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Born Ronald Walken in Queens, New York on March 31, 1943, he and his brothers were encouraged into acting at an early age by his mother, making him a child actor by the age of 10. The thing that really got Walken enamored with theatre and acting was a photo of Elvis Presley, so much so that he styles his hair like Elvis to this day. He was even trained in the circus as a lion tamer, so he is acquainted with danger and taking risks. True to his passion for theater, Walden dropped out of university after landing a major role in an off-Broadway show called Best Food Forward, alongside Liza Minelli. Before committing to theatre drama and films, he learned to dance at the Washington Dance Studio. $50 million and over 100 movies later, Walden proves why he is one of the best stars to ever step foot in Hollywood.
What It Takes To Be Great
By the time Walken had made up his mind to be in full-time theater and acting, he had already gained quite a bit of experience doing sketched on The Colgate Comedy Hour as well as the 1953 television show Wonder John Acton in which he played Kevin Acton. During the mid-1950s, he took up the role of Michael Bauer in The Guiding Light until 1956. Then in 1966, Walken was cast as King Phillip of France in Broadway's Lion in The Winter and even played the role of Romeo in the classic romance play, Romeo and Juliet, in Canada. His theatrical performances would clear the path for him into the film industry, as he would later guest-star in the CBS police procedural drama, Hawaii Five-O, as Navy SP Walt Kramer in 1969. One year later in 1970, he earned the Drama Desk Award for Most Outstanding Performance following his role in another off-Broadway production called Lemon Sky.
Becoming A Prized Actor
Walken's star continued to rise into the mid-'70s with his role in Next Stop, Greenwich Village (1976) where he played the part of poet and ladies man, Robert Fulmer, alongside Antonio Fargas and Jeff Goldblum. The film was received well by viewers and grossed a little over $1 million in the U.S. and Canada. By this time, he had already changed his name from Ronald Walken to Christopher Walken at the advice of Belgium actress, Monique van Vooren. Soon after his 1976 film, he starred in the 1977 romantic-comedy-drama, Annie Hall, directed by Woody Allen and starring Diane Keaton, which grossed $38.3 million. Perhaps his most dynamite role of the decade was in Michael Cimino's war drama film, Deer Hunter, released in 1978 - a role for which he won an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor. The film saw a favorable outcome, grossing $49 million and featuring acting talents such as Robert De Niro and Meryl Streep.
Walken continued to focus on his acting craft for the big screen into the 1980s. In 1981, he took up the lead role in John Irvin's action-adventure film adaptation, The Dogs of War, with co-star Tom Berenger. His former dance training was not in vain either, as he was able to put it to use in the romantic musical, Pennies from Heaven, alongside Steve Martin and Bernadette Peters. However, the film was a box office bomb, grossing $9 million against a budget of $22 million. Yikes!
Walken would then take the lead role in one of the most iconic movies of his career in 1983, The Dead Zone, an adaptation of a Stephen King thriller novel. He shared the screen with Brooke Adams and Tom Skerritt, whose legendary acting caused the film to gross $20.8 million worldwide. Walken then struck a box office goldmine when he played the villain, Max Zorin, across from the James Bond actor, Roger Moore, in A View to a Kill (1985). This was Roger Moore's last appearance of his tenure in the James Bond movie series, and the film grossed $152.4 million, making it Walken's most lucrative film at the time. He concluded the '80s with the crime drama, At Close Range (1986), starring Sean Penn, Chris Penn, and Mary Stuart Masterson.
Making Iconic Films A Walken The Park
After more than two decades of professional acting, Walken has distinguished himself as one of Hollywood's elite actors. Known for his passionate character roles, both good and bad, he embraced the role of a drug lord, Frank White, in the 1990 neo-noir crime thriller, King of New York, starring David Carusso, Laurence Fishburne, and Wesley Snipes. A few of his most lionized moments in film at that time were as Max Shreck in Batman Returns (1992) which grossed $266.89 million; Wayne's World 2 (1993) which earned $72 million; a supporting role in Pulp Fiction (1994), grossing $213.9 million; The Prophecy (1995) earning $16.1 million; Nick of Time (1995) with Johnny Depp, earning $8 million; the Italian historical drama, Celluloide (1996) which grossed a whopping $239.6 billion worldwide, and a slew of other hit movies. Walden also tried his hand at black comedies and animations, such as Mouse Hunt (1997) which turned in $122.4 million, and Antz (1998), raking in $171.8 million.
The diversity of Walken's acting ability really began to peak in the 2000s and beyond in movies such as Joe Dirt (2001), an adventure comedy starring David Spade and Brittany Daniel which peaked at $31 million, and America's Sweethearts (2001) featuring John Cusack, Julia Roberts, and Billy Crystal, which grossed $138.3 million. Catch Me If You Can (2002), starring Leonardo DiCaprio, is also a classic that grossed an amazing $352 million. His other memorable films include The Rundown (2003), Gigli (2003), Kangaroo Jack (2003), Denzel Washington's Man On Fire (2004), the unapologetically hilarious Wedding Crashers (2005) starring Owen Wilson and Vince Vaughn (2005); Click (2006) alongside Adam Sandler; Balls of Fury (2007), and a dark comedy-crime film titled Stand Up Guys (2012) alongside Al Pacino.
There is no denying the fact that Chris Walken pursued, took hold of, and completely engulfed himself in his career as an actor. His film portfolio is truly impressive, with over 100 movies he has had lead or supporting roles in, which afforded him the $50 million net worth he has to his name. Apart from his seemingly never-ending list of movies, the Five Dollars A Day actor is also known as "one of the kings of cameo," as he has made appearances in Madonna's music video for Bad Girl, Skid Row's Breakin' Down video, and Fatboy Slim's Weapon of Choice MTV video.
Sources: rogerebert.com, tvtropes.org, The Soap Opera Wiki, denofgeek.com
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