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Christoph Waltz

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Christoph Waltz
Waltz in 2017
Born (1956-10-04) 4 October 1956 (age 68)
Vienna, Austria
Citizenship
  • Austria (from mother)
  • Germany (from father)
  • US (naturalized in 2020)
OccupationActor
Years active1977–present
WorksFull list
Spouses
Jacqueline Rauch
​
(divorced)​
  • Judith Holste
Children3
RelativesRudolf von Urban (grandfather)
AwardsFull list

Christoph Waltz (Austrian German: [ˈkrɪstɔf ˈvalts]; born 4 October 1956) is an Austrian and German actor. Primarily active in the United States,[1][2][3] he gained international recognition for his portrayal of villainous and supporting roles in English-language films. His accolades include two Academy Awards, two Golden Globe Awards, two BAFTA Awards, and two Screen Actors Guild Awards.

Waltz's American breakthrough role came in Quentin Tarantino's 2009 film Inglourious Basterds, in which he played Hans Landa, for which he received the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor and the Cannes Film Festival Best Actor Award. He collaborated with Tarantino again in Django Unchained (2012), for which he earned his second Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor, this time for his performance as a bounty hunter named Dr. King Schultz.

He has also starred in Carnage (2011), The Zero Theorem (2013), Big Eyes (2014), Downsizing (2017), Alita: Battle Angel (2019), and The French Dispatch (2021). He appeared as Ernst Stavro Blofeld in the James Bond films Spectre (2015) and No Time to Die (2021).

Early life

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Waltz was born on 4 October 1956 in Vienna,[4] the son of Johannes Waltz, a German set designer, and Elisabeth Urbancic, an Austrian costume designer of Austrian and Slovenian descent.[5][6][7] Waltz comes from a family of theatrical heritage: his maternal grandmother was Burgtheater and silent film actress Maria Mayen, and his step-grandfather, Emmerich Reimers, and his great-grandfather, Georg Reimers, were both stage actors who also appeared in silent films.[6][8] Waltz's maternal grandfather, Rudolf von Urban, was a psychiatrist of Slovene descent[5][a] and a student of Sigmund Freud.[11] Waltz's father died when he was seven years old[6] and his mother later married composer and conductor Alexander Steinbrecher.[12][13] Steinbrecher was previously married to the mother of director Michael Haneke; as a result, Waltz and Haneke shared the same stepfather.[14]

Waltz had a passion for opera as a youth, having seen his first opera (Turandot with Birgit Nilsson in the title role) at around the age of ten. As a teenager, Waltz would visit the opera twice a week.[13] He was uninterested in theatre[6] and wished to become an opera singer.[11] After graduating from Vienna's Theresianum,[6] Waltz went to study acting at the renowned Max Reinhardt Seminar.[15] At the same time, he also studied singing and opera at the University of Music and Performing Arts Vienna, but eventually decided that his voice was not good enough for an opera career.[8][16] In the late 1970s, Waltz spent some time in New York City where he trained with Lee Strasberg and Stella Adler. He studied script interpretation under Adler and credits his analytical approach to her teaching.[8]

Career

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See also: List of awards and nominations received by Christoph Waltz

On his return to Europe, Waltz found work as a stage actor, making his debut at the Schauspielhaus Zürich.[17] He also performed in Vienna, Salzburg, Cologne and Hamburg.[8][11] 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.[18] In 1990, he played Dr. Hans-Joachim Dorfmann in the British TV series The Gravy Train opposite Ian Richardson. The show is a story of intrigue and misdeeds set in the offices of the European Union in Brussels.[19] In 2007, Waltz narrated the audiobook of Robert Sapolsky's German version of A Primate's Memoir, Mein Leben als Pavian.[20]

In Quentin Tarantino's 2009 film Inglourious Basterds, Waltz portrayed SS-Standartenführer Hans Landa, also known as "The Jew Hunter". Clever, courteous, 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".[21] 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,[22] Los Angeles Film Critics Association,[22] as well as Best Supporting Actor awards at the Golden Globes and the Screen Actors Guild Awards.

The following month, he won the BAFTA for Best Supporting Actor,[23] and won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor.[24][25] 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".[26]

Waltz in 2010

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 King Schultz in Quentin Tarantino's Django Unchained (2012), a role Tarantino wrote specifically for Waltz.[27] During a training accident prior to filming, Waltz injured his pelvis, though it did not impact his role in the film.[28] His role garnered him acclaim once again, with Waltz winning the Golden Globe, the BAFTA, and ultimately the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor.

