Age, Biography, and Wiki
- Full Name: Christopher Walken
- Date of Birth: March 31, 1943
- Age (2025): 82 years old
- Place of Birth: Astoria, Queens, New York, United States
- Parents: Rosalie (Russell, Scottish emigrant from Glasgow), Paul Wälken (German emigrant from Horst)
- Early Life: Walken was raised in a family of bakers and developed an early interest in the arts. He honed his acting and dance skills at Hofstra University and the American National Theater Academy (ANTA), which laid the foundation for his versatile career.
- Wikipedia: Christopher Walken – Wikipedia
| Occupation | Soap Opera Actor |
|---|---|
| Date of Birth | 31 March 1943 |
| Age | 82 Years |
| Birth Place | New York City, U.S. |
| Horoscope | Aries |
| Country | U.S |
Height, Weight & Measurements
- Height: Approximately 6 feet (183 cm)
- Weight: Estimated at 170 lbs (77 kg)
- Measurements: Not publicly available
Note: Exact weight and measurements are not officially documented as of 2025.
Until 2003, Walken had a recurring SNL sketch called "The Continental", in which Walken played a "suave ladies' man" who in reality cannot do anything to keep a woman (a neighbor in his apartment building) from giving him the cold shoulder. Though he is outwardly chivalrous, his more perverted tendencies inevitably drive away his date over his pleading objections. For instance, he invites the woman to wash up in his bathroom; once she is inside, it becomes obvious that the bathroom mirror is a two-way mirror when he is seen lighting up a cigarette. In "The Continental", only the hand of his neighbor is ever seen; the camera always shows her point of view.
| Height | 183 cm |
| Weight | 170 lbs |
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Dating & Relationship Status
- Marital Status: Married
- Spouse: Georgianne Thon (married since 1969)
- Children: No children reported
Throughout his long career, Walken has maintained a notably low-key personal life, keeping his marriage and private relationships out of the spotlight.
Walken has appeared in supporting roles in films such as The Anderson Tapes (1971), Next Stop, Greenwich Village (1976), Roseland (1977) and Annie Hall (1977), before coming to wider attention as the troubled Vietnam War veteran Nick Chevotarevich in The Deer Hunter (1978). His performance earned him an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor. He was nominated for the same award for portraying con artist Frank Abagnale's father in Steven Spielberg's Catch Me If You Can (2002).
His parents were Rosalie Russell, a Scottish immigrant from Glasgow, and Paul Wälken, a German immigrant from Gelsenkirchen who owned and operated Walken's Bakery in Astoria. Walken was named after actor Ronald Colman. He was raised Methodist. He and his brothers, Kenneth and Glenn, were child actors on television in the 1950s, influenced by their mother's dreams of stardom.
When he was 15, a girlfriend showed Walken a magazine photo of Elvis Presley and Walken later said, "This guy looked like a Greek god. Then I saw him on television. I loved everything about him." He changed his hairstyle to imitate Presley and has not changed it since. As a teenager, he worked as a lion tamer trainee for a short time in a circus.
Walken's first film of the 1980s was the controversial Heaven's Gate, also directed by Cimino. Walken also starred in the 1981 action adventure The Dogs of War, directed by John Irvin. He surprised many critics and filmgoers with his intricate tap-dancing striptease in Herbert Ross's musical Pennies from Heaven (1981). In 1982, he played a socially awkward but gifted theater actor in the film adaptation of Kurt Vonnegut's short story Who Am I This Time? opposite Susan Sarandon. Walken then played schoolteacher-turned-psychic Johnny Smith in David Cronenberg's 1983 adaptation of Stephen King's The Dead Zone. That same year, Walken also starred in Brainstorm alongside Natalie Wood and (in a minor role) his wife, Georgianne.
The Comfort of Strangers, an art house film directed by Paul Schrader, features Walken as Robert, a decadent Italian aristocrat with extreme sexual tastes and murderous tendencies who lives with his wife (Helen Mirren) in Venice.
In 2002 Walken played Mike in the film Poolhall Junkies and played Frank Abagnale Sr. in Catch Me If You Can, which is inspired by the story of Frank Abagnale Jr., a con artist who passed himself off as several identities and forged millions of dollars' worth of checks. His portrayal earned him a second Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actor. Walken also had a part in the 2003 action comedy film The Rundown, starring Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson and Seann William Scott, in which he plays a ruthless despot. He was nominated for a Razzie (Worst Supporting Actor) in 2002's The Country Bears and in two 2003 films, Gigli and Kangaroo Jack. Walken also starred in Barry Levinson's Envy, in which he plays J-Man, a crazy guy who helps Ben Stiller's character and in his starring role in 2004's Around the Bend he again has a dancing scene as he portrays an absentee father who has fled prison to reunite with his father, his son and the grandson he never knew before dying. Walken played the role of Paul Rayburn in 2004's Man on Fire, where, when speaking about the imminent destructive actions of John Creasy (Denzel Washington), his character states: "A man can be an artist... in anything, food, whatever. It depends on how good he is at it. Creasy's art is death. He's about to paint his masterpiece." Also in 2004, Walken played Mike in the film The Stepford Wives.
