Christopher Walken
Highest Rated: 97% Annie Hall (1977)
Lowest Rated: 6% Gigli (2003)
Birthday: Mar 31, 1943
Birthplace: New York City, New York
A versatile character actor whose intense demeanor and slightly off-kilter delivery served him well in both comedies and dramas, Christopher Walken was at once one of the busiest and most respected actors of his generation, appearing in as many as five films in a year while still finding time for stage and occasional television work.Walken was born Ronald Walken in Queens, NY, on March 31, 1943, the youngest of three sons of Paul and Rosalie Walken; Paul ran a bakery, while Rosalie was convinced her sons had talent and was determined they take advantage of it. Ronald landed his first job in front of a camera at the age of 14 months when he posed for a calendar photo with a pair of kittens. Like his siblings, he received dance lessons as a youngster, and, by the age of ten, was making frequent appearances on television and radio shows, and was a regular on a short-lived sitcom, The Wonderful John Acton. Ronald and his brothers also enrolled at New York's Professional Children's School, and he spent a summer as a junior lion tamer with a circus, later recalling that the lion was quite old and docile.In 1961, Walken enrolled at Hofstra University. But, little more than a year later, he landed a role in the Broadway-bound musical Best Foot Forward (which starred one of his former classmates, Liza Minelli), and decided to leave college. Spending the next several years working in a variety of musicals -- both in New York and on the road -- the young actor appeared in a 1964 touring production of West Side Story, and there met actress and dancer Georgianne Thon. The two began dating, and eventually married in 1969. While appearing in a revue starring model-turned-singer Monique Van Vooren in 1965, Walken was told by the headliner he looked more like a Christopher than a Ronald; he decided to take her advice, and adopted Christopher Walken as his stage name. In 1966, he made his first appearance in a non-singing role as Phillip, the King of France, in a Broadway production of The Lion in Winter. By the end of the decade, Walken was devoting his energies to stage dramas, although he continued to keep up with his dance training.Walken made his movie debut with 1968's Me and My Brother -- a film directed by acclaimed photographer and experimental filmmaker Robert Frank -- and, in 1972, scored his first starring role in the low-budget sci-fi thriller The Mind Snatchers. Walken first caught the attention of critics with his performance as a bohemian ladies' man in Paul Mazursky's Next Stop, Greenwich Village, and landed a small but memorable role in Woody Allen's Annie Hall as suicidal preppie Duane. But Walken's real breakthrough came in 1978, with his role as Nick in The Deer Hunter. Playing a small-town boy who is irreversibly scarred by his experiences in Vietnam, the role won Walken an Oscar for Best Supporting Actor, and made him a bankable and recognizable name. He soon committed to director Michael Cimino's follow-up, which proved to be the infamous box-office and critically-panned flop Heaven's Gate, and later showed off both his acting and dancing skills as a villainous pimp in the musical drama Pennies From Heaven. While Walken remained a critical favorite, he fell short of becoming a major box-office draw due to the disappointing returns of many of his post-Deer Hunter films. But, by his own admission, Walken was always an actor who liked to work, and he maintained a busy schedule of both stage and screen roles. His willingness to take on edgy film characters with questionable commercial appeal (such as At Close Range, King of New York, and Communion) helped earn the actor a loyal cult following, and small but showy roles in True Romance and Pulp Fiction gave Walken's screen career a serious boost in the early '90s. By the time Walken turned 60, he had written, directed, and starred in an off-Broadway comedy called Him; received another Oscar nomination for his performance in Catch Me if You Can; appeared in films as varied as