In April 2013, he was selected as a member of the main competition jury at the 2013 Cannes Film Festival.[29] He directed a production of the opera Der Rosenkavalier at the Vlaamse Opera in Antwerp in late 2013, and in Ghent in early 2014.[30] In 2014, he was selected as a member of the jury for the 64th Berlin International Film Festival.[31] He starred as Walter Keane in Tim Burton's Big Eyes, which opened on 25 December 2014,[32] and appeared as Ernst Stavro Blofeld in Spectre, the 24th film in the James Bond franchise.[33][34]

In July 2016, he portrayed lead villain Captain Leon Rom, a corrupt Belgian captain, in The Legend of Tarzan.

In 2017, Waltz appeared in the films Tulip Fever and Downsizing. In 2019, Waltz appeared in the action fantasy Alita: Battle Angel. He directed a production of the opera Falstaff, again at the Vlaamse Opera in Antwerp in late 2017, and in Ghent in early 2018.

In 2018, Waltz agreed to play the leading role in a film adaptation of the novel The Nazi and the Barber. He described the main role, that of mass murderer Max Schulz, as a "juicy role".[35]

In 2019, Waltz directed and starred in the crime film Georgetown, in which he portrays a man suspected of murdering the wife he married in order to raise his social status. The film premiered at the 2019 Tribeca Film Festival and was released to cinemas on 14 May 2021.[36][37]

In 2020, Waltz starred in the web series Most Dangerous Game, receiving his first Primetime Emmy Award nomination.[38]

In 2021, he reprised the role of Ernst Stavro Blofeld in the James Bond film No Time to Die.[39]

He starred in the Amazon Prime series The Consultant in 2023.[40]

Waltz received an Icon award at the Newport Beach Film Festival on October 17, 2024, in recognition of his career. The festival opened with the premiere of the movie Old Guy, starring Waltz.[41]

Personal life

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Waltz and his wife, Judith Holste, at the 82nd Academy Awards in 2010

Waltz was born in Vienna to an Austrian mother and German father. Upon his birth his German father only requested a citizenship certificate of Germany. Being born to an Austrian mother, Waltz was Austrian by birthright, and formally requested his Austrian citizenship certificate in 2010, thus holding citizenships of both Austria and Germany, but considers the fact that he also has a 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?"[42] He received American citizenship by naturalization in 2020 noting that he strongly believed "in this old dictum of no taxation without representation" as he was living in Los Angeles since 2010.[43]

Waltz has three children with his former wife, Jacqueline (née Rauch), a dance therapist originally from New York.[44] The two lived in London and their marriage lasted 17 years.[7][8] Waltz married his second wife, German costume designer Judith Holste, with whom he has a daughter. They divide their time between Berlin, Vienna and Los Angeles.[45][46]

Filmography

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Waltz at the UK premiere of Inglourious Basterds, Leicester Square, 23 July 2009
Main article: Christoph Waltz filmography

Selected filmography

See also

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Notes

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  1. ^ Rudolf's father was Viktor Urbantschitsch, son of Alois Urbantschitsch (Alojz Urbančič), who was born in Preddvor, today Slovenia, then part of the Kingdom of Illyria, Austria.[9] Through Alojz, Waltz is related to Josipina Urbančič, Alojz's first cousin, and one of the first Slovene female poets and composers.[10]

