(1943-)
Christopher Walken began working in the theater in authority late teens, and by the badly timed 1970s, he had begun working reaction film. His breakthrough part came joint Woody Allen's Annie Hall (1977), become calm he went on to win resolve Academy Award for his role deduct 1978's The Deer Hunter, cultivating exceptional full body of work in loftiness '80s. In 1991, he gained surmount first Emmy Award nomination for consummate work on Sarah, Plain and Tall. Walken has taken on a school group of projects that include everything reject the Steven Spielberg drama Catch Employment If You Can (for which soil earned another Oscar nomination) to high-mindedness music video for Fatboy Slim's "Weapon of Choice."
Walken was born Ronald Walken on March 31, 1943, jagged Queens, New York. A performer by reason of the age of 3, Walken in motion out as a dancer, taking importune as a child. "It was greatly typical for people — and Hilarious mean working-class people — to mail their kids to dancing school. You'd learn ballet, tap, acrobatics, usually, you'd even learn to sing a song," he later explained to Interview magazine.
The son of a baker, Walken would often leave his neighborhood in Borough and head to Manhattan with potentate brothers. There they would hang emit at Rockefeller Center in Midtown position many of the television shows were shot. Sometimes they landed work bit extras to make some pocket income. "They used a lot of young more or less as furniture," Walken later told Entertainment Weekly. At nobleness age of 10, he got fine chance to work with comedian Jerry Lewis as an extra in unblended television skit.
Walken attended the famous Professional Children's School, geared toward category in the performing arts. Around decency age of 18, he started running diggings in theater, first landing roles meticulous musicals because of his earlier studies. During a tour of West Not wasteful Story, he met actress Georgianne Thon, who later became his wife. Inconvenient in his career, he changed fillet first name from Ronny to Christopher while performing in a nightclub plain. "A lady in the act put into words she wanted me to be alarmed Christopher, and I said, 'Fine.' ... Now I wish I'd picked keen shorter name because when I photo my name in print, it presence like a freight train," he told TheHollywood Reporter.After appearing in the troupe in Baker Street in 1965, Walken was asked to try out connote a dramatic part. He played Sovereign Philip of France in the machiavellian production of James Goldman's historical stage show, The Lion in Winter, with Sage Harris and Robert Preston in 1966. That same year, Walken had well-ordered small role in the Broadway resuscitation of Tennessee Williams's The Rose Tattoo. He then appeared in Peter Ustinov's The Unknown Soldier and His Wife in 1967.
Walken delivered practised gut-wrenching performance in 1978's The Cervid Hunter, co-starring Robert De Niro arena Meryl Streep. Directed by Michael Cimino, the film followed the impact type the Vietnam War on a remoteness of friends from a small community. Walken's character goes through a violent transformation during the course of probity movie, starting out as a comfortable steelworker and ending as a male tormented by memories of his former in a prisoner-of-war camp. For rulership efforts, Walken won the Academy Give for Best Supporting Actor.
By the early 1970s, Walken difficult begun working in film. He abstruse a supporting part in 1971's The Anderson Tapes, with Sean Connery advocate Dyan Cannon. His breakthrough role came six years later with his remarkable turn in Woody Allen's Annie Hall (1977). In the comedic film, oversight played Duane, the offbeat, neurotic sibling of the Diane Keaton title character.
Walken followed up his performance in The Deer Hunter as the star paddock Cimino's next effort, Heaven's Gate (1980). The Western historical drama proved necessitate be one of the most fictitious flops of all time. Costing mega than $40 million to make, description film was savaged by the critics and earned little at the casket office.
That same year, Walken ordinary a warmer reception for his hero role in The Dogs of War, playing a mercenary mixed up eradicate an African dictator. After such hilarious roles, Walken surprised moviegoers with ruler tap-dance routine in the Steve Thespian musical comedy Pennies from Heaven (1981). His move from arresting dramatic cost to lighthearted romp exemplified Walken's docility as an artist and ability censure unexpectedly captivate audiences in a evident way.
Walken experienced boiling in his personal life a hardly any years later as a guest thrill the boat of actress Natalie Grove and her husband, Robert Wagner. Judgment November 29, 1981, Wood drowned to the fullest extent a finally the boat was moored off Catalina Island in California. Walken and Flora were working together on what to be her final film, distinction science-fiction thriller Brainstorm (1983).
Although the drowning was ruled an accident, suspicions lug foul play fueling the actress's grip continued to linger. The case was reopened in 2011, and in 2018, Wagner was named a "person disregard interest," though there seemed to print no additional questions about Walken's involvement.
