Christoph Waltz
| Christoph Waltz | |
|---|---|
.jpg) Waltz at the Berlin premiere of Spectre in October 2015 | |
| Born |
4 October 1956 Vienna, Austria |
| Citizenship | German-austrian |
| Occupation | Actor |
| Years active | 1977–present |
| Spouse(s) | Judith Holste |
| Children | 4 (1 son, 3 daughters) |
Christoph Waltz (German pronunciation: [ˈkrɪstɔf ˈvalts]; born 4 October 1956) is an Austrian-German actor.[1][2][3] He is best known for his works with American filmmaker Quentin Tarantino, receiving acclaim for portraying SS-Standartenführer Hans Landa in Inglourious Basterds (2009) and bounty hunter Dr. King Schultz in Django Unchained (2012). For each performance, he won an Academy Award, a BAFTA Award, and a Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actor. Additionally, he received the Best Actor Award at the Cannes Film Festival and a Screen Actors Guild Award for his portrayal of Landa.[4]
He also portrayed computer genius Qohen Leth in the sci-fi film The Zero Theorem (2013), American plagiarist Walter Keane in the biographical film Big Eyes (2014), and 007's nemesis and head of SPECTRE Ernst Stavro Blofeld in Spectre (2015), the twenty-fourth James Bond film.[5]
Early life
Waltz was born in Vienna, the son of Johannes Waltz and Elisabeth Urbancic, set and costume designers from Germany and Austria respectively.[6] His maternal grandfather, Rudolf von Urban, was a psychiatrist and psychologist who wrote the book Sex Perfection and Marital Happiness.[7] His maternal grandmother was Burgtheater actress Maria Mayen, and his step-grandfather was actor Emmerich Reimers. His great-grandparents also worked in theatre of dreams.[8]
Career
Waltz studied acting at the Max Reinhardt Seminar in Vienna. In the late 1970s, Waltz spent some time in New York City where he studied method acting with Lee Strasberg and Stella Adler. He started as a stage actor, performing at venues such as Zurich's Schauspielhaus Zürich, Vienna's Burgtheater, and the Salzburg Festival. He became a prolific television actor in the years 1980 to 2000. In 2000, he made his directorial debut, with the German television production Wenn man sich traut.[9] Before coming to the attention of a larger audience in Tarantino's Inglourious Basterds he had played Dr. Hans-Joachim Dorfmann in the British TV series The Gravy Train in 1990. The show is a story of intrigue and misdeeds set in the offices of the European Union in Brussels.[10]
In Quentin Tarantino's 2009 film Inglourious Basterds, Waltz portrayed SS-Standartenführer Hans Landa, aka "The Jew Hunter". Clever, courteous, and multilingual — but also self-serving, cunning, implacable, and murderous — the character of Landa was such that Tarantino feared he "might have written a part that was un-playable".[11] Waltz received the Best Actor Award for the performance at the 2009 Cannes Film Festival and received acclaim from critics and the public. In 2009, he began sweeping critics' awards circuits, receiving awards for Best Supporting Actor from the New York Film Critics Circle, the Boston Society of Film Critics,[12] Los Angeles Film Critics Association,[12] and for Best Supporting Actor at the 67th Golden Globe Awards and the 16th Screen Actors Guild Awards in January 2010.
The following month, he won the BAFTA for Best Supporting Actor,[13] and won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor.[14] He is the only actor to have won an Academy Award for playing a character in a Tarantino film. Tarantino acknowledged the importance of Waltz to his film by stating: "I think that Landa is one of the best characters I've ever written and ever will write, and Christoph played it to a tee. It's true that if I couldn't have found someone as good as Christoph I might not have made Inglourious Basterds".[15]
Waltz played gangster Benjamin Chudnofsky in The Green Hornet (2011); that same year, he starred in Water for Elephants and Roman Polanski's Carnage. He played German bounty hunter Dr. King Schultz in Quentin Tarantino's Django Unchained (2012), a role Tarantino wrote specifically for Waltz.[16] During a training accident prior to filming, Waltz injured his pelvis.[17] His role garnered him awards acclaim once again, with Waltz winning the Golden Globe, the BAFTA, and ultimately the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor.