Walken costarred with Al Pacino and Alan Arkin in the film Stand Up Guys, a story about aging gangsters out on the town for one last hoorah. He also appeared in The Power of Few. In 2012, Walken was selected as a "GQ" Man of the Year. In 2013, Walken became the protagonist in the campaign "Made From Cool" by Jack & Jones. In 2014, he appeared in Turks & Caicos. Walken appears as Gyp DeCarlo in the 2014 film Jersey Boys. In 2014, Walken played Captain Hook in the NBC production Peter Pan Live! In 2015, Walken starred in the film When I Live My Life Over Again and played the role of Clem for the second time in the David Spade comedy Joe Dirt 2: Beautiful Loser. In 2016, he voiced King Louie in the CGI-live action adaptation of Disney's The Jungle Book, directed by Jon Favreau. He also recorded a cover of Louie's song "I Wan'na Be Like You", which he sings in the film as well as on the soundtrack. Also that year, he appeared in Dexter Fletcher's Eddie the Eagle and Barry Sonnenfeld's Nine Lives. In 2017, Walken replaced Bill Irwin in the role of Walter Tinkler in the critically panned Father Figures. The following year, he played Myron in the Netflix film Irreplaceable You.
Walken appeared in one of Will Ferrell and Rachel Dratch's "The Luvahs" skits. His character brought a lady friend to meet The Luvahs and she is subjected to learning the history that Walken's character shares with The Luvahs. He also divulges private information about his sex life with his girlfriend, much to her horror ("She was willing to accept her lover's body in places no one had ever trespassed... specifically, the ear canal").
| Parents | |
| Husband | Georgianne Thon (m. 1969) |
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Net Worth and Salary
- Net Worth (2025): $50 million
- Salary Highlights:
- The Deer Hunter (1978): $25,000
- Recent Projects: While specific current movie salaries are undisclosed, Walken’s established status has likely secured him significant paychecks for high-profile roles.
- Film Gross: Walken’s films have earned over $1.8 billion in the United States alone and over $5.1 billion worldwide.
- Residuals & Royalties: Ongoing income from residuals, royalties, and syndication from his extensive film and television catalog contributes to his wealth.
Business and Investments
- Real Estate: Walken is known to own property in Connecticut and has made other private investments, though details are not widely publicized.
- Producing & Directing: Limited involvement in producing and directing, with primary focus on acting.
- Endorsements: No major public endorsements; Walken’s income is primarily from film and television work.
Over the next two years, he appeared frequently on television, and had a thriving career in theater. From 1954 to 1956, Walken and his brother Glenn originated the role of Michael Bauer on the soap opera The Guiding Light. In 1963, he appeared as a character named Chris in an episode of Naked City, starring Paul Burke.
Later in 1994, Walken starred in A Business Affair, a rare leading role for him in a romantic comedy. Walken manages to once again feature his trademark dancing scene as he performs the tango. In 1995, he appeared in Things to Do in Denver When You're Dead, Wild Side, The Prophecy and the modern vampire flick The Addiction, which was his second collaboration with director Abel Ferrara and writer Nicholas St. John. He also appeared in Nick of Time, which starred Johnny Depp, and an arthouse film by David Salle titled Search and Destroy. Also in 1995, Walken acted in Him, the first play written by Walken, and about his idol Elvis in the afterlife, featured in the New York Shakespeare Festival. The New York Times gave a somewhat positive review of his "most cheering and refreshingly absurd invention" of retelling Elvis' death as a disappearing act that enabled Elvis to flee to Morocco for a sex change to become "her" in a "woozily conceived, fantastical new play...in the sharpness and wit of writing and in the performances by Mr. Walken and Mr. Heyman." Walken made an appearance in the music video for Skid Row's "Breakin' Down".
Walken had a music video performance in 2001 with Fatboy Slim's "Weapon of Choice". Directed by Spike Jonze, it won six MTV awards in 2001 and—in a list of the top 100 videos of all time compiled from a survey of musicians, directors and music industry figures conducted by UK music TV channel VH1—won Best Video of All Time in April 2002. In the video, Walken dances and flies around the lobby of the Marriott Hotel in Los Angeles; Walken also helped choreograph the dance. Also in 2001, Walken played a gangster who was in the witness protection program in the David Spade comedy Joe Dirt and an eccentric film director in America's Sweethearts. Also in 2001, Walken played Lieutenant Macduff in Scotland, PA, a loose film adaptation of Shakespeare's Macbeth.
Walken returned to Broadway in Martin McDonagh's play A Behanding in Spokane in 2010 and received a Tony Award nomination for Best Performance by a Leading Actor in a Play. He had a small voice role in NBC sitcom 30 Rock, in the "Audition Day" episode. In 2011, he played the role of Jewish-American loan shark Alex "Shondor" Birns in the film based on the life of gangster Danny Greene, Kill the Irishman. In 2012, Walken reunited with McDonagh for the British-American crime comedy film Seven Psychopaths and also played the founder and leader of a string quartet in A Late Quartet.
