45 interesting facts about Christopher Walken: He dislikes guns, worked as a lion tamer

Christopher Walken is a talented actor whom has offered a lot to the entertainment industry and surely has a lot more to reveal. Here are 50 interesting facts about this sought-after actor.

1. He was born in Queens, New York, in 1943. His given name is Ronald Walken.
2. His mother was a Scottish immigrant from Glasgow, and his father an immigrant from Germany. His family owned a bakery.
3. As a young boy, he would often leave Queens and head down to Manhattan to Rockefeller Center where many of the television shows were shot. Sometimes they landed work as extras to make some pocket money.
4. At the age of 10, he got a chance to work with comedian Jerry Lewis as an extra in a television skit.
   
5. At age 15 Christopher Walken worked in the circus as a lion tamer.
6. Walken went to Hofstra University but dropped out after one year, having gotten the role of Clayton Dutch Miller on an Off-Broadway revival of Best Foot Forward, co-starring with Liza Minnelli, who played Ethel Hofflinger.
7. At Liza Minnelli's 16th birthday, Christopher Walken danced with famous actress Judy Garland.
8. Early in his career, he changed his first name from Ronny to Christopher while performing in a nightclub act. A lady in the act said she wanted me to be called Christopher, and I said, 'Fine.' ...Now I wish I'd picked a shorter name because when I see my name in print, it looks like a freight train," he told the Hollywood Reporter.
9. In 1966 Christopher Walken was cast as King Phillip of France in the play "A Lion In Winter." It was his first speaking role and he was almost fired due to his extreme stage fright. He did end up winning the Calrence Derwent Award for the play though.
10. In 1964, he changed his first name to "Christopher" at the suggestion of a friend who believed the name suited him better than his given name, Ronald. He prefers to be known informally as "Chris" instead of "Christopher".
11. His breakthrough role came with Woody Allen's Annie Hall (1977). He portrayed the suicidal brother of title character Annie, played by Dianne Keaton.
12. Walken won an Oscar for 'Best Supporting Actor' in 1978 for his role in The Deer Hunter with Robert De Niro and Meryl Streep.
13. Playing a guardian angel, Christopher Walken can be spotted following Madonna around in her video "Bad Girl," released on her Erotica album in 1993.
14.  In 1991, he gained his first Emmy Award nomination for his work on Sarah, Plain and Tall.
15. After his Academy Award nomination for 'Best Supporting Actor' in Catch Me If You Can in 2002, Walken was nominated for a Razzie for 'Worst Supporting Actor' for his roles in The Country's Bears, Kangaroo Jack and the Bennifer-killing monster that was Gigli.
16.  In every film that Christopher Walken has appeared, in he has attempted to work in a dance of some sort with his character.
17. In the 1981 film "Pennies From Heaven," he has a cameo role in which he does a strip tease and tap dances. He sings "Let's Misbehave" and steals the show from Bernadette Peters.
18. George Lucas revealed that Christopher Walken was his second choice to play the now iconic role of Han Solo in the popular "Star Wars" film. The role instead went to Harrison Ford who shot to fame after the movie.
19. Walken experienced turbulence in his personal life later that year, as a guest on the boat of actress Natalie Wood and her husband Robert Wagner. On November 29, 1981, Wood accidentally drowned while the boat was moored off Catalina Island in California. Walken and Wood had worked together on what proved to be her final film, the science fiction thriller Brainstorm (1983). Speculation about Wood's death lingered for years.
20. In Fatboy Slim's music video for the song "Weapon Of Choice," he choreographed his entire dance on his own. The video won six MTV awards in 2001.
21. Walken was among the celebrities who featured in Madonna's lovely little coffee table book, SEX. The book included softcore pornographic pictures as well as a few more risqué ones.
22. Christopher Walken often appears as the host of "Saturday Night Live". He is in the "Five Timers" club along with Alec Baldwin, Justin Timberlake, and Steve Martin to name a few.
23. He credits Elvis Presley with inspiring his hair.
24. In the films "Kiss Toledo Goodbye," "Batman Returns," and "A View To Kill," he has played a character that goes by the name of Max.
25. He's Married to casting Director Georgianne Walken. Georgianne is a successful casting director known for her work on The Sopranos.
26. Walken married his wife Georgianne Thon is 1969 and the two reside in Wilton, Connecticut. They never had children and both decided to find happiness in each other as well as their careers.
27. They also have a vacation home on Block Island, Rhode Island.
28. Walken endorsed President Barack Obama for re-election in 2012
29. Christopher Walken is his own worst critic. "I have one of those satellite things on my television and there are maybe 40 channels of movies, so once a day I'll surf those. I just go from one movie to another, watching 10 minutes of this, 10 minutes of that, and often there's something I'm in. With every movie I make, there are some scenes where I'm good and somewhere I'm not. With me, it's always hit and miss."
30. One of Christopher Walken's eyes is blue and another one is hazel in color.
31. Zombie films are a favorite of Christopher Walken. "Night Of The Living Dead" is one of his favorites.
32. Despite playing a bad guy in many movies, he personally hates guns.
33. Walken for President got off the ground when he was the subject of a candidacy hoax in 2006. A fake website claimed he was running for President of the United States, with some believing the rumors to be true. It came out that this was a hoax and Walken appeared on Conan O'Brian and dispelled the rumors saying, "What the heck."
34. Walken lives in Wilton, Connecticut, with his wife.
35. In the films "Kiss Toledo Goodbye," "Batman Returns," and "A View To Kill," he has played a character that goes by the name of Max.
    