Photos

View All Photos

Highest Rated Movies

Filmography

MOVIES

CREDIT
No Score Yet The War with Grandpa Actor — 2018
17% Father Figures Dr. Tinkler $16.8M 2017
14% Nine Lives Felix Grant $19.7M 2016
83% The Family Fang Caleb Fang $15.8K 2016
95% The Jungle Book King Louie $364M 2016
52% One More Time (When I Live My Life Over Again) Paul — 2016
81% Eddie The Eagle Warren Sharp $20.1M 2016
10% Joe Dirt 2: Beautiful Loser Anthony Benedetti/Clem Doore/Gert B. Frobe — 2015
No Score Yet Turks & Caicos Curtis Pelissier — 2014
52% Jersey Boys Angelo "Gyp" DeCarlo — 2014
56% Peter Pan Live! Actor — 2014
No Score Yet Marvin Hamlisch: What He Did For Love Actor — 2013
57% The Power Of Few Doke $16.6K 2013
37% Stand Up Guys Doc $3.4M 2013
76% A Late Quartet Peter Mitchell (Cello) $1.5M 2012
82% Seven Psychopaths Hans $15.1M 2012
69% Dark Horse Jackie $0.2M 2012
No Score Yet Gods Behaving Badly Zeus — 2012
No Score Yet Joe Papp In Five Acts Actor — 2012
61% Kill the Irishman Shondor Birns $1.2M 2011
No Score Yet The Boy Who Saw Through Actor — 2011
No Score Yet Life's a Beach Actor — 2010
No Score Yet The Maiden Heist Roger $0.5M 2009
No Score Yet $5 a Day (Five Dollars a Day) Nat — 2008
54% Romance & Cigarettes Cousin Bo $0.4M 2007
22% Balls of Fury Feng $32.9M 2007
91% Hairspray Wilbur Turnbald $118.9M 2007
22% Man of the Year Jack Menken $37.5M 2006
29% Fade to Black Brewster — 2006
33% Click Morty $137.4M 2006
19% Domino Mark Heiss $10.2M 2005
76% Wedding Crashers William Cleary $209.3M 2005
29% Around the Bend Turner Lair $0.2M 2004
26% The Stepford Wives Mike Wellington $59.4M 2004
8% Envy J-Man $12.2M 2004
39% Man on Fire Rayburn $77.7M 2004
70% The Rundown Hatcher $47.6M 2003
6% Gigli Det. Stanley Jacobellis $5.7M 2003
8% Kangaroo Jack Sal $66.8M 2003
40% Undertaking Betty Frank Featherbed — 2003
No Score Yet Julius Caesar Cato — 2002
95% Catch Me If You Can Frank Abagnale Sr. $164.5M 2002
30% The Country Bears Reed Thimple $16.9M 2002
33% Poolhall Junkies Mike $0.6M 2002
No Score Yet Julius Caesar (Caesar) Cato — 2002
15% The Affair of the Necklace Count Cagliostro — 2001
26% Chelsea Walls Actor — 2001
32% America's Sweethearts Hal Weidmann $93.1M 2001
11% Joe Dirt Clem $27.1M 2001
59% Scotland, Pa. Lt. Ernie McDuff $0.3M 2001
52% The Opportunists Victor Kelly — 2000
No Score Yet Kiss Toledo Goodbye Max — 2000
17% The Prophecy 3: The Ascent Gabriel — 2000
No Score Yet Sarah, Plain and Tall: Winter's End Jacob Witting — 1999
68% Sleepy Hollow Headless Horseman — 1999
19% New Rose Hotel Fox — 1999
40% Illuminata Bevalaqua — 1999
No Score Yet Vendetta James Houston — 1999
57% Blast From the Past Calvin Webber — 1999
93% Antz Col. Cutter — 1998
33% Trance (The Eternal: Kiss of the Mummy) Nora's Uncle — 1998
33% The Prophecy II Gabriel — 1998
42% Mouse Hunt Caesar — 1997
32% Excess Baggage Ray — 1997
34% Suicide Kings Charles Barrett — 1997
33% Touch Bill Hill — 1997
50% Comfort of Strangers Robert — 1997
79% The Funeral Ray — 1996
37% Last Man Standing Hickey — 1996
68% Basquiat The Interviewer — 1996
No Score Yet Celluloide (Celluloid) U.S. Officer — 1995
33% Things to Do in Denver When You're Dead The Man with the Plan — 1995
33% Nick of Time Mr. Smith — 1995
20% A Business Affair Vanni Corso — 1995
74% The Addiction Peina — 1995
43% The Prophecy Angel Gabriel — 1995
33% Search and Destroy Kim $0.4M 1995
60% Wild Side (All The Way) Bruno Buckingham — 1995
94% Pulp Fiction Koons — 1994
61% Wayne's World 2 Bobby Cahn — 1993
92% True Romance Vincenzo Coccotti — 1993
No Score Yet Scam Jack Shanks — 1993
No Score Yet Skylark Jacob Witting — 1993
No Score Yet Day of Atonement Actor — 1993
80% Batman Returns Max Shreck — 1992
No Score Yet McBain McBain — 1992
No Score Yet All-American Murder P.J. Decker — 1991
72% Mistress Warren Zell — 1991
80% Sarah, Plain and Tall Jacob Witting — 1991
71% King of New York Frank White — 1990
20% Communion Whitley Strieber — 1989
No Score Yet Homeboy Wesley Pendergass — 1988
81% Biloxi Blues Sgt. Merwin J. Toomey — 1988
59% The Milagro Beanfield War Kyril Montana — 1988
No Score Yet Puss in Boots Puss — 1988
No Score Yet Witness in the War Zone Don Stevens — 1987
No Score Yet Deadline Actor — 1987
87% At Close Range Brad Whitewood Sr. — 1986
37% A View to a Kill Max Zorin — 1985
90% The Dead Zone Johnny Smith — 1983
59% Brainstorm Michael Brace — 1983
No Score Yet Who Am I This Time? Harry Nash — 1982
No Score Yet Cannon Movie Tales: Puss in Boots Puss — 1982
85% Pennies From Heaven Tom — 1981
57% Heaven's Gate Nathan D. Champion — 1980
69% The Dogs of War Jamie Shannon — 1980
29% Last Embrace Eckart — 1979
94% The Deer Hunter Nick — 1978
No Score Yet Roseland Russel — 1977
97% Annie Hall Duane Hall — 1977
47% The Sentinel Rizzo — 1977
75% Next Stop, Greenwich Village Robert — 1976
No Score Yet Shoot the Sun Down Mr. Rainbow — 1974
No Score Yet The Mind Snatchers Privatz James H. Reese — 1972
74% The Anderson Tapes The Kid — 1971
No Score Yet Me and My Brother Actor — 1969
No Score Yet The Prophecy 2: Ashtown Actor —

