Christoph Waltz

Christoph Waltz (; born 4 October 1956) is a German-Austrian actor and director, mainly active in the United States.Der Standard: Österreichische Staatsbürgerschaft für Christoph Waltz, 8 August 2010
His breakout role came in Quentin Tarantino's 2009 film Inglourious Basterds, where he played SS officer Hans Landa. He would later collaborate with Tarantino once again in 2012, where he played bounty hunter King Schultz in Django Unchained. For each performance, he earned an Academy Award, BAFTA Award, and Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actor. Waltz also received the Best Actor Award at the Cannes Film Festival and a Screen Actors Guild Award for his portrayal of Landa.
Waltz portrayed computer genius Qohen Leth in the science fiction film The Zero Theorem (2013), American plagiarist Walter Keane in the biographical film Big Eyes (2014), and James Bond's nemesis Ernst Stavro Blofeld in Spectre (2015), the twenty-fourth James Bond film.
==Early life==
Waltz was born in Vienna, the son of Johannes Waltz and Elisabeth Urbancic, set and costume designers, from Germany and Austria, respectively. His maternal grandfather, Rudolf von Urban, was a psychiatrist and psychologist who wrote the book Sex Perfection and Marital Happiness.Myself not least: a confessional autobiography of a psychoanalyst and some explanatory history cases, by Rudolf von Urban, p. 210 His maternal grandmother was Burgtheater actress Maria Mayen, and his step-grandfather was actor Emmerich Reimers. His great-grandparents also worked in theatre.
==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. 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.
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". 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, Los Angeles Film Critics Association, 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,Film Awards Winners in 2010 - Film Awards - Film - The BAFTA site and won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor. 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".
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. During a training accident prior to filming, Waltz injured his pelvis. His role garnered him 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. In April 2013, he was selected as a member of the main competition jury at the 2013 Cannes Film Festival. He directed a production of the opera Der Rosenkavalier at the Vlaamse Opera, in Antwerp in late 2013, and in Ghent early 2014. In 2014, he was selected as a member of the jury for the 64th Berlin International Film Festival. He starred as Walter Keane in Tim Burton's Big Eyes, which opened on 25 December 2014, and appeared as Ernst Stavro Blofeld in Spectre, the 24th film in the James Bond franchise.
In 2015, it was announced that Waltz would direct and star in the film Georgetown (formerly titled The Worst Marriage in Georgetown), which is based on the true crime story of the murder of Viola Drath. In July 2016, he portrayed lead villain Captain Leon Rom, a corrupt Belgian captain, in the reboot 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 early 2018.
==Personal life==
Waltz has three children with his former wife, Jackie. He is raising a daughter (b. 2005) with his second wife, costume designer Judith Holste. They divide their time among Berlin, London, and Los Angeles.Profile of Waltz at Global Post
Waltz's native language is German, and he also speaks both English and French fluently. He speaks all three of these in Inglourious Basterds and Django Unchained, and although his character in Inglourious Basterds also spoke Italian, Waltz said on the Adam Carolla Podcast that he is not fluent in Italian. 
Waltz was born in Vienna to a German father who applied for him to become a citizen of Germany after his birth. He received Austrian citizenship in 2010, thus holding citizenships of both Austria and Germany, but considers his German passport a "legal, citizenship law banality" despite the fact that he had not previously been able to vote in Austria's national elections. 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?"
In 2018, his image was used without permission as part of a deception by conservative hoaxster Jacob Wohl in an apparent attempt to derail the Special Counsel Investigation of Donald Trump by using his image for a fictitious financial investigator.