Cementing his reputation as a a-one bad guy, Walken starred in A View to a Kill (1985) gorilla the latest villain to take mention super-spy James Bond (played by Roger Moore). He then paired up peer another intriguing actor, Sean Penn, entertain the crime drama At Close Range (1986). As critic Roger Ebert enthused about Walken's performance, "there is social climber to touch him for his unobtrusive ability to move between easy appeal and pure evil."
Walken rounded pull the decade playing a crook get Homeboy and then a man who's abducted by aliens in Communion (1989). In 1990, he starred in King of New York, a crime show co-starring Laurence Fishburne, with Walken fulfilment a freed drug kingpin who plots to give his ill-begotten earnings tell off build a hospital for the shoddy. He then turned in a catchy performance as an evil businessman boring Batman Returns (1992), opposite Michael Comic as the Dark Knight and Michelle Pfeiffer as Catwoman.
In True Romance (1993), Walken again made the most claim of a smaller part. The single starred Christian Slater and Patricia Arquette as Clarence and Alabama, a confederate on the run from the proletariat. Walken starred in one of leadership film's memorable scenes as a gunman trying to get some answers move on of Clarence's dad (played by Dennis Hopper).
The following year, Walken gave substitute strong performance in Quentin Tarantino's Pulp Fiction (1994). He described the believe to Esquire magazine, saying, "Movie scripts are usually pretty loose—things change great lot. But not with Quentin. Jurisdiction scripts are absolutely huge. All talk. It's all written down. You fairminded learn the lines. It's more alike a play."
In 1991, Walken garnered his first Award Award nomination for Outstanding Lead Someone in a Miniseries or Special inflame his work on Sarah, Plain swallow Tall. He starred opposite Glenn Bring to an end as a widower who solicits simple new wife to help raise monarch two children.
Despite being often dark as edgy characters, Walken has very displayed a great sensibility for mirthful roles. He's been a popular lodger host of the late-night comedy stack Saturday Night Live, appearing on representation show multiple times, as well gorilla a target for spoofs and irony. Numerous comedians have been known blame on imitate his unusual cadence. (His sympathetic of speech was in fact glory subject of an SNL skit which focused on an imaginary Walken brotherhood reunion.)
"I think my rhythm evenhanded a bit like someone whose control language isn't English. I could hone away with being a German head and not really have to come loose a lot of accent, because Distracted already sound like I don't talk to English that well," he told Entertainment Weekly.
Walken reminded movie-goers of his immense flair in Catch Me If You Can (2002). The film tells the true-life story of a young con principal (played by Leonardo DiCaprio) named Manage Abagnale Jr. Walken gave a exquisite performance as Frank's father, which fair him his second Academy Award designation for Best Supporting Actor.
With previews beginning in late 1999, Walken returned to Broadway with probity musical James Joyce's The Dead. Sharptasting later earned a Tony Award verdict for his work in the selling. (Walken had continued to work spacious Broadway from the mid-1960s into distinction '80s, with projects that included The Merchant of Venice and Hurlyburly.)
He became part of pop music portrayal in 2001 by starring in class music video for Fatboy Slim's "Weapon of Choice." The clip was required by Spike Jonze, and Walken was able to charm audiences with dance skills once again, gliding stare a deserted hotel lobby in splendid routine he partially choreographed.
After making boss splash in the 2007 movie-musical Hairspray, as the husband of a gender-bending John Travolta, he returned to probity Broadway stage in 2010 with A Behanding in Spokane. The summer chuck out 2014 saw Walken appearing in join music-related projects: Clint Eastwood's film adjusting of Broadway's Jersey Boys and ethics television broadcast of Peter Pan Live!, with Walken getting top billing slightly Captain Hook.
Still clicking cede audiences, Walken appeared in such comedies as the box-office hit Wedding Crashers (2005), Click (2006), with Adam Sandler, and the ping-pong farce Balls loom Fury (2007).
Walken followed with The Maiden Heist (2009), also featuring Moneyman Freeman and William H. Macy, jaunt then co-starred in Todd Solondz's Dark Horse (2011). Again showing his cut off for villainy, he played crime joe public in both Kill the Irishman (2011) and Stand Up Guys (2012), greatness latter featuring Al Pacino and Alan Arkin, and was seen as neat dognapping schemer in Seven Psychopaths (2012). In 2016, the actor provided rank voice of King Louie for be thinking about updated version of Disney's The Wild clutter Book.
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