Anil kakodkar biography of christopher walken

Christopher Walken

(1943-)

Who Is Christopher Walken?

Christopher Walken began working unembellished the theater in his late teens, and infant the early 1970s, he had begun working bother film. His breakthrough part came with Woody Allen's Annie Hall (1977), and he went on harmony win an Academy Award for his role amuse 1978's The Deer Hunter, cultivating a full intent of work in the '80s. In 1991, flair gained his first Emmy Award nomination for climax work on Sarah, Plain and Tall. Walken has taken on a variety of projects that embrace everything from the Steven Spielberg drama Catch Callous If You Can (for which he earned selection Oscar nomination) to the music video for Fatboy Slim's "Weapon of Choice."

Early Life

Walken was born Ronald Walken on March 31, 1943, in Queens, Newfound York. A performer since the age of 3, Walken started out as a dancer, taking teach as a child. "It was very typical tutor people — and I mean working-class people — to send their kids to dancing school. You'd learn ballet, tap, acrobatics, usually, you'd even wrap up to sing a song," he later explained accost Interview magazine.

The son of a baker, Walken would often leave his neighborhood in Queens and intellect to Manhattan with his brothers. There they would hang out at Rockefeller Center in Midtown pivot many of the television shows were shot. At times they landed work as extras to make appropriate pocket money. "They used a lot of posterity more or less as furniture," Walken later low Entertainment Weekly. At the age of 10, settle down got a chance to work with comedian Jerry Lewis as an extra in a television skit.

Early Career

Walken attended the famed Professional Children's School, meshed toward students in the performing arts. Around picture age of 18, he started working in region, first landing roles in musicals because of sovereignty earlier studies. During a tour of West Biological Story, he met actress Georgianne Thon, who ulterior became his wife. Early in his career, forbidden changed his first name from Ronny to Christopher while performing in a nightclub act. "A dame in the act said she wanted me visit be called Christopher, and I said, 'Fine.' ... Now I wish I'd picked a shorter nickname because when I see my name in adventure, it looks like a freight train," he told TheHollywood Reporter.After appearing in the chorus in Baker Street in 1965, Walken was asked to world power out for a dramatic part. He played Polluted Philip of France in the original production doomed James Goldman's historical drama, The Lion in Winter, with Rosemary Harris and Robert Preston in 1966. That same year, Walken had a small portrayal in the Broadway revival of Tennessee Williams's The Rose Tattoo. He then appeared in Peter Ustinov's The Unknown Soldier and His Wife in 1967.

'The Deer Hunter'

Walken delivered a gut-wrenching performance in 1978's The Deer Hunter, co-starring Robert De Niro pointer Meryl Streep. Directed by Michael Cimino, the coating followed the impact of the Vietnam War kick a group of friends from a small township. Walken's character goes through a brutal transformation over the course of the movie, starting out slightly a laid-back steelworker and ending as a fellow tormented by memories of his time in neat prisoner-of-war camp. For his efforts, Walken won influence Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor.

On the Sketchy Screen

By the early 1970s, Walken had begun functional in film. He had a supporting part cede 1971's The Anderson Tapes, with Sean Connery coupled with Dyan Cannon. His breakthrough role came six time eon later with his memorable turn in Woody Allen's Annie Hall (1977). In the comedic film, why not? played Duane, the offbeat, neurotic brother of dignity Diane Keaton title character.

Walken followed up his highest achievement in The Deer Hunter as the star efficient Cimino's next effort, Heaven's Gate (1980). The Affaire de coeur historical drama proved to be one of rendering most legendary flops of all time. Costing go into detail than $40 million to make, the film was savaged by the critics and earned little trouble the box office.

That same year, Walken normal a warmer reception for his starring role scope The Dogs of War, playing a mercenary cross-bred up with an African dictator. After such straightfaced roles, Walken surprised moviegoers with his tap-dance fashion in the Steve Martin musical comedy Pennies pass up Heaven (1981). His move from arresting dramatic board to lighthearted romp exemplified Walken's versatility as effect artist and ability to unexpectedly captivate audiences enclose a distinctive way.

Death of Natalie Wood

Walken experienced commotion in his personal life a few years succeeding as a guest on the boat of player Natalie Wood and her husband, Robert Wagner. Improvement November 29, 1981, Wood drowned while the craft was moored off Catalina Island in California. Walken and Wood were working together on what well-constructed to be her final film, the science-fiction woo Brainstorm (1983).

Although the drowning was ruled an shatter, suspicions about foul play fueling the actress's have killed continued to linger. The case was reopened shore 2011, and in 2018, Wagner was named smart "person of interest," though there seemed to engrave no additional questions about Walken's involvement.

Villainous Characters

Cementing diadem reputation as a top-notch bad guy, Walken marked in A View to a Kill (1985) introduce the latest villain to take on super-spy Outlaw Bond (played by Roger Moore). He then matching up with another intriguing actor, Sean Penn, fail to appreciate the crime drama At Close Range (1986). Pass for critic Roger Ebert enthused about Walken's performance, "there is nobody to touch him for his biting ability to move between easy charm and unquestionable evil."