TV

CREDIT
No Score Yet Finding Your Roots With Henry Louis Gates Jr.
2012
Appearing
  • 2017
No Score Yet The View
1997
Guest
  • 2016
No Score Yet Lidia Celebrates America
2011
Guest
  • 2015
No Score Yet The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon
2014
Guest
  • 2015
  • 2014
No Score Yet Late Show With David Letterman
1993-2015
Guest
  • 2014
No Score Yet Masterpiece
1971-2014
Curtis Pelissier
  • 2014
No Score Yet Inside the Actors Studio
1994-2018
Guest
  • 2013
No Score Yet Sunday Morning
2011-2018
Appearing
  • 2012
  • 2011
No Score Yet Late Night With Jimmy Fallon
2009-2014
Guest
  • 2012
  • 2009
No Score Yet Saturday Night Live
1975
Performer Guest Host
  • 2008
  • 2003
  • 2002
  • 2001
  • 2000
  • 1996
  • 1992
  • 1990
No Score Yet The Daily Show With Jon Stewart
1999-2015
Guest
  • 2007
No Score Yet The Henry Rollins Show
2006-2007
Guest
  • 2007
No Score Yet American Playhouse
1982-1996
  • 1982
No Score Yet Kojak
1973-1978
Ben Wiley
  • 1977

QUOTES FROM Christopher Walken CHARACTERS