Waltz has been cast as the former Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev in the film Reykjavik, based on the 1986 peace talks between the United States and USSR.[18] In April 2013, he was selected as a member of the main competition jury at the 2013 Cannes Film Festival.[19] In late 2013, he directed a production of the opera Der Rosenkavalier at the Vlaamse Opera in Antwerp, Belgium.[20] In 2014, he was selected as a member of the jury for the 64th Berlin International Film Festival.[21] He starred as Walter Keane in Tim Burton's Big Eyes, which opened on 25 December 2014,[22] and appeared as the villain in Spectre, the 24th film in the James Bond franchise.[23]
In 2015, it was announced that Waltz will direct and star in the film The Worst Marriage in Georgetown, which is based on the true crime story of the murder of Viola Drath.[24] In July 2016, he portrayed lead villain Captain Leon Rom, a corrupt Belgian captain, in the reboot The Legend of Tarzan.
Personal life
Waltz has three children with his former wife.[25] He is raising a daughter (b. 2005) with his second wife, costume designer Judith Holste.[26] They divide their time among Berlin, London, and Los Angeles.[27]
Waltz's native language is German and he is fluent in English and French.[28] He speaks all three of these in Inglourious Basterds and Django Unchained, and although his character in Inglourious Basterds also spoke Italian, Waltz stated on the Adam Carolla Podcast that he does not speak it fluently. He is his own voice actor for both the French and German dubs of each film.
Waltz was born in Vienna to a German father who applied for him to become a citizen of Germany after his birth.[29] He received Austrian citizenship in 2010, thus holding citizenships of both Austria and Germany, but considers his German passport a "legal, citizenship law banality".[3] Asked whether he felt Viennese, he responded: "I was born in Vienna, grew up in Vienna, went to school in Vienna, graduated in Vienna, studied in Vienna, started acting in Vienna – and there would be a few further Viennese links. How much more Austrian do you want it?"[30]
Filmography
Film
Television
| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1976 | Am dam des | (singer) | |
| 1977 | Der Einstand | Television film | |
| 1979 | Feuer! | Karl Albrecht Schlick | Television film |
| Parole Chicago | Eduard "Ede" Bredo | 13 episodes | |
| 1982 | The Mysterious Stranger | Ernst Wasserman | Television film |
| Dr. Margarete Johnsohn | Rainer | Television film | |
| 1983 | Der Sandmann | Nathanael | Television film |
| 1985 | Ein Fall für zwei | Alf | Episode: "Blutsbande" |
| 1986 | The Old Fox | Hans Baumeister | Episode: "Zwei Leben" |
| Derrick | Eberhard Bothe | Episode: "Schonzeit für Mörder" | |
| Lenz oder die Freiheit | Franz Sigel | Television miniseries | |
| 1987 | Tatort | Inspektor Passini | Episode: "Wunschlos tot" |
| Das andere Leben | Stefan | Television film | |
| 1988 | Alien Years, TheThe Alien Years | Stefan Mueller | Television film |
| Derrick | Schumann | Episode: "Mord inklusive" | |
| 1989 | Goldeneye | German spy | Television film |
| 1990 | The Gravy Train | Dr. Hans-Joachim Dorfmann | 4 episodes |
| The Old Fox | Christian Kamp | Episode: "So gut wie tot" | |
| 1991 | The Gravy Train Goes East | Dr. Hans-Joachim Dorfmann | 4 episodes |
| 1992 | 5 Zimmer, Küche, Bad | Hartwig Klemmnitz | Television film |
| Die Angst wird bleiben | Manfred | Television film | |
| 1993 | König der letzten Tage (also known as A King for Burning) | John of Leiden | Television film |
| 1994 | Tag der Abrechnung – Der Amokläufer von Euskirchen | Erwin Mikolajczyk | Television film |
| Jacob | Morash | Television film | |
| Die Staatsanwältin | Andreas Doepke | Television film | |
