Austrian actor Christoph Waltz celebrates his 68th birthday today my birthday
He was born on October 4, 1956 in Vienna.
Waltz seemed destined for a career in theater. His parents were set and costume designers, and some of his grandparents were actors. He studied at the Max Reinhardt Seminar at the University of Music and Dramatic Art in Vienna and at the Lee Strasberg Theater and Film Institute in New York. He made several appearances in Austrian television films and a West German television series in the late 1970s and went on in the following decades to have an astonishingly prolific, if modest, career in European cinema and television.
In addition, he regularly performs on stage. By the 1990s, Waltz had become a familiar presence in British and Austrian television crime shows and comedies, with cameo appearances on the big screen. Although this situation suits him financially, Waltz is not creatively satisfied.
All that changes when Waltz auditions for the role of Colonel Hans Landa in Quentin Tarantino's World War II film Inglourious Basterds (2009).
Tarantino became desperate to find an actor to bring the role to life, until he heard Waltz, who in turn credited Tarantino with rekindling his love for acting. The role of the terrifyingly charming assassin and villain in the story of anti-Nazi revenge is perfect for Waltz's talent, and although Brad Pitt had the lead role in the film, it was Waltz's multi-faceted performance that captured the attention of audiences and critics alike.
The role earned him awards for Best Supporting Actor at the British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA), Golden Globe and Academy Awards, as well as a Best Actor Award at the Cannes Film Festival. The breakthrough role led to roles in other American films, including Water for Elephants, The Three Musketeers and Carnage (all released in 2011).
Waltz's second collaboration with Tarantino, in the "vengeful" "Django Unchained" -Django Unchained (2012), proved to be just as incendiary as the first. His character is complex, troubling and delightful. Waltz is flawless in the role of an erudite dentist turned bounty hunter.
He again won Best Supporting Actor at the Oscars, Golden Globes and BAFTAs.
Waltz next starred in director Terry Gilliam's dystopian sci-fi drama The Zero Theorem (2013). He appeared as the manipulative husband of artist Margaret Keane in Tim Burton's Big Eyes (2014), as the villain Blofeld (aka Oberhauser) in the James Bond films Specter (2015) and No Time to Die (2021), and as a Belgian colonist Leon Rom (a historical figure known for his brutality in the Congo) in the adventure film The Legend of Tarzan (2016).
In 2017, Waltz starred in the historical drama Tulip Fever and in Downsizing, a satire about people who choose to undergo a medical procedure that causes them to shrink. Two years later, he appeared in Alita: Battle Angel. Also in 2019, Waltz directed his first feature film, "Georgetown,", a crime drama in which he is a career man accused of murdering his wealthy wife. He was later cast in Woody Allen's romantic comedy “The Rifkin Festival” (2020). In 2021, he appeared in Wes Anderson's The French Dispatch, a drama about the last issue of a newspaper magazine supplement.
Waltz is the father of three children born to his wife Judith - Leon, Rachel and Miriam
Source: britannica.com