Christopher Walken's Biography
Christopher Walken is an American stage and film actor who calls himself an ordinary person, though colleagues, critics, and fans describe him with words like "magnificent" and "extraordinary." Throughout his career, he's rarely turned down a role, believing each one gives him invaluable experience.After winning an Oscar for Best Supporting Actor in the war drama "The Deer Hunter" (1978), he's appeared in more than a hundred diverse films. The actor turned 80 in 2023, but he continues to delight fans with fresh, compelling roles.
Childhood, Youth, Family
Ronald (the actor's real name) was born in the spring of 1943 to Paul Walken and Rosalie Russell in Queens, a rough neighborhood of New York at the time. Along with him, his immigrant parents also raised two brothers - Ken and Glenn.
Ronald didn't have a childhood in the usual sense. He danced, went with his mother to all sorts of auditions, studied at a specialized school where he could simultaneously get an education and work. Along with his brothers, the boy participated in various shows and began to star in TV series: "Wonderful John Acton" (1953), "The Motorola Television Hour" (1954).My mother came to America as an adult. She was originally from Glasgow. She was just crazy about cinema: she read all the film magazines and wanted her children to be in the show business. I was simply placed there... I'm very grateful to her. I can't imagine anything else that could have given me such a good life.
With her, Walken enrolled at Hofstra University, where he decided to get a theater education, but it didn't last long. For a while, Christopher toured in musical revues as a dancer, worked in a traveling circus as a trainer and "tamer" of an elderly lioness:Her name was Monica Van Vooren: together with her and another guy we performed in the evenings in an improvised show: Monica sang, we danced. After the last song, she always introduced us to the audience and always did it with imagination. And suddenly one night she called me Christopher, and then in the makeup room she said: "You know, Walken, it's a cool name. That's what I'm going to call you from now on". I don't know why, but I didn't object: and from that evening only my closest ones call me Ronnie - my wife and brothers.
One of the craziest experiments in my life was animal training. I got a job in a small circus and worked there all summer. My charges were lions, though I can't call myself a real tamer - I was more of an assistant to the local star who came out into the ring with those huge roaring creatures. But I still had my own act: I worked with a lioness, gentle and old, who I came to love as much as a pet cat.
Acting Career
Walken took on the challenging role of Duane Hall in Woody Allen's darkly comic "Annie Hall" (1977). Though his role was small, it caught the attention of audiences in this four-time Oscar-winning film.
The audience also noted Christopher's cameo in the film "True Romance", for which Quentin Tarantino wrote the screenplay. Walken's acting impressed the director so much that he offered him the role of Captain Koons in "Pulp Fiction". The monologue about the gold watch that his character kept while held captive by the Viet Cong became one of the film's most memorable scenes, thanks to Christopher's riveting performance.I was once in this small, dusty hillside town in southern Italy, and I met a woman with her child. He was probably about eight. He kept staring at me, and then he said: 'Max!' - meaning Max Shreck from 'Batman.' That's the power of cinema for you.
Christopher Walken's Personal Life
The actor has often said his off-screen life is surprisingly low-key. In 1969, he married Georgianne Thon, who was at the time a casting agent and his partner in the musical "West Side Story". Since then, despite constant media attention, Christopher has never been linked to any scandals or controversies.
Their tight-knit bond has remained unshaken, even without children. In fact, Christopher believes having kids would have changed his entire career path....it's quiet and beautiful. There are hordes of opossums, skunks, and a whole army of raccoons living near my house. They constantly sneak into the house through the cat door and even bring their children. Sometimes, I go to the kitchen at night, and they're sitting there in a pile, devouring cat food. I do the same thing every day. The same thing. I eat at the same time, get up at the same time. I do the same things in the same order. I read, then drink coffee, then work on scripts, then work out, and then cook something to eat.
Christopher Walken Now
Following the success of Ben Stiller's "Severance," the show was renewed for a second season – great news for the cast and crew, including Christopher Walken. The mind-bending workplace thriller about employees who surgically separate their work and personal memories promises to be just as compelling in season two.Walken also appears in Denis Villeneuve's "Dune: Part Two," playing the formidable Padishah Emperor Shaddam IV Corrino. Even at 80, Christopher still hungers for new roles and shows no signs of slowing down.
Interesting Facts
- Walken has a quirky habit: he almost always snags a souvenir from every film set. You can imagine his disappointment when he wrapped filming on "Batman Returns":
…I had a whole box of funny costumes and stuff. By the final day of shooting, I knew exactly what I wanted to take home. I had these great handcuffs and a bunch of other stuff. But when we finished the last scene and I got back to my dressing room, everything was gone. They took it all! Every single thing
, – the actor complained in one of his interviews. - Back in the seventies, Christopher was working at a theater in Canada. Around the same time, the legendary Muhammad Ali was touring the country speaking out against the Vietnam War. The champ put his actual fight trunks up for a charity auction. Walken ended up winning them. The trunks are still part of his collection of "historical" keepsakes.
- Walken's childhood love of dance really paid off later in life. In 1993, he appeared in Madonna's "Bad Girl" music video, and later choreographed Fatboy Slim's iconic "Weapon of Choice" video. Christopher received an MTV VMA award for this work.