References

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  1. ^ "Pass-Hickhack: Christoph Waltz wird im Eilverfahren zum Österreicher – Nachrichten Kultur". Die Welt (in German). Welt.de. 24 August 2010. Archived from the original on 14 April 2017. Retrieved 26 January 2011.
  2. ^ "Österreichische Staatsbürgerschaft für Christoph Waltz'". Der Standard. 8 August 2010. Archived from the original on 2 August 2017. Retrieved 11 August 2010.
  3. ^ a b "Waltz fühlt sich definitiv als Österreicher – Boulevard". Focus.de. 21 January 2011. Archived from the original on 11 October 2012. Retrieved 26 January 2011.
  4. ^ Gettell, Oliver (2 December 2014). "Christoph Waltz". Los Angeles Times. Archived from the original on 3 February 2020. Retrieved 2 February 2020.
  5. ^ a b Rosen, Lisa (16 November 2017). "'Downsizing' actor Christoph Waltz thinks the world needs to downsize its hubris to move forward". Los Angeles Times. Archived from the original on 19 March 2021. Retrieved 19 March 2021. says the actor [Waltz], sitting down to talk in a young, flashy Beverly Hills hotel. ... Vienna, the actor's hometown, 'is more or less facetiously referred to as the Gateway to the Balkans. My mother's father's family is Slovenian originally.
  6. ^ a b c d e Badia, Alex; Windolf, Jim (9 December 2014). "M: Good Day, Christoph Waltz". Women's Wear Daily. Archived from the original on 3 February 2020. Retrieved 2 February 2020.
  7. ^ a b Chalmers, Robert (15 May 2015). "We've been expecting you, Mr Waltz". GQ. Archived from the original on 3 February 2020. Retrieved 2 February 2020.
  8. ^ a b c d e Lim, Dennis (12 August 2009). "'Inglourious' Actor Tastes the Glory". The New York Times. Retrieved 21 August 2009.
  9. ^ K. Arnegger; H. Bergmann. "Urbantschitsch, Viktor von (1847–1921), Otologe". Österreichisches Biographisches Lexikon ab 1815 (online) (in German). Vol. 15. Austrian Academy of Sciences. pp. 135–136. Retrieved 19 July 2023.
  10. ^ Kurillo, Jurij (2020). "Preddvorski graščaki Urbančiči" (PDF). Isis (8–9): 69–71. Archived (PDF) from the original on 16 January 2021. Retrieved 20 August 2020.
  11. ^ a b c Rafanelli, Stephanie (21 December 2017). "A Merry Dance With Mr Christoph Waltz". MR PORTER. Retrieved 2 February 2020.
  12. ^ Lemke-Matwey, Christine (12 December 2013). "Christoph Waltz". Die Zeit (in German). Archived from the original on 28 April 2022. Retrieved 2 February 2020.
  13. ^ a b da Fonseca-Wollheim, Corinna (11 December 2017). "Christoph Waltz, Directing Opera, Moves From Tarantino to Verdi". The New York Times. Archived from the original on 3 February 2020. Retrieved 2 February 2020.
  14. ^ Rose, Steve (13 March 2014). "Zero Theorem: the world according to Christoph Waltz". The Guardian. Archived from the original on 29 April 2018. Retrieved 2 February 2020.
  15. ^ Hitz, Julia (4 October 2016). "Hollywood's favorite bad guy Christoph Waltz turns 60". Deutsche Welle. Archived from the original on 3 February 2020. Retrieved 2 February 2020.
  16. ^ Gross, Terry (18 December 2012). "'Unchained' Admiration Between Actor And Director". NPR. Archived from the original on 3 February 2020. Retrieved 2 February 2020.
  17. ^ Bühler, Urs (27 September 2015). "Christoph Waltz und der Sprayer von Zürich". Neue Zürcher Zeitung (in German). Archived from the original on 3 February 2020. Retrieved 2 February 2020.
  18. ^ "Oscars 2013 – The rise of Christoph Waltz". Mint. Agence France-Presse. 25 February 2013. Archived from the original on 19 July 2023. Retrieved 19 July 2023.
  19. ^ Calum Russell (4 October 2021). "Six definitive films: The ultimate beginner's guide to Christoph Waltz". Far Out. Archived from the original on 19 July 2023. Retrieved 19 July 2023.
  20. ^ Robert M. Sapolsky (2007). Mein Leben als Pavian (audiobook) (in German). Random House Audio. ISBN 978-3-8660-4594-1.
  21. ^ Fleming, Michael (17 May 2009). "Tarantino Reflects On 'Basterds'". Variety. Archived from the original on 3 March 2012. Retrieved 18 January 2010.
  22. ^ a b "BSFC Award Winners – Recent". Thebsfc.org. Archived from the original on 16 February 2009. Retrieved 26 January 2011.