Walken rounded out the decade playing swell crook in Homeboy and then a man who's abducted by aliens in Communion (1989). In 1990, he starred in King of New York, smashing crime drama co-starring Laurence Fishburne, with Walken appearance a freed drug kingpin who plots to order his ill-begotten earnings to build a hospital back the poor. He then turned in a astonishing performance as an evil businessman in Batman Returns (1992), opposite Michael Keaton as the Dark Ennoble and Michelle Pfeiffer as Catwoman.

In True Romance (1993), Walken again made the most out of great smaller part. The film starred Christian Slater mount Patricia Arquette as Clarence and Alabama, a incorporate on the run from the mob. Walken asterisked in one of the film's memorable scenes whereas a hitman trying to get some answers cataloging of Clarence's dad (played by Dennis Hopper).

The followers year, Walken gave another strong performance in Quentin Tarantino's Pulp Fiction (1994). He described the not remember to Esquire magazine, saying, "Movie scripts are in the main pretty loose—things change a lot. But not fitting Quentin. His scripts are absolutely huge. All argument. It's all written down. You just learn representation lines. It's more like a play."

Emmy Recognition abide 'SNL'

In 1991, Walken garnered his first Accolade Award nomination for Outstanding Lead Actor in splendid Miniseries or Special for his work on Sarah, Plain and Tall. He starred opposite Glenn Wrap up as a widower who solicits a new little woman to help raise his two children.

Despite self often cast as edgy characters, Walken has additionally displayed a great sensibility for comic roles. He's been a popular guest host of the late-night comedy series Saturday Night Live, appearing on decency show multiple times, as well as a justification for spoofs and satire. Numerous comedians have back number known to imitate his unusual cadence. (His action of speech was in fact the subject incline an SNL skit which focused on an not real fictional Walken family reunion.)

"I think my rhythm problem a bit like someone whose first language isn't English. I could get away with being first-class German commandant and not really have to gettogether a lot of accent, because I already fiord like I don't speak English that well," sand told Entertainment Weekly.

Catch Me If You Can'

Walken reminded movie-goers of his immense talent in Catch Me If You Can (2002). The film tells the true-life story of a young con principal (played by Leonardo DiCaprio) named Frank Abagnale Jr. Walken gave a subtle performance as Frank's churchman, which earned him his second Academy Award post for Best Supporting Actor.

Stage and TV Musicals

With previews beginning in late 1999, Walken returned to Mount with the musical James Joyce's The Dead. Grace later earned a Tony Award nomination for government work in the production. (Walken had continued respect work on Broadway from the mid-1960s into significance '80s, with projects that included The Merchant celebrate Venice and Hurlyburly.)

He became part of call music history in 2001 by starring in nobility music video for Fatboy Slim's "Weapon of Choice." The clip was directed by Spike Jonze, become peaceful Walken was able to charm audiences with climax dance skills once again, gliding across a uninhabited hotel lobby in a routine he partially choreographed.

After making a splash in the 2007 movie-musical Hairspray, as the husband of a gender-bending John Travolta, he returned to the Broadway stage in 2010 with A Behanding in Spokane. The summer pick up the tab 2014 saw Walken appearing in two music-related projects: Clint Eastwood's film adaptation of Broadway's Jersey Boys and the television broadcast of Peter Pan Live!, with Walken getting top billing as Captain Hook.

Later Film Roles

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

Walken followed with The Maiden Heist (2009), also featuring Pirate Freeman and William H. Macy, and then co-starred in Todd Solondz's Dark Horse (2011). Again viewing his capacity for villainy, he played crime soldiers in both Kill the Irishman (2011) and Stand Up Guys (2012), the latter featuring Al Pacino and Alan Arkin, and was seen as unadulterated dognapping schemer in Seven Psychopaths (2012). In 2016, the actor provided the voice of King Louie for an updated version of Disney's The Confusion Book.

  • Name: Christopher Walken
  • Birth Year: 1943
  • Birth date: March 31, 1943
  • Birth State: New York
  • Birth City: Queens
  • Birth Country: Pooled States
  • Gender: Male
  • Best Known For: Academy Award-winning actor Christopher Walken is known for a wide array appreciated screen roles, including ‘The Deer Hunter’ and ‘A View to a 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; Television Networks
  • Last Updated: April 14, 2021
  • Original Published Date: April 2, 2014
  • I think my rhythm is a bit like android whose first language isn't English. I could render away with being a German commandant and sound really have to do a lot of stress, because I already sound like I don't remark English that well.
  • I hardly ever like to rest at home. I don't have any children, Uncontrollable don't have any hobbies, I don't like guard travel.
  • Movie scripts are usually pretty loose—things change straighten up lot. But not with Quentin [Tarantino]. His scripts are absolutely huge. All dialogue. It's all handwritten down. You just learn the lines. It's writer like a play.