Paul Walker
Paul William Walker was born on September 12, 1973 in Glendale, California. A native of Southern California, Paul grew up active in sports like soccer and surfing, with brothers Cody and Caleb and sisters Ashlie and Amie. His mother was a model, which lead to Paul modeling and acting as a young child. Some of his early TV work includes episodes of “Charles in Charge”, “Highway to Heaven”, “Who’s the Boss?”, and “Diff’rent Strokes”. In 1986, Paul starred in the horror spoof Monster in the Closet and was featured on the TV series “Throb” (1986-87). After finishing Village Christian High School in Sun Valley, Paul attended several community colleges and at first majored in Marine Biology. However, his early taste of acting came back with a vengeance and Paul decided to pursue an acting career. With experience in modeling, a number of television guest spots, Paul joined the cast of “The Young & The Restless” as Brandon Collins for a 2-year stint. He was young, making money and starring in the top rated soap opera on television. Paul started spending more money than he had and after the job ended, he tried attending Santa Barbara City College to work towards a Marine Biology degree.
With encouragement from friends and an old casting agent who remembered him as a child, he decided to try his luck once more with acting shortly after returning from College.he starred in Meet the Deedles, a campy, silly but surprisingly fun film which failed to garner much attention. However, lack of attention would not be a problem for Paul Walker for long. With Pleasantville, he appeared in his first hit. As the town stud(a la 1950s) who more than meets his match in modern day Reese Witherspoon, he was one of the most memorable characters of the film. Roles in the teen hits Varsity Blues, She’s All and The Skulls That have cemented Walker’s continued rise to celebrity. He was chosen to be one of the young stars featured on the cover of Vanity Fair’s annual Hollywood issue in April 2000. While the other stars on the cover, brooded and tried their best to look sexy and serious, Paul smiled brightly and showed why he is not part of the norm. This is one young actor who certainly stands apart from the rest of the crowd, not only with his talent but with his attitude. The Dallas Morning News commented in March of 2000 that, “Paul is one of the rarest birds in Hollywood- a pretension free movie star.” The latest blockbuster hit The Fast and The Furious has raised his stardom to an even higher level.
Walker’s small-screen career began as a toddler, when he starred in a television commercial for Pampers. He began modeling at the age of 2 and began working on television shows in 1985, with roles in shows such as Highway to Heaven, Who’s the Boss?, The Young and the Restless and Touched By an Angel.
Walker’s most recent feature films are crime thriller Running Scared and Walt Disney Pictures’ Eight Below, both released in 2006. Eight Below garnered critical-acclaim and opened in first place at the box office, grossing over US$20 million during its first weekend. During the filming of Running Scared, director Wayne Kramer stated that, “[Walker] is that guy on some level ” when comparing Walker with his character in the movie, Joey Gazelle. Kramer continued on to say that he “loved working with [Walker] because as a director he’s completely supportive of my vision of what the film is. And even better, he’s completely game for it.”
Walker starred in the independent film The Lazarus Project which was released on DVD on October 21, 2008. He subsequently returned to The Fast and the Furious franchise, reprising his role in Fast & Furious, which was released on April 3, 2009.Walker has been cast opposite Matt Dillon and Hayden Christensen in the crime drama Takers, which began filming in early September 2008.
Walker, who was named as one of People’s Most Beautiful People in 2001, currently resides in Santa Barbara, California, with his Chesapeake Bay Retriever, Boone. His daughter, Meadow Rain(born in 1999), lives in Hawaii with her mother, a former girlfriend of Walker’s. He is an avid surfer and enjoys the Queensland beaches. Paul is a purple belt in Brazilan Jiujitsu under Paragon Jiujitsu.Walker was a big car enthusiast prior to the filming of The Fast and The Furious.