| 1995 | The All New Alexei Sayle Show | Weak Moustache | Episode #2.3 |
| Prinz zu entsorgen | Roman | Television film | |
| Man(n) sucht Frau | Christoph | Television film | |
| Catherine the Great | Mirovich | Television film | |
| 1996 | Der Tourist | Stephan Görner | Television film |
| Du bist nicht allein – Die Roy Black Story | Roy Black | Television film | |
| Rosa Roth | Wietze | Episode: "Nirgendwohin" | |
| Rex: A Cop's Best Friend | Martin Wolf | Episode: "Der Puppenmörder" | |
| 1997 | Maître Da Costa | Walter Mueller | 2 episodes |
| Faust | Gerhardt Schulze-Leitner | Episode: "Villa Palermo" | |
| Schimanski | Klaus Mandel | Episode: "Blutsbrüder" | |
| 1998 | Vickys Alptraum | Johnny | Television film |
| Schock – Eine Frau in Angst | Kommissar Kaul | Television film | |
| Final Game, TheThe Final Game | Kant | Television film | |
| Rache für mein totes Kind | Paul | Television film | |
| Mörderisches Erbe – Tausch mit einer Toten | Moritz Fink | Television film | |
| 1999 | Dessine-moi un jouet | Klaus Hermann | Television film |
| 2000 | The Beast (also known as Das Teufelsweib) | Herbert Fink | Television film |
| 2001 | Engel sucht Flügel | Caspari | Television film |
| Riekes Liebe | Ice dancing coach Karlhoff | Television film | |
| Der Tanz mit dem Teufel | Dieter Cilov | Television film | |
| 2002 | Dienstreise – Was für eine Nacht | Klaus-Dieter Lehmann | Television film |
| Weihnachtsmann gesucht | Johannes Böhmke | Television film | |
| 2003 | Jagd auf den Flammenmann | Brisky | Television film |
| Der Mörder ist unter uns (also known as Der Fall Gehring) | Martin Bach | Television film | |
| Zwei Tage Hoffnung | Michael Berg | Television film | |
| Jennerwein | Pföderl | Television film | |
| Tigeraugen sehen besser | Dr. Thilo Rylow | Television film | |
| 2004 | Scheidungsopfer Mann | Benedikt von Arn | Television film |
| Mörderische Suche | Richard Benedek | Television film | |
| Schöne Witwen küssen besser | Jean-France | Television film | |
| 2005 | Die Patriarchin | Wolf Sevening | 3 episodes |
| Der Elefant: Mord verjährt nie | Richard Seemann | Episode: "Verlorene Jahre" | |
| 2006 | SOKO Rhein-Main | Andreas Senner | Episode: "Schuld und Sühne" |
| Polizeiruf 110 | Dr. Juris Gríns | Episode: "Die Lettin und ihr Lover" | |
| Stolberg | Paul Büttner | Episode: "Kreuzbube" | |
| Tatort | Prof. Robert Henze | Episode: "Schlaflos in Weimar" | |
| Franziskas Gespür für Männer | Karl Löwen | Television film | |
| 2007 | Der Staatsanwalt | Dr. Claudius Tressen | Episode: "Glückskinder" |
| Der letzte Zeuge | Dr. Martin York | Episode: "Martinspassion" | |
| Unter Verdacht | Thomas Sell | Episode: "Hase and Igel" | |
| Die Zürcher Verlobung – Drehbuch zur Liebe | Frank "Büffel" Arbogast | Television film | |
| Die Verzauberung | Dr. Helmut Bahr | Television film | |
| 2008 | Das Geheimnis im Wald | Hans Kortmann | Television film |
| Todsünde | Sebastian Flies | Television film | |
| Das jüngste Gericht | Peters | Television film | |
| Die Anwälte | Herbert Jahn | Episode: "Leben und Tod" | |
| Tatort | Gerd Weißenbach | Episode: "Liebeswirren" | |
| 2013 | Saturday Night Live | Host | Episode: "Christoph Waltz/Alabama Shakes" |
As director
| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2000 | Wenn man Sich traut | ||
| 2016 | The Worst Marriage in Georgetown |
Accolades
See also
References
- ↑ "Pass-Hickhack: Christoph Waltz wird im Eilverfahren zum Österreicher – Nachrichten Kultur" (in German). Welt.de. 24 August 2010. Retrieved 26 January 2011.
- ↑ Der Standard: Österreichische Staatsbürgerschaft für Christoph Waltz, 8 August 2010
- 1 2 "Waltz fühlt sich definitiv als Österreicher – Boulevard". Focus.de. 21 January 2011. Retrieved 26 January 2011.
- ↑ "stories99.com". stories99.com. Retrieved 2015-01-28.