==Filmography==
===Film===
Year	Title 	Role 	Director 	Notes
1979	Breakthrough 	Paramedic 	Andrew V. McLaglen 	Uncredited
1981	Headstand 	Markus 	Veith von Fürstenberg	
1982	Fire and Sword 	Tristan 	Veith von Fürstenberg	
1986	Wahnfried 	Friedrich Nietzsche 	Peter Patzak 	
1988	 	Police Chief 	Nicolas Gessner 	
1991	 	Jan Tytz 	Krzysztof Zanussi 	Credited as Chistopher Waltz
1995	The Start of Something 	Herbert 	Nikolaus Leytner 	
1997	 	Maksymilian Gierymski 	Krzysztof Zanussi 	
1998	Seven Moons 	Kom. Becker 	Peter Fratzscher 	
1998	Love Scenes from Planet Earth 	Charly 	Marc Rothemund 	
1999	The Bride 	Karl August 	Egon Günther 	
2000	Ordinary Decent Criminal 	Peter 	Thaddeus O'Sullivan 	
2000	Falling Rocks 	Louis 	Peter Keglevic 	
2000	Death, Deceit and Destiny Aboard the Orient Express	Ossama / Tarik 	Mark Roper 	
2001	Queen's Messenger 	Ali Ben Samm 	Mark Roper 	
2001	She 	Michael Vincey 	Timothy Bond 	
2003	Angst 	Psychoanalyst 	Oskar Roehler 	
2003	Gun-Shy 	Johannsen 	Dito Tsintsadze 	
2003	Berlin Blues 	Doctor 	Leander Haußmann 	
2004	Pact with the Devil 	Rolf Steiner 	Allan A. Goldstein 	
2006	Lapislazuli: In the Eyes of the Bear 	Czerny 	Wolfgang Murnberger 	
2009	Inglourious Basterds 	Col. Hans Landa 	Quentin Tarantino 	
2011	The Green Hornet 	Benjamin Chudnofsky / Bloodnofsky	Michel Gondry 	
2011	Water for Elephants 	August Rosenbluth 	Francis Lawrence 	
2011	The Three Musketeers 	Cardinal Richelieu 	Paul W. S. Anderson 	
2011	Carnage 	Alan Cowan 	Roman Polanski 	
2012	Django Unchained 	Dr. King Schultz 	Quentin Tarantino 	
2013	Epic 	Mandrake 	Chris Wedge 	Voice
2013	The Zero Theorem 	Qohen Leth 	Terry Gilliam 	Also co-producer
2014	Muppets Most Wanted 	Himself 	James Bobin 	Cameo
2014	Horrible Bosses 2 	Burt Hanson 	Sean Anders 	
2014	Big Eyes 	Walter Keane 	Tim Burton 	
2015	Spectre 	Ernst Stavro Blofeld 	Sam Mendes 	
2016	The Legend of Tarzan 	Léon Rom 	David Yates 	
2017	Tulip Fever 	Cornelis Sandvoort 	Justin Chadwick 	
2017	Downsizing 	Dusan Mirkovic 	Alexander Payne 	
2019	Alita: Battle Angel 	Dr. Dyson Ido 	Robert Rodriguez 	
2019	Georgetown 	Ulrich Mott 	Himself 	
2020	The French Dispatch 	 	Wes Anderson 	Post-production
 	Rifkin's Festival 	 	Woody Allen 	Filming
===Television===
Year	Title 	Role 	Notes
1977	Am dam des 	(singer) 	
1977	Der Einstand 	Gunther Vesley 	Television film
1979	Feuer! 	Karl Albrecht Schlick 	Television film
1979	Parole Chicago 	Eduard "Ede" Bredo 	13 episodes
1982	The Mysterious Stranger 	Ernst Wasserman 	Television film
1982	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"
1986	Derrick 	Eberhard Bothe 	Episode: "Schonzeit für Mörder"
1986	Lenz oder die Freiheit 	Franz Sigel 	Television miniseries
1987	Tatort 	Inspektor Passini 	Episode: "Wunschlos tot"
1987	Das andere Leben 	Stefan 	Television film
1988	 	Stefan Mueller 	Television series
1988	Derrick 	Schumann 	Episode: "Mord inklusive"
1989	Goldeneye 	German spy 	Television film
1990	The Gravy Train 	Dr. Hans-Joachim Dorfmann 	4 episodes
1990	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
1992	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
1994	Jacob 	Morash 	Television film
1994	Die Staatsanwältin 	Andreas Doepke 	Television film
1995	The All New Alexei Sayle Show 	Weak Moustache 	Episode #2.3
1995	Prinz zu entsorgen 	Roman 	Television film
1995	Man(n) sucht Frau 	Christoph 	Television film
1995	Catherine the Great 	Mirovich 	Television film
1996	Der Tourist 	Stephan Görner 	Television film
1996	Du bist nicht allein – Die Roy Black Story 	Roy Black 	Television film
1996	Rosa Roth 	Wietze 	Episode: "Nirgendwohin"
1996	Rex: A Cop's Best Friend 	Martin Wolf 	Episode: "Der Puppenmörder"
1997	Maître Da Costa 	Walter Mueller 	2 episodes
1997	Faust 	Gerhardt Schulze-Leitner 	Episode: "Villa Palermo"
