Christoph Waltz facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Christoph Waltz
Waltz in 2017
Born	(1956-10-04) 4 October 1956 (age 68) Vienna, Austria
Citizenship	Austria (from mother) Germany (from father) US (naturalized in 2020)
Occupation	Actor
Years active	1977–present
Works	Full list
Spouse(s)	Jacqueline Rauch ​ (divorced)​ Judith Holste
Children	4
Relatives	Rudolf von Urban (grandfather)
Awards	Full list

Christoph Waltz (born October 4, 1956) is a famous actor from Austria and Germany. He is best known for playing interesting characters, often villains, in English-language movies. He has won many important awards, including two Academy Awards (also known as Oscars), two Golden Globe Awards, and two BAFTA Awards.

Christoph Waltz had a long career in German TV and theater before he became famous in Hollywood. His big break came in 2009 when he starred in Quentin Tarantino's movie Inglourious Basterds. In this film, he played a clever but dangerous character named Hans Landa. His performance was so good that he won an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor and the Cannes Film Festival Best Actor Award.

He worked with Quentin Tarantino again in the 2012 movie Django Unchained. This time, he played a kind bounty hunter named Dr. King Schultz. For this role, he won his second Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor. Christoph Waltz has also appeared in other popular movies like Big Eyes (2014), Alita: Battle Angel (2019), and as Ernst Stavro Blofeld in the James Bond films Spectre (2015) and No Time to Die (2021).

Early Life and Education

Christoph Waltz was born in Vienna, Austria, on October 4, 1956. His father, Johannes Waltz, was a set designer from Germany. His mother, Elisabeth Urbancic, was a costume designer from Austria. Christoph comes from a family with a strong background in theater. His grandmother, Maria Mayen, was a famous actress in plays and silent movies.

When he was young, Christoph loved opera. He would go to the opera house twice a week as a teenager. He even wanted to become an opera singer! However, he later decided his voice wasn't quite good enough for that career. Instead, he chose to study acting. He went to the famous Max Reinhardt Seminar in Vienna. He also studied singing at the University of Music and Performing Arts Vienna. Later, he spent time in New York City, where he learned acting from well-known teachers like Lee Strasberg and Stella Adler.

Christoph Waltz's Acting Career

After finishing his studies, Christoph Waltz started working as an actor in Europe. He performed in many plays in cities like Vienna, Salzburg, and Hamburg. He also appeared in many TV shows throughout the 1980s and 1990s. In 2000, he even directed his first TV show in Germany.

Breakthrough with Quentin Tarantino

Christoph Waltz became internationally famous for his role as Hans Landa in Quentin Tarantino's 2009 film Inglourious Basterds. Landa was a very smart and polite, but also very dangerous, Nazi officer. Tarantino himself thought the character might be too hard to play, but Waltz did an amazing job. Critics and audiences loved his performance.

For this role, he won the Best Actor Award at the 2009 Cannes Film Festival. He also won many other awards for Best Supporting Actor, including a Golden Globe, a Screen Actors Guild Award, and a BAFTA. The next month, he won the biggest award of all: the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor. Tarantino said that if he hadn't found Christoph, he might not have even made the movie!

Waltz in 2010

Christoph Waltz worked with Tarantino again in the 2012 movie Django Unchained. He played Dr. King Schultz, a German bounty hunter who helps a former slave. Tarantino wrote this role specifically for Waltz. Even though Waltz injured his pelvis before filming, it didn't stop him from giving another fantastic performance. He won another Golden Globe, BAFTA, and his second Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for this role.

Other Notable Films and Projects

After his success with Tarantino, Christoph Waltz starred in many other movies. He played a gangster named Benjamin Chudnofsky in The Green Hornet (2011). He also appeared in Water for Elephants and Roman Polanski's Carnage in the same year.

In 2014, he played Walter Keane in Tim Burton's film Big Eyes. He also took on the iconic role of Ernst Stavro Blofeld, a villain in the James Bond movies Spectre (2015) and No Time to Die (2021). Other films he has been in include The Legend of Tarzan (2016), Downsizing (2017), and Alita: Battle Angel (2019).

Besides acting, Christoph Waltz has also directed operas. He directed Der Rosenkavalier in 2013 and Falstaff in 2017. In 2019, he directed and starred in the crime film Georgetown. In 2023, he starred in the Amazon Prime series The Consultant.

Christoph Waltz's Personal Life

Waltz and his wife, Judith Holste, at the 82nd Academy Awards in 2010

Christoph Waltz was born in Vienna to an Austrian mother and a German father. He has citizenship in both Austria and Germany. In 2020, he also became an American citizen. He has three children with his first wife, Jacqueline Rauch, who is a dance therapist. They were married for 17 years. Christoph is now married to Judith Holste, a German costume designer, and they have a daughter together. They live in Berlin, Vienna, and Los Angeles.

Selected Films of Christoph Waltz

See also

In Spanish: Christoph Waltz para niños

• List of Austrian Academy Award winners and nominees
• List of German Academy Award winners and nominees