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Val Edward KilmerState of California. California Birth Index, 1905-1995. Center for Health Statistics, California Department of Health Services, Sacramento, California. Lists his birth name as simply "Val". At Ancestry.com (born December 31, 1959) is an American actor.

A trained stage actor, Kilmer became well-known in the mid 1980s, after a string of appearances in comedy films, starting with Top Secret! (1984), as well as blockbuster action films, including a role in Top Gun and as the lead in Willow. During the 1990s, Kilmer gained critical respect after a string of commercially successful and well reviewed films, including his roles as Jim Morrison in The Doors, Doc Holiday in 1993's Tombstone, and Batman in 1995's Batman Forever.

During the early 2000s, Kilmer appeared in several well-received roles, including The Salton Sea, Spartan, and an acclaimed supporting performance in Kiss Kiss, Bang Bang.

Early life

Kilmer was born in Los Angeles, California to Eugene Kilmer and Gladys Ekstadt, the second of three sons; the family has Scottish, Irish, Sephardi Jews, Cherokee Native American (from a paternal great-grandmother), Swedish, German and distant Mongolian ancestry. Kilmer's paternal grandfather was a gold miner in New Mexico; the poet Joyce Kilmer is a second cousin of Kilmer's. Kilmer grew up in the San Fernando Valley with his two siblings, older brother Mark and younger brother Wesley. During Kilmer's teenage years, his brother Wesley drowned in the family's swimming pool, an incident that Kilmer claims to have inspired his later performance in The Salton Sea.

Kilmer, who was raised a Christian Scientist, attended Chatsworth High School, as well as Hollywood's Professional's School. At the age of seventeen, he was at the time the youngest person to be accepted into Juilliard's drama program, where he trained alongside now well-known actors Kevin Spacey and Mare Winningham.

Career

1980s

In 1981, the 6-foot tall Kilmer co-authored and starred in the play How It All Began, which was performed at the Public Theatre at the New York Shakespeare Festival. Kilmer turned down a role in Francis Ford Coppola's 1983 film, The Outsiders, as he had prior theatre commitments. That same year, his first off-stage acting role (excluding television commercials) came in the form of a television short titled One Too Many, which was an educational drama on drinking and driving; it also starred a young Michelle Pfeiffer. His big break came when he received top billing in the spoof comedy Top Secret!, where he played an American rock and roll star. Kilmer sang all the songs in the film and actually released an album under the film character's name, "Nick Rivers".

During a brief hiatus, he backpacked throughout Europe, before going on to play the lead character in the 1985 comedy Real Genius. He turned down roles in Dune and Blue Velvet, before being cast as "Iceman" in the big budget action film Top Gun, alongside Tom Cruise. Top Gun grossed a total of $344,700,000 worldwide. Following roles in the television films The Murders in the Rue Morgue and The Man Who Broke 1,000 Chains, Kilmer played "Madmartigan" in the fantasy Willow; he met his future wife, co-star Joanne Whalley, on the film's set. In 1989, Kilmer played the lead in both Kill Me Again, again opposite Whalley, and the television film Billy the Kid.

1990s

After several delays, director Oliver Stone finally started production on the film, The Doors, based on the popular band of the same name. Kilmer allegedly memorised the lyrics to all of lead singer Jim Morrison's songs prior to his audition, and sent a video of himself performing some Doors songs to director Stone. After Kilmer was cast as Morrison, he prepared for the role by attending Doors tribute concerts and reading Morrison's poetry. He spent close to a year before production dressing in Morrison-like clothes, and spent time at Morrison's old hangouts along the Sunset Strip. His portrayal of Morrison was praised and real members of The Doors noted that Kilmer did such a convincing job that they had trouble distinguishing his voice from Morrison's. Throughout the early 1990s, Kilmer starred in the mystery thriller Thunderheart, action comedy The Real McCoy and again teamed with Top Gun director Tony Scott to play Elvis in True Romance, which was written by Quentin Tarantino.

In 1993, Kilmer played Doc Holliday in the western Tombstone alongside Kurt Russell, in what some say is one of Kilmer's finest performances. 1995 saw Kilmer star in Wings of Courage, a 3D IMAX film, and in one of his biggest roles, playing Batman in the big budget Batman Forever, which also starred Tommy Lee Jones, Jim Carrey and Nicole Kidman. The film was a success at the box office, despite receiving mixed reviews. That same year, starred opposite Al Pacino and Robert De Niro in Heat, which is now considered one of the best crime/drama films of the 1990s. In 1996, he appeared in a largely unknown film, Dead Girl, and starred alongside Marlon Brando in the poorly received The Island of Dr Moreau. After its release, director John Frankenheimer allegedly vowed never to work with Kilmer again, complaining of how hard he was to work with. That year, Kilmer starred alongside Michael Douglas in the thriller, The Ghost & the Darkness. The next year he played Simon Templar in the popular action film, The Saint. In 1998, he lent his voice to the animated film The Prince of Egypt, before starring in the independent film Joe the King (1999) and playing a blind man in the drama/romance At First Sight, of which he described as then, the hardest role he had ever had.