1997	Schimanski 	Klaus Mandel 	Episode: "Blutsbrüder"
1998	Vickys Alptraum 	Johnny 	Television film
1998	Schock – Eine Frau in Angst 	Kommissar Kaul 	Television film
1998	 	Kant 	Television film
1998	Rache für mein totes Kind 	Paul 	Television film
1998	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
2001	Riekes Liebe 	Pair skating coach Karlhoff	Television film
2001	Der Tanz mit dem Teufel 	Dieter Cilov 	Television film
2002	Dienstreise – Was für eine Nacht 	Klaus-Dieter Lehmann 	Television film
2002	Weihnachtsmann gesucht 	Johannes Böhmke 	Television film
2003	Jagd auf den Flammenmann 	Brisky 	Television film
2003	Der Mörder ist unter uns (also known as Der Fall Gehring)	Martin Bach 	Television film
2003	Zwei Tage Hoffnung 	Michael Berg 	Television film
2003	Jennerwein 	Pföderl 	Television film
2003	Tigeraugen sehen besser 	Dr. Thilo Rylow 	Television film
2004	Scheidungsopfer Mann 	Benedikt von Arn 	Television film
2004	Mörderische Suche 	Richard Benedek 	Television film
2004	Schöne Witwen küssen besser 	Jean-France 	Television film
2005	Die Patriarchin 	Wolf Sevening 	3 episodes
2005	Der Elefant: Mord verjährt nie 	Richard Seemann 	Episode: "Verlorene Jahre"
2006	SOKO Rhein-Main 	Andreas Senner 	Episode: "Schuld und Sühne"
2006	Polizeiruf 110 	Dr. Juris Gríns 	Episode: "Die Lettin und ihr Lover"
2006	Stolberg 	Paul Büttner 	Episode: "Kreuzbube"
2006	Tatort 	Prof. Robert Henze 	Episode: "Schlaflos in Weimar"
2006	Franziskas Gespür für Männer 	Karl Löwen 	Television film
2007	Der Staatsanwalt 	Dr. Claudius Tressen 	Episode: "Glückskinder"
2007	Der letzte Zeuge 	Dr. Martin York 	Episode: "Martinspassion"
2007	Unter Verdacht 	Thomas Sell 	Episode: "Hase and Igel"
2007	 	Frank "Büffel" Arbogast 	Television film
2007	Die Verzauberung 	Dr. Helmut Bahr 	Television film
2008	Das Geheimnis im Wald 	Hans Kortmann 	Television film
2008	Todsünde 	Sebastian Flies 	Television film
2008	Das jüngste Gericht 	Peters 	Television film
2008	Die Anwälte 	Herbert Jahn 	Episode: "Leben und Tod"
2008	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	 	
2019	Georgetown 	 	
==Accolades==
==See also==
* List of German-speaking Academy Award winners and nominees
==References==
== Audiobooks ==
* 2007: Robert M. Sapolsky: Mein Leben als Pavian. Random House Audio, 
==External links==
* 
* Christoph Waltz interviews on Charlie Rose
*Christoph Waltz at the German Dubbing Card Index
Category:1956 births
Category:Living people
Category:20th-century Austrian male actors
Category:20th-century German male actors
Category:21st-century Austrian male actors
Category:21st-century German male actors
Category:Austrian expatriates in the United States
Category:Austrian male film actors
Category:Austrian male television actors
Austrian German
Category:BAFTA winners (people)
Category:Best Actor Empire Award winners
Category:Best Supporting Actor Academy Award winners
Category:Best Supporting Actor BAFTA Award winners
Category:Best Supporting Actor Golden Globe (film) winners
Category:Cannes Film Festival Award for Best Actor winners
Category:European Film Awards winners (people)
Category:German expatriates in the United States
Category:German male film actors
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Category:German people of Austrian descent
Category:Lee Strasberg Theatre and Film Institute alumni
Category:Male actors from Vienna
Category:Naturalised citizens of Austria
Category:Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture Screen Actors Guild Award winners
Category:Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Supporting Role Screen Actors Guild Award winners
Category:Recipients of the Austrian Cross of Honour for Science and Art
Category:Recipients of the Bambi (prize)
Category:Recipients of the Romy (TV award)
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