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Ronald Walken was born on March 31, 1943 in Astoria, New York to a Scottish Immigrant from Glasgow and a German immigrant from Gelsenkirchen. 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 him 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 in a circus. He attended Hofstra University but dropped out after one year, having gotten 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.
“I posed naked snuggling with two cats for a series of calendar pictures, which were a big success. I haven’t seen those pictures in a long, long time, but I remember doing it, and I’ve always wondered what kind of cats those were.”
-CHRISTOPHER WALKEN
“My brother was on three shows at the same time, he used to run from place to place. There was a radio version of one of the TV things he did and when he couldn’t make it I would go, because I had the same voice he did.”
-CHRISTOPHER WALKEN
In 1964, at the offhand suggestion of nightclub singer Monique Van Vooren, he changed his name from Ronald to Christopher.
“She would introduce us at the end of the show and one night she said to me, 'You know, I don't really like 'Ronnie.' I think you are more 'Christopher.' Do you mind if I call you Christopher?" I said, "Call me anything you like, just don't call me late for lunch.”
-CHRISTOPHER WALKEN
“I don't much like being directed. I enjoy being allowed to play.”
-CHRISTOPHER WALKEN
“There's something dangerous about what's funny. Jarring and disconcerting. There is a connection between funny and scary.”
-CHRISTOPHER WALKEN
Described as "diverse and eccentric" and "one of the most respected actors of his generation", Walken has long established a cult following among film fans. He's known for his versatility and named as one of Empire magazine's "Top 100 Movie Stars of All Time". Once dubbed as a "cultural phenomenon", he has portrayed several iconic movie 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 movie 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 notable cameo appearances or appeared in a single but popular 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 popular "Sicilian scene" as one of the proudest moments in his career.
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