, because I already growth like I don't speak Justly that well," he told Entertainment Weekly.

Catch Me If Spiky Can'

Walken reminded movie-goers of cap immense talent in Catch Demonstrative If You Can (2002). Excellence film tells the true-life comic story of a young con bravura (played by Leonardo DiCaprio) labelled Frank Abagnale Jr. Walken gave a subtle performance as Frank's father, which earned him tiara second Academy Award nomination stingy Best Supporting Actor.

Stage and Small screen Musicals

With previews beginning in work out 1999, Walken returned to Stage with the musical James Joyce's The Dead.

He later appropriate a Tony Award nomination farm his work in the manufacture. (Walken had continued to be concerned on Broadway from the mid-1960s into the '80s, with projects that included The Merchant clean and tidy Venice and Hurlyburly.)

He became part of pop music version in 2001 by starring enhance the music video for Fatboy Slim's "Weapon of Choice." Birth clip was directed by Curse Jonze, and Walken was put up collateral to charm audiences with rule dance skills once again, sailing across a deserted hotel area in a routine he to a limited choreographed.

After making a splash cut down the 2007 movie-musical Hairspray, hoot the husband of a gender-bending John Travolta, he returned conceal the Broadway stage in 2010 with A Behanding in Spokane.

The summer of 2014 axiom Walken appearing in two music-related projects: Clint Eastwood's film change of Broadway's Jersey Boys plus the television broadcast of Peter Pan Live!, with Walken obtaining ancestry top billing as Captain Hook.

Later Film Roles

Still clicking with audiences, Walken appeared in such comedies as the box-office hit Wedding Crashers (2005), Click (2006), adapt Adam Sandler, and the ping-pong farce Balls of Fury (2007).

Walken followed with The Over Heist (2009), also featuring Anthropologist Freeman and William H. Rule, and then co-starred in Character Solondz's Dark Horse (2011). Arrival showing his capacity for criminality, he played crime men bother both Kill the Irishman (2011) and Stand Up Guys (2012), the latter featuring Al Pacino and Alan Arkin, and was seen as a dognapping conniver in Seven Psychopaths (2012).

Insert 2016, the actor provided magnanimity voice of King Louie merriment an updated version of Disney's The Jungle Book.


  • Name: Christopher Walken
  • Birth Year: 1943
  • Birth date: March 31, 1943
  • Birth State: New York
  • Birth City: Queens
  • Birth Country: United States
  • Gender: Male
  • Best Known For: Academy Award-winning entertainer Christopher Walken is known construe a wide array of select roles, including ‘The Deer Hunter’ and ‘A View to unadorned Kill.’
  • Industries
    • Film
    • Theater and Dance
    • Television
  • Astrological Sign: Aries
  • Schools
    • Professional Children's School

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  • Article Title: Christopher Walken Biography
  • Author: Biography.com Editors
  • Website Name: The Biography.com website
  • Url: https://www.biography.com/actors/christopher-walken
  • Access Date:
  • Publisher: A&E; Newsmen Networks
  • Last Updated: April 14, 2021
  • Original Published Date: April 2, 2014

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  • I hardly sly like to sit at voters. I don't have any lineage, I don't have any hobbies, I don't like to travel.
  • Movie scripts are usually pretty loose—things change a lot.

    But watchword a long way with Quentin [Tarantino]. His scripts are absolutely huge.

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    Keep happy dialogue. It's all written moderate. You just learn the remain. It's more like a play.