Paul Walker Biography

Paul William Walker IV (born September 12, 1973) is an American actor. He became well known in 1999 after his role in the hit film Varsity Blues. However, he is perhaps best known for starring as Brian O'Conner in The Fast and the Furious film series. His other films include Eight Below, Into the Blue, She's All That and Takers. He also appears in the National Geographic Channel series Expedition Great White.

Early life

Walker was born in Glendale, California and raised in the San Fernando Valley area of Los Angeles County, the son of Cheryl, a fashion model, and Paul Walker III, a sewer contractor. His ancestry includes Irish, English, and German. His paternal grandfather was a professional boxer, "Irish Billy Walker". He is the oldest of five, having two brothers and two sisters. Walker was raised as a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. He graduated from Village Christian School. After high school, he attended several community colleges, majoring in marine biology.

Career

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. Also in 1985 he starred in a commercial for "Showbiz Pizza".

Walker's film career began in 1986, with the horror/comedy film Monster in the Closet. He and his sister Ashlie were contestants on a 1988 episode of the game show I'm Telling!, finishing in second place. He continued with roles in several other movies without much success: it was not until 1998 that Walker made his feature film debut in the comedy Meet the Deedles, which finally gained him fame. This subsequently led to supporting roles in the movies Pleasantville, Varsity Blues, She's All That, and The Skulls.

In 2001, Walker's breakthrough role arrived when he starred opposite actor Vin Diesel in the successful action film The Fast and the Furious. The film established Walker as a notable film star and leading man and led to his reprisal of the role in the 2003 sequel 2 Fast 2 Furious. He continued his career with leading roles in films such as Joy Ride, Into the Blue, and Timeline, and also had a supporting role in Clint Eastwood's 2006 adaptation of Flags of Our Fathers.

Walker then starred in the 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 then appeared with T.I., Idris Elba, Chris Brown, Matt Dillon, and Hayden Christensen in the crime drama Takers, which began filming in early September 2008 and was released in August 2010.

The Coty Prestige fragrance brand Davidoff Cool Water for Men announced in January 2011 that Walker was going to be the new face of the brand as of July 2011. He reprised his role in the fifth installment of The Fast and the Furious series, Fast Five (2011), and again in Fast & Furious 6 (2013).

Personal life

Walker currently resides in the Santa Barbara, California, with his dogs, one of which is a Chesapeake Bay Retriever. Paul and his then-girlfriend Rebecca have a daughter, Meadow (born on November 4, 1998), who has moved from Hawaii to California to be closer to Walker. He is an avid surfer and enjoys the beach. Walker holds a brown belt in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu under Ricardo "Franjinha" Miller at Paragon Jiu-Jitsu.

Walker's first passion was marine biology, with his idol being Jacques Cousteau, and he joined the Board of Directors of The Billfish Foundation in 2006. He recently fulfilled a lifelong dream by starring in a National Geographic Channel series Expedition Great White, which premiered in June 2010. He spent 11 days as part of the crew, catching and tagging 7 great white sharks off the coast of Mexico. The expedition, led by Chris Fischer, founder and CEO of Fischer Productions, along with Captain Brett McBride and Dr. Michael Domeier of the Marine Conservation Science Institute take measurements, gather DNA samples, and fasten real-time satellite tags to the great white sharks. This will allow Dr. Michael Domeier to study migratory patterns especially those associated with mating and birthing over a 5-year period of time.

In March 2010, Walker went to Chile, specifically to Constitución, to offer his help and support to the people injured in the 8.8 magnitude earthquake that struck on February 27. He also flew with his humanitarian aid team, REACH OUT Worldwide, to Haiti to lend a helping hand to the 2010 Haiti earthquake victims. He is also an avid car enthusiast who currently competes in the Redline Time Attack racing series in which he races a M3 E92 and is on the AE Performance Team. His car is currently sponsored by Etnies, Brembo Brakes, Ohlins, Volk, OS Giken, Hankook, Gintani, and Reach Out Worldwide.

Walker has also owned a Nissan Skyline R34 GT-R V-Spec II, that was featured in 2 Fast 2 Furious, driven by his character Brian O'Conner. He had customized the car himself for the movie, and also did many stunts in the movie himself.

Filmography

Film

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1986	Monster in the Closet	'Professor' Bennett
1987	Programmed to Kill	Jason
1994	Tammy and the T-Rex	Michael
1998	Meet the Deedles	Phil Deedle
1998	Pleasantville	Skip Martin
1999	Varsity Blues	Lance Harbor
1999	She's All That	Dean Sampson
1999	Brokedown Palace	Jason	Uncredited
2000	'	Caleb Mandrake
2001	'	Brian O'Conner
2001	Joy Ride	Lewis Thomas
2002	Life Makes Sense If You're Famous	Mikey
2003	Turbo-Charged Prelude	Brian O'Conner	6 minute short film introductory film for 2 Fast 2 Furious
2003	2 Fast 2 Furious	Brian O'Conner
2003	Timeline	Chris Johnston
2004	Noel	Mike Riley
2005	Into the Blue	Jared Cole
2006	Running Scared	Joey Gazelle
2006	Eight Below	Jerry Shepard
2006	Flags of Our Fathers	Hank Hansen
2007	Stories USA	Mikey
2007	'	Tim Kearney
2008	'	Ben Garvey
2009	Fast & Furious	Brian O'Conner
2010	Takers	John Rahway
2011	Fast Five	Brian O'Conner
2013	Vehicle 19	Michael Woods
2013	Fast & Furious 6	Brian O'Conner
2013	Hours	Nolan
2013	Pawn Shop Chronicles	Raw Dog
2014	Brick Mansions	Damien	Filming
2014	Fast & Furious 7	Brian O'Conner

Television

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1985	Highway to Heaven	Eric Travers	1 episode
1986	Highway to Heaven	Todd Bryant	2 episodes
1986" 1987	Throb	Jeremy Beatty	23 episodes
1988	I'm Telling!	Contestant	1 episode.
1990	Charles in Charge	Russell Davis	1 episode
1991	Who's the Boss?	Michael Haynes	1 episode
1992" 1993	'	Brandon Collins
1994	CBS Schoolbreak Special	Dill	1 episode
1994	'	Jesse Hansen	Pilot episode
1996	Touched by an Angel	Jonathan	1 episode
2013	Shark Week	Himself	1 episode

Music videos

Year	Artist	Song
1997	The Mighty Mighty Bosstones	"Wrong Thing Right Then"
2003	Ludacris	"Act a Fool"

Awards and nominations

Year	Award	Category	Film/TV Show	Result
2000	Young Hollywood Award	Exciting New Face " Male
2001	Hollywood Breakthrough Award	Breakthrough Male Performance Received at the Hollywood Film Festival
	Young Hollywood Award	New Stylemaker " Male
2002	MTV Movie Award	Best On-Screen Team Shared with Vin Diesel	The Fast and the Furious
		Breakthrough Male Performance
2003	Teen Choice Award	Choice Movie Chemistry For Paul Walker and his car	2 Fast 2 Furious
2009	Teen Choice Award	Choice Movie Actor: Action Adventure	Fast & Furious
2011	Teen Choice Award	Choice Movie Actor: Action Adventure	Fast Five