Christopher Walken
Does this man look like a Ronald to you? Because that's his real name: Ronald Walken. He changed to Christopher in his early twenties because he realized that sounded better.
Christopher Walken is a man of contradictions. He is known for playing psychotics, in unsettling movies such as The Deer Hunter (his Oscar-winning role), True Romance, Pulp Fiction, The Prophecy, Sleepy Hollow.... More recently, he was mobster Shondor Birns in Kill the Irishman. The way he wears his hair, that pallor, which he maintains by staying in, those eyes. People with eyes like that shouldn't play psychotics - they should be psychotic.
Yet the real Christopher Walken is a genial man with a healthy sense of humor, who enjoys cooking - his 'TNT Shrimp Appetizer' is a speciality - is fastidiously tidy ('I can't stand mess'), hates being a passenger in cars traveling at speed, who enjoys watching his cats, and can't drink soda because it makes him too wired. And something very unusal for the industry, he has had a happy marriage to casting director Georgianne Thon for more than 40 years.
Christopher Walken Photo Galleries
 1 - Walken Gallery |
 2 - Movie Stills |
 3 - Behind Scenes |
 4 - Awards Shows |
 5 - The Dancer |
 6 - Early Years |
Another great thing about Christopher Walken is he has one of those memorable heads, along with his heart of gold. Just as television comedians can be unfunny in real life, so screen madmen need not be genuinely insane.
Christopher Walken was born in 1943, and all but the first three years of his life have been spent in showbiz. He was encouraged into showbiz by his mother and attended the Professional Children's School. His forte was dancing. Young Ronald would twirl in the background of television shows starring the likes of Dean Martin, Jerry Lewis, Jackie Gleason and Milton Berle.
Walken moved on to acting in films later when he was in his late twenties. He has come a long way since then, with roles in over 100 movies. Now he says, "I'd love to play a guy who had a wife and children and a dog, and he didn't shoot people."
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