Christopher Walken Biography

Christopher Walken started out his career occasionally replacing his brother Glenn as Mike Bauer on the daytime soap opera, "The Guiding Light." While in his mid-teens, Walken made his Broadway debut in Archibald MacLeish's Pulitzer Prize-winning play, "J.B.," a contemporary take on the Book of Job set in a modern circus. By the middle of the decade, Walken performed in several musicals, including as a member of the chorus in "Baker Street" (1965). While few chorus players managed to segue into dramatic roles, Walken was an exception when he landed the role of King Philips in the historical drama, "The Lion in Winter," a role from which he was almost fired for being too nervous to perform.

After winning a Drama Desk Award for his performance in "Lemon Sky," Walken had a more significant onscreen part as a young electronics expert opposite Sean Connery in the Sidney Lumet-helmed crime thriller, "The Anderson Tapes." The following year, Walken had his first lead role in "The Happiness Cage," a mad scientist thriller in which he played an obnoxious young man who is used in an experiment that involves removing pain through a brain operation. Returning to the New York Shakespeare Festival, he tackled the lead role in "Macbeth" while starring the following year in stagings of "Kid Champion" and "Sweet Bird of Youth."

Walken made his first memorable impression upon the movie-going public with his portrayal of Diane Keaton's comically suicidal brother in "Annie Hall." Walken then was cast as a young man ravaged by his experiences in the Vietnam War in "The Deer Hunter." Walken's brilliant portrayal of a disintegrated man earned him an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor. After a leading role opposite Tom Berenger in "The Dogs of War," Walken was perfectly cast as a man cursed with the ability to see the future in "The Dead Zone," based on the Stephen King novel. Also that year, he co-starred in "Brainstorm," the last film made by famed actress Natalie Wood.

Walken was then cast in 1986's "A Streetcar Named Desire," playing the role to comic effect to avoid comparisons to Marlon Brando's Oscar-nominated performance in the 1951 film version. Walken was then in the film adaptation of Neil Simon's play, "Biloxi Blues." Afterward, Walken began a long-running collaboration with director Abel Ferrara, playing the first of several crime lords in "The King of New York."

In 1992 Walken appeared in "Batman Returns" as the powerful and corrupt businessman Max Shreck, who joins forces with the grotesque Penguin to take on Gotham City's Caped Crusader.

By the mid-1990s, Walken was seemingly in every film that needed a dark, calculating bad guy. After playing an enforce for an Irish mobster in "Last Man Standing," he was the creepy right-hand man of a millionaire who refuses to pay the ransom for his spoiled daughter in "Excess Baggage." By the end of the 1990s, Walken was well-established as a go-to supporting and leading actor whose off-beat, deadpan delivery was invaluable in both dramatic and comedic roles. Often cited as being one of the most popular actors to play villains, he was also one of the most widely impersonated performers, with many actors - Kevin Spacey, Johnny Depp, Jay Mohr - giving spot-on interpretations of the Walken persona.

Meanwhile, he gave voice to the brutal insect Cutter in the CGI-animated "Antz" and for a third time played the turn-of-the-century widower in "Sarah: Plain and Tall: Winter's End." Taking campy villains to a new level, Walken played the vicious Headless Horseman in Tim Burton's uneven "Sleepy Hollow." After a four-year absence, Walken returned to his stage roots to star opposite Blair Brown in a musical adaptation of James Joyce's short story "The Dead," before returning to the big screen for "The Opportunists." Though known for playing downright evil villains, Walken was also viciously funny, which led to producer Lorne Michaels inviting him to host "Saturday Night Live" on numerous occasions. Always a welcomed guest, Michaels gave the actor an open invitation to host whenever the urge surfaced.

In 2001, Walken was part of "Joe Dirt," "America's Sweethearts," "The Affair of the Necklace" and "Weapon of Choice." But just when it seemed that he had given up serious acting to specialize in self-parody, Walken turned in a moving and poignant performance in director Steven Spielberg's "Catch Me If You Can." Walken subsequently received an Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actor for his work in the film.

Walken next played the formidable Mike Wellington, the mayor of Stepford, whose secret, singular vision surrounding subservient spouses in "The Stepford Wives." He was better utilized in the Owen Wilson-Vince Vaughn comedy "Wedding Crashers," playing the powerful politico father of leading lady Rachel McAdams. Refreshingly, Walken was allowed to play that role straight, without overdoing the quirks that had previously defined him. Walken next appeared in director Tony Scott's hyperkinetic pseudo-biopic "Domino." He then co-starred in the Adam Sandler comedy vehicle "Click."

Walken co-starred in "Man of the Year, playing the ailing talent manager of a popular talk show host whose surprise run for the presidency shocks the nation when he actually wins. His next feature, "Hairspray," was an adaptation of the 2003 musical which was itself adapted from John Waters' 1988 film. In the comedy "Balls of Fury," he was the criminal host of an annual ping-pong tournament where the losers are executed. Showing no signs of slowing down, the hard-working actor next filmed "Citizen Brando," a half documentary, half fictional take on a young man's fascination with Marlon Brandon and the American Dream.

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