Christoph Waltz is an Austrian-German actor. He made his breakthrough in United States with Quentin Tarantino’s “Inglorious Basterds” in 2009 and won an Oscar for Best Supporting Actor, as well as BAFTA and Golden Globe awards.
As of 2020 Christoph Waltz’s net worth is estimated at over $40 million. He earned his wealth from his successful career as an actor, as well as from commercials, sponsorships, and brand endorsements. Read on to learn more about the veteran international actor.
Walk Through the Article
Early Life And Education
Christoph Waltz was born on 4th October, 1956 in Vienna, Austria. His father was German and worked as a set designer and his mother was Austrian and worked as a costume designer. Right after his birth his father applied for German citizenship. Although Waltz spent most of his life in Vienna, he got the Austrian citizenship in 2010. He’s from a family with background in acting.
Waltz father died when he was only seven years old. His mother later married the composer Alexander Steinbrecher, who was previously married to the mother of Michael Haneke, the Austrian film director and screenwriter. As a young boy, Waltz wanted to become an opera singer and he was visiting the opera twice a week.
Waltz finished school at Theresianum, a private boarding and day school in Vienna. Then he continued to study acting/theater arts at Max Reinhardt Seminar while at the same time studying opera and singing at University of Music and Performing Arts in Vienna. In the course of his study, he realize that he doesn’t have the voice of an opera singer. He then started to invest in his acting career. Also, spent some time in New York City where trained as actor at Lee Strasberg Institute. He met his first wife there.
Christoph Waltz’s Career
Waltz worked as a stage actor at the beginning of his career His debut was in 1982 in Schauspielhaus in Zurich, one of the most important theatres in Germany. He worked very hard in Vienna, Cologne, Salzburg and Hamburg. Waltz also played in TV series. His attempts to act in English speaking movies were not very successful. But, somehow he managed to support his family for thirty years by acting until he met Quentin Tarantino.
Hollywood Career
Christoph Waltz had a great start in Hollywood. In 2009 he was featured in “Inglorious Basterds” as The Jew Hunter and for his performance, won 27 awards including the Oscar for Best Supporting actor. For Waltz’s role, Tarantino said it was unplayable, so if it weren’t for the actor it’s possible that the movie would never have happened.
Waltz happened to be the first actor to win an Oscar for acting in a Quentin Tarantino’s movie, as well as the only Austrian born actor who has won two Oscars. His second win was also for a Supporting role in Tarantino’s movie “Django Unchained”, two years later.
In between the second collaboration with Tarantino, Waltz appeared in the action comedy “The Green Hornet”, in romantic drama movie “Water for elephants” and in Roman Polanski’s “Carnage” where he played with Jodie Foster and Kate Winslet. In 2012 Tarantino wrote a part just for Waltz in “Django Unchained”. For his role as German bounty hunter he won another Oscar as well as Golden Globe and BAFTA Awards for Best Supporting Actor. Waltz had injured his pelvis prior to filming the movie but it didn’t hinder him from interpreting his role well and won all the awards for his excellence performance.
The following years, Christoph Waltz was a jury member at Cannes Film Festival and Berlin International Film Festival. He even directed a production of the opera “Der Rosenkavalier” in Antwerp and Ghent. Four years later he directed again, the production of the opera “Falstaff”.
In 2013 Waltz was chosen to play the Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev alongside Michael Douglas as the American president Ronald Reagan in the movie Reykjavik, which was based on the 1986 peace talks between the two countries. But it was never filmed and it’s not clear if it will ever happen.
The next year he played alongside Amy Adams in the biographical movie “Big eyes”, directed by Tim Burton. The movie was a great success with many award nominations. Waltz was nominated for Best actor at Golden Globe Awards. Waltz got his star at Hollywood walk of fame the same year, 2014. In 2015 he appeared in the movie franchise for James Bond, the “Spectre” installment. Waltz is the first actor that appears in the spy movie with two Oscars.
Christoph Waltz had a supporting role in the adventure movie “Legend of the Tarzan”, the following year. He played alongside Samuel L. Jackson, Margot Robbie, and Alexander Skarsgard as Tarzan. In 2017 he played in two movies: “Downsizing”, which was chosen as one of top ten movies of that year and “Tullip Fever”, a historical drama romantic movie. The last one was not a success and it didn’t earn enough to cover the production budget.
The last released movie Christoph Waltz featured in is “Georgetown”, a crime movie based on a true story. Waltz directed and also played in the movie alongside Vanessa Redgrave and Annette Bening.
Upcoming Movies
Few of Christoph Waltz’s movies are scheduled to premiere this fall. They are the James Bond spy movie, “No time to die”, and the last of Woody Allen’s movie “Rifkin’s Festival”, which is an American-Italian Spanish comedy. “The French Dispatch” is also expected this fall. It was rescheduled because of the coronavirus pandemic, but was supposed to premiere at the Cannes Film Festival which was cancelled this year. This would be the second movie premieres this fall where Waltz stars with Lea Seydoux, beside “No Time to die”. They also worked together in “Inglorious Basterds”.
Next year, 2021, fans would be expecteing the release of the dark fantasy animated movie, “Pinocchio” in which Waltz voice over the cat and the fox characters. The movie is written and directed by Guillermo del Toro.
Two more movies of Waltz’s are in pre-production. They are “The portable door” which is an adventure fantasy movie based on Tom Holt’s books. Christoph Waltz and Guy Pearce are expected to star in the movie. “Gilded Rage” is the second movie in pre-production, and is based on a true story about the murder of the investment banker Thomas Gilbert in New York City.
No Time To Die
This is a long expected Bond movie in which Christoph Waltz will reprise his role as Ernst Stavro Blofeld, the antagonist from the previous instalments. His appearing in the movie was uncertain until the trailer was released in December last year. He will be the first Spectre mastermind actor to play more than once. The reason why Waltz’s role was questionable is because of his statement that he will not accept it without Daniel Craig as James Bond. Waltz was a big fan of James Bond movies when he was young.
This will be the 25th installment of the James Bond movie and will be this premiered this fall.The director of the movie is Cary Fukunaga. He is the first American director in James Bond movie and also the first from Asian heritages/decent. Thus upcoming sequel is the longest from all of the franchise.
Christoph Waltz’s Personal Life
Christoph Waltz has married twice so far. His first marriage lasted for 17 years. He was married to a psychotherapist from New York City. They lived in London and had three kids together before they divorced.
Waltz is currently married to his second wife, a German costume designer Judith Holste. They have a daughter, born in 2005. They live in Berlin, but Waltz often travels to Los Angeles and London because of his work. He speaks fluently German, English and French. He has four children from his two marriages.