2000s

Kilmer's first role in 2000 was in the big budget Warner Bros. box office failure Red Planet. That same year, he had a supporting role in the film Pollock and hosted Saturday Night Live for the first time. In 2002, he starred in the thriller The Salton Sea, which was generally well-reviewed, but received only a limited release. The same year, he teamed with his True Romance co-star, Christian Slater, and the two starred in the low budget film, Hard Cash, also known as Run for the Money.

In 2003, Kilmer starred alongside Kate Bosworth in the drama/thriller Wonderland, as well as appearing in The Missing, where he again worked with Willow director Ron Howard. The next year, he starred in the thriller Spartan, where he played a United States government secret agent who is assigned the task of rescuing the kidnapped daughter of the President. He received Delta Force-like training in preparation for the role. Subsequently, he had a role in the drama, Stateside, and starred in the thriller Mindhunters, which was filmed in 2003 but not released until 2005. He also appeared in the big budget Oliver Stone production, Alexander, which received mixed reviews. Also in 2004, Kilmer returned to the theatre to play Moses in a Los Angeles musical production of The Ten Commandments, produced by BCBG founder Max Azria. The production played at the Kodak Theater in Hollywood. Kilmer had previously played Moses in the animated film The Prince of Egypt.

Kilmer was in negotiations with Richard Dutcher (a leading director of Mormon-related films) to play the lead role in a film entitled Prophet: The Story of Joseph Smith, although the project never materialized. Kilmer performed in The Postman Always Rings Twice on the London stage from June to September of 2005. In 2005, he starred in the action-comedy film Kiss Kiss, Bang Bang. His performance was praised and the film was well reviewed, but the film received only a limited release. It later won the award as "Overlooked Film of the Year" from the Phoenix Film Critics Society. In 2006 he reunited with director Tony Scott a third time for a supporting role opposite Denzel Washington in the box-office hit Deja Vu.

Personal life

Kilmer was married to Joanne Whalley, an actress and former lead singer of Cindy & the Saffrons, from March 1988 to February 1996. The two met while working together on the film Willow. They share two children, daughter Mercedes, born in 1991, and son Jack, born in 1995.

Kilmer is regarded as "difficult" by some in the industry, including director John Frankenheimer, who worked with Kilmer on The Island of Doctor Moreau. Frankenheimer reportedly became so angry that he had Kilmer physically escorted from the set of his film, later commenting "At my age there are two things I will never do, climb Mount Everest or work with Val Kilmer ever again!", which indeed came to pass, as Frankenheimer never again cast Kilmer in any of his films up until his 2002 death. He also vehemently claimed that, "If I were making the Val Kilmer story, I wouldn't cast Val Kilmer!"

Following their appearance together in Top Gun, Kilmer and co-star Tom Cruise reportedly have taken their on-screen conflict off-screen. Reports have classified the two as holding a vitriolic hatred of one another, with Kilmer even refusing to participate in a charity beach volleyball game starring the movie's cast with Cruise on the foundation that he was "dangerous", after which Tom Cruise and he physically assaulted each other for almost five minutes before it was broken up. Reports have also surfaced in regards to incidents of continual harrasment and further fighting, including Tom Cruise mocking Val Kilmer on the set of Batman Forever and Val Kilmer vandalizing Tom Cruise's motorcycle around the release time of Eyes Wide Shut. Apparently contradictory reports suggest that while in Australia in late 1999 filming Red Planet , Kilmer spent much time with Tom Cruise and (then-wife) Nicole Kidman at the couple's home. He enjoyed their company so much, he even scouted nearby real estate.

Warwick Davis, Kilmer's co-star from the 1988 fantasy Willow, defended Kilmer in his audio commentary for the film, describing Kilmer as a very funny man who was also a hard working and dedicated actor.

Selected filmography

References

External links

General

• Kilmer's Official website
• Val Kilmer Forum
• Complete list of roles that Val Kilmer has turned down

Interviews

• UGO interview (March, 2004)
• Deal Memo interview (April 23, 2002)
• Christian Science Sentinel interview (January 11, 1999)

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