Described as "diverse and eccentric" and "one of the most respected actors of his generation", Walken has a long-established cult following among film fans. He is known for his versatility and was named as one of Empire magazine's "Top 100 Movie Stars of All Time". Once dubbed a "cultural phenomenon", he has portrayed several iconic film characters including Johnny Smith in The Dead Zone, Max Shreck in Batman Returns, and Max Zorin in A View to a Kill, and was also considered for the role of Han Solo in Star Wars films. His Oscar-winning performance in The Deer Hunter was ranked as the 88th greatest film performance of all time by Premiere magazine and his performance in Pennies from Heaven made it into Entertainment Weekly's list of the "100 Greatest Performances that should have won Oscars but didn't." Sometimes regarded as "one of the kings of cameos", Walken has made several cameo appearances or appeared in a single scene of films including as Captain Koons in Pulp Fiction, Duane in Annie Hall, Hessian Horseman in Sleepy Hollow and Don Vincenzo in True Romance. Writer and director Quentin Tarantino declared that Walken's involvement in True Romance's "Sicilian scene" was one of the proudest moments in his career.
Social Network
- Instagram: Not active publicly
- Twitter/X: Not active publicly
- Other Platforms: Walken prefers to maintain a low profile on social media, with no verified accounts as of 2025.
In 2005, he played Mark Heiss in the film Domino and the role of Secretary Cleary in the film Wedding Crashers. In 2006, he played Morty, a sympathetic inventor who is more than meets the eye, in the comedy/drama Click and also appeared in Man of the Year with Robin Williams and Lewis Black. He co-starred in the 2007 film adaptation Hairspray, wherein he is seen singing and dancing in a romantic duet with John Travolta and portrayed the eccentric but cruel crime lord and Ping-Pong enthusiast Feng in the 2007 comedy action film Balls of Fury opposite Dan Fogler. Walken was in the film Five Dollars a Day (2008), in which he plays a con man proud of living like a king on $5 a day. The Maiden Heist, a comedy co-starring Morgan Freeman, William H. Macy and Walken about security guards in an art museum, debuted at the Edinburgh International Film Festival in 2009.
Walken also starred in Universal Studios Florida's "Disaster!" theme park attraction, which opened in 2008 and closed in 2015. He portrayed Frank Kincaid, the fictional CEO of "Disaster Studios" who encouraged guests to be extras in his latest film. In the attraction's pre-show, Walken was projected on a clear screen, much like a life-size hologram and interacted with the live-action talent.
The April 5, 2008 Saturday Night Live show was the first time an episode hosted by Walken did not have a "Continental" sketch or a monologue in which he sang and danced. This episode, however, did include one sketch titled "Walken Family Reunion", which spoofs many of Walken's idiosyncrasies. The sketch depicts a fictional Walken family reunion, where all of Christopher's relatives have his mannerisms and speech patterns and sport his trademark pompadour hairstyle. In order of appearance, the other Walkens are Christopher's cousin Stanley (Bill Hader); Stanley's brother John (Jason Sudeikis); John's son Scott (Andy Samberg) and daughter Maxine (Amy Poehler) (who carries a doll that also has a pompadour); Nathan (Fred Armisen), a gay relative for whom "flamboyance" means dressing all in black and running his finger around the rim of a cosmo glass; Uncle Richard (Darrell Hammond) and Aunt Martha (Kristen Wiig), who think that The Deer Hunter was hilarious and who are hosts of a Nigerian foreign exchange student named Oleki (Kenan Thompson). When he came to live with them, Oleki—who has absorbed all of the Walken Family traits—could not speak any English. But now (he says) he "talks like a normal teenaged American boy". The biggest laugh of the sketch occurs when Christopher expresses his sympathies for Scott's teenaged attitude: "I appreciate your situation. For a Walken, adolescence is a difficult time. You feel like you're the only normal person in a school full of nutjobs." Scott's response: "Wow! It's like you're lookin' right into my noggin!" (Will Forte also appears as a waiter at the beginning of the sketch, but does not do a Walken impression.)
In 1963, Walken met Georgianne Thon during a tour of West Side Story. They married in January 1969. The couple have no children, and Walken has stated in interviews that not having children is one of the reasons that he has had such a prolific career.
Walken discussed his feelings on sexuality in a 1973 interview with After Dark while promoting his appearance as Bassanio in The Merchant of Venice. "I suppose I think of the man I'm playing as bisexual, and I suppose that's how I think of myself too. I'd hate to think that I was harnessed to heterosexuality. I mean, my life is heterosexual, but I like to think that my head is bisexual, and I think it's a good idea for everybody to start getting used to that notion, because that way one becomes aware of a lot more things."
Education
- Undergraduate: Hofstra University (theatre acting)
- Professional Training: American National Theater Academy (ANTA)
- Awards: Theatre World Award for his stage performance in The Rose Tattoo revival
Walken attended Hofstra University but dropped out after one year, having been cast in the role of Clayton Dutch Miller in an off-Broadway revival of Best Foot Forward alongside Liza Minnelli. Walken initially trained as a dancer at the Washington Dance Studio before moving on to dramatic stage roles and then film.