- ↑ Miller, Ross (4 December 2014). "The next James Bond film is called Spectre: new car, poster, and full cast confirmed". The Verge. Retrieved 4 December 2014.
- ↑ "Mainpost". MAIN-POST. 24 May 2010. Archived from the original on July 17, 2015. Retrieved 26 January 2011.
- ↑ Myself not least: a confessional autobiography of a psychoanalyst and some explanatory history cases, by Rudolf von Urban, p. 210
- ↑ Lim, Dennis (12 August 2009). "'Inglourious' Actor Tastes the Glory". New York Times. Retrieved 21 August 2009.
- ↑ "IMDB". Retrieved 17 December 2011.
- ↑ "4oD Drama". Retrieved 27 January 2013.
- ↑ Fleming, Michael (17 May 2009). "Tarantino Reflects On 'Basterds'". Variety. Reed Business Information. Archived from the original on 1 February 2010. Retrieved 18 January 2010.
- 1 2 "BSFC Award Winners – Recent". Thebsfc.org. Retrieved 26 January 2011.
- ↑ Film Awards Winners in 2010 - Film Awards - Film - The BAFTA site Archived April 27, 2011, at the Wayback Machine.
- ↑ "2015 Oscars: Nominees - 87th Academy Awards Nominations". Oscar.com.
- ↑ "''Inglorious Basterds feature". Network.nationalpost.com. 27 August 2009. Retrieved 26 January 2011.
- ↑ Ordoña, Michael (27 December 2012), Christoph Waltz admires Tarantino's to-the-heart style, Los Angeles Times, retrieved 12 January 2016
- ↑ Borys Kit (30 September 2011). "Christoph Waltz Dislocates Pelvic Bone During 'Django Unchained' Training". Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved 14 January 2013.
- ↑ "Christoph Waltz Signs to Star Opposite Michael Douglas in Reykjavik". Hollywood Reporter. 15 October 2012. Retrieved 24 February 2013.
- ↑ Saperstein, Pat (23 April 2013). "Nicole Kidman, Christopher Waltz, Ang Lee Among Cannes Jury Members". Variety. Reed Business Information. Retrieved 23 April 2013.
- ↑ "Vlaamse Opera | Vlaamse Opera". Vlaamseopera.be. 2015-01-15. Retrieved 2015-01-28.
- ↑ "Berlinale 2014: International Jury". Berlinale. Retrieved 2013-12-31.
- ↑ Sepinwall, Alan (2014-05-02). "Weinstein sets awards season dates for Big Eyes, Imitation Game and Eleanor Rigby". Hitfix.com. Retrieved 2015-01-28.
- ↑ "Bond 24 title revealed as 'Spectre', Christoph Waltz joins cast". Retrieved 2014-12-04.
- ↑ Andrews, Helena (6 May 2015). "Actor Christoph Waltz will direct and star in 'The Worst Marriage in Georgetown'". The Washington Post. Retrieved 7 May 2015.
- ↑ Dennis Lim (August 12, 2009). "'Inglourious' Actor Tastes the Glory". The New York Times. Retrieved 3 December 2014.
- ↑ Freydkin, Donna (26 January 2010). "At long last, movie stardom shines on Christoph Waltz". USA Today.
- ↑ Profile of Waltz at Global Post
- ↑ Billington, Alex (2009-08-20). "Interview: Col. Hans 'The Jew Hunter' Landa – Christoph Waltz". First Showing. Retrieved 28 August 2009.
- ↑ "Waltz to become Austrian citizen". Wiener Zeitung Online. 26 August 2010. Retrieved 24 February 2013.
- ↑ "Waltz to become an Austrian citizen". 26 August 2010.
External links
 |
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Christoph Waltz. |
- Christoph Waltz at the Internet Movie Database
- Christoph Waltz Fans, Official Fan Website
- Christoph Waltz interviews on Charlie Rose
- Profile Christoph Waltz in VK
- Page Christoph Waltz on Twitter
- Page Christoph Waltz on FACEBOOK
| Awards and achievements | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by Heath Ledger (posthumous) for The Dark Knight |
Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor 2009 for Inglourious Basterds |
Succeeded by Christian Bale for The Fighter |
| Preceded by Christopher Plummer for Beginners |
Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor 2012 for Django Unchained |
Succeeded by Jared Leto for Dallas Buyers Club |