36. Christopher Walken has been in at least one movie every year for the past 38 years since 1984.
37. Christopher Walken provided the foreword to KISS: Guide to Cat Care. The book is actually a guide to cat care by Steve Duno and was published in 2001. According to PETA's website, Walken is in fact a cat lover.
38. Walken was a guest on the boat of actress Natalie Wood and husband Robert Wagner in November 1981, when Wood accidentally drowned in California. He had worked with Wood on what became her final film, Brainstorm, which was released two years later. Wood's drowning was deemed to be mysterious in the aftermath of her death.
39. Christopher Walken's unique way of talking has a name - it's called The Deadpan Effect. This is the definition: "Deadpan is a form of comic delivery in which humor is presented without a change in emotion or body language. It is usually spoken in a casual, monotone, or cantankerous voice, and expresses a calm, sincere, or grave demeanor, often in spite of the ridiculousness of the subject matter. This delivery is also called dry humor or dry wit, when the intent, but not the presentation, is humorous, blunt, oblique, sarcastic, laconic, or apparently unintentional."
40. Walken debuted as a film director and script writer with the short film Popcorn Shrimp in 2001.
41. Walken was in the movie Five Dollars a Day, released in 2008, in which he plays a con man proud of living like a king on $5 a day.
42. Christopher Walken loves Bugs Bunny. Quote: "He's so smart, he's so funny, he's got such a great attitude. Bugs Bunny is the spirit of New York.... You can't fool Bugs Bunny. That's all I have to say. He's on to everybody."
43. Christopher Walken doesn't like restaurants because he doesn't like people touching his food. As a result, he is an accomplished chef. He even had his own cooking show in 1999, called Cooking with Chris. Since then, he has occasionally posted cooking videos on the Internet.
44. Unlike Bill Murray, who feels that being loved by fans is a bit of a burden ("It's a lot of pressure," he explains, because "you're expected to love back, and hell hath no fury like a fan scorned!"), Christopher Walken seems to like the constant attention. He says, "If I walk down the street and nothing happens... I get sad. And, then, you know, like a miracle, an angel, somebody will say, 'Hey, Chris!' And then I go, "Ah! Well, it's okay.'" So, by all means, if you see him... give the man a shout-out.
45. Christopher Walken's networth is $30 million.