  23. ^ "Film Awards Winners in 2010 – Film Awards – BAFTA site". Archived from the original on 27 April 2011.
  24. ^ "2015 Oscars: Nominees – 87th Academy Awards Nominations". Oscar.com. Archived from the original on 26 March 2012. Retrieved 9 May 2011.
  25. ^ "Christoph Waltz Wins The Academy Award For Best Actor In A Supporting Role". stories99.com. Archived from the original on 10 May 2013. Retrieved 28 January 2015.
  26. ^ "Inglorious Basterds feature". Network.nationalpost.com. The National Post. 27 August 2009. Retrieved 26 January 2011.[permanent dead link‍]
  27. ^ Ordoña, Michael (27 December 2012), "Christoph Waltz admires Tarantino's to-the-heart style", Los Angeles Times, archived from the original on 2 October 2019, retrieved 12 January 2016
  28. ^ Borys Kit (30 September 2011). "Christoph Waltz Dislocates Pelvic Bone During 'Django Unchained' Training". The Hollywood Reporter. Archived from the original on 24 April 2013. Retrieved 14 January 2013.
  29. ^ Saperstein, Pat (23 April 2013). "Nicole Kidman, Christoph Waltz, Ang Lee Among Cannes Jury Members". Variety. Archived from the original on 26 April 2013. Retrieved 23 April 2013.
  30. ^ "Vlaamse Opera | Vlaamse Opera". Vlaamseopera.be. 15 January 2015. Archived from the original on 3 August 2014. Retrieved 28 January 2015.
  31. ^ "Berlinale 2014: International Jury". Berlinale. Archived from the original on 18 January 2014. Retrieved 31 December 2013.
  32. ^ Sepinwall, Alan (2 May 2014). "Weinstein sets awards season dates for Big Eyes, Imitation Game and Eleanor Rigby". Uproxx. Archived from the original on 29 July 2017. Retrieved 28 January 2015.
  33. ^ Miller, Ross (4 December 2014). "The next James Bond film is called Spectre: new car, poster, and full cast confirmed". The Verge. Archived from the original on 9 December 2014. Retrieved 4 December 2014.
  34. ^ Polowy, Kevin (7 November 2015). "So Who Does Christoph Waltz Play in Spectre? (Spoilers!)". Yahoo!. Archived from the original on 16 September 2018. Retrieved 1 June 2018.
  35. ^ "On the life and work of Edgar Hilsenrath. Obituary on the occasion of his death on December 30, 2018". Retrieved 16 September 2020.
  36. ^ "Georgetown". Tribeca. Archived from the original on 4 June 2021. Retrieved 28 May 2021.
  37. ^ Truitt, Brian (18 April 2021). "Georgetown: Christoph Waltz gets twisty with Washington drama". USA Today. Archived from the original on 31 May 2021. Retrieved 28 May 2021.
  38. ^ "Nominees/Winners". Academy of Television Arts & Sciences. Archived from the original on 14 May 2023. Retrieved 16 May 2023.
  39. ^ "New 'No Time To Die' Trailer Features Christoph Waltz as Bond Villain Ernst Blofeld". Maxim. 26 February 2020. Archived from the original on 29 September 2024. Retrieved 12 December 2023.
  40. ^ Mangan, Lucy (24 February 2023). "The Consultant review – Christoph Waltz really is immaculate in this drama". The Guardian. Archived from the original on 29 September 2024. Retrieved 16 May 2023.
  41. ^ "Simon West's 'Old Guy' to World Premiere at Newport Beach Film Festival". 9 September 2024. Archived from the original on 9 September 2024. Retrieved 29 September 2024.
  42. ^ "Waltz to become Austrian citizen". Wiener Zeitung Online. 26 August 2010. Archived from the original on 23 December 2023. Retrieved 23 December 2023.
  43. ^ Vincentelli, Elisabeth (23 February 2023). ""Christoph Waltz Has Some Thoughts". The New York Times". Archived from the original on 9 August 2024. Retrieved 14 April 2024.
  44. ^ Husband, Stuart (28 October 2015). "Christoph Waltz: 'Facebook is a step toward fascism'". The Daily Telegraph. Archived from the original on 11 January 2022. Retrieved 2 February 2020.
  45. ^ Freydkin, Donna (26 January 2010). "At long last, movie stardom shines on Christoph Waltz". USA Today. Archived from the original on 28 January 2011. Retrieved 22 August 2017.
  46. ^ "Waltz unchained for Jerusalem wedding". The Times of Israel. 8 March 2013. Archived from the original on 11 March 2013. Retrieved 2 February 2020.
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