Christopher Walken on stage and screen

Christopher Walken^[1] is an American actor, whose career has spanned over 50 years with appearances in theater, film, and television.^[2] He has appeared in over 100 movies and television shows, including A View to a Kill, At Close Range, The Deer Hunter, King of New York, Batman Returns, Pulp Fiction, Sleepy Hollow, True Romance, and Catch Me If You Can, as well as music videos by recording artists such as Madonna and Fatboy Slim.

Walken in 2008

Walken's early career was primarily in theater and television where he often played small roles. During this period of his career, Walken was credited as "Ken Walken" and later as "Ronnie Walken", until he finally settled on "Christopher Walken". He began acting in films in 1969 and, after a series of increasingly larger roles, won an Academy Award in 1978 as Best Supporting Actor for his role in The Deer Hunter. Since then, Walken has become a highly sought-after actor, typically performing in numerous films every year.

Walken has been a primary character in two film franchises: as Gabriel the fallen angel in The Prophecy series, and as Jacob Witting in the made-for-television films based on Patricia MacLachlan's Sarah, Plain and Tall novels. Other notable roles include Johnny Smith in The Dead Zone, Captain Koons in Pulp Fiction, and Frank Abagnale Sr. in Catch Me If You Can. He also sings and dances, as seen in some of his films including: Pennies from Heaven, Romance & Cigarettes, and Hairspray.

Film

Following his early (1950s) work in television and theater, Walken has acted primarily in films. This list includes credits in studio films, independent films, animated films, and television films. The list includes the 2001 short five-minute film Popcorn Shrimp which Walken wrote, produced and directed.^[3]

Year	Title	Role	Director	Notes
1966	Barefoot in Athens	Lamprocles	George Schaefer	[4]
1969	Me and My Brother	The Director	Robert Frank	[5]
	The Three Musketeers	John Felton	John Hirsch	[6]
1971	The Anderson Tapes	The Kid	Sidney Lumet	[7]
1972	The Happiness Cage	Private James H. Reese	Bernard Girard	[8]
1975	Valley Forge	The Hessian	Fielder Cook	[9]
1976	Next Stop, Greenwich Village	Robert	Paul Mazursky	[10]
1977	Annie Hall	Duane Hall	Woody Allen	[11]
	The Patrick Haggerty Story	Peace Corps Employee #1	Woody Allen	[12]
	Roseland	Russell	James Ivory	[13]
	The Sentinel	Detective Rizzo	Michael Winner	[14]
1978	Shoot the Sun Down	"Mr. Rainbow"	David Leeds	[15]
	The Deer Hunter	Nikanor "Nick" Chevotarevich	Michael Cimino	[16]
1979	Last Embrace	Eckart	Jonathan Demme	[17]
1980	Heaven's Gate	Nathan D. Champion	Michael Cimino	[18]
	The Dogs of War	James "Jamie" Shannon	John Irvin	[19]
1981	Pennies From Heaven	Tom	Herbert Ross	[20]
1983	Brainstorm	Dr. Michael Anthony Brace	Douglas Trumbull	[21]
	The Dead Zone	Johnny Smith	David Cronenberg	[22]
1985	A View to a Kill	Max Zorin	John Glen	[23]
1986	At Close Range	Brad Whitewood Sr.	James Foley	[24]
1987	Deadline	Don Stevens	Nathaniel Gutman	[25]
1988	Biloxi Blues	Technical Sergeant Merwin J. Toomey	Mike Nichols	[26]
	Homeboy	Wesley Pendergass	Michael Seresin	[27]
	Puss in Boots	Puss	Eugene Marner	[28]
	The Milagro Beanfield War	Kyril Montana	Robert Redford	[29]
1989	Communion	Louis Whitley Strieber	Philippe Mora	[30]
1990	King of New York	Frank White	Abel Ferrara	[31]
	The Comfort of Strangers	Robert	Paul Schrader	[32]
1991	All-American Murder	P.J. Decker	Anson Williams	[33]
	McBain	Bobby McBain	James Glickenhaus	[34]
1992	Batman Returns	Max Shreck	Tim Burton	[35]
	Day of Atonement	Pasco Meisner	Alexandre Arcady	[36]
	Mistress	Warren Zell	Barry Primus	[37]
1993	True Romance	Vincenzo Coccotti	Tony Scott	[20]
	Wayne's World 2	Robert C. "Bobby" Cahn	Stephen Surjik	[38]
1994	A Business Affair	Vanni Corso	Charlotte Brändström	[39]
	Pulp Fiction	Captain Koons	Quentin Tarantino	[20]
1995	Nick of Time	Mr. Smith	John Badham	[40]
	Search and Destroy	Kim Ulander	David Salle	[41]
	The Addiction	Peina	Abel Ferrara	[42]
	The Prophecy	Gabriel	Gregory Widen	[43]
	Things to Do in Denver When You're Dead	The Man With The Plan	Gary Fleder	[44]
	Wild Side	Bruno Buckingham	Donald Cammell	[45]
1996	Basquiat	The Interviewer	Julian Schnabel	[46]
	Celluloide	US Officer Rod Geiger	Carlo Lizzani	[47]
	Last Man Standing	Hickey	Walter Hill	[48]
	The Funeral	Raimundo Tempio	Abel Ferrara	[49]
1997	Excess Baggage	Ray Perkins	Marco Brambilla	[50]
	Mouse Hunt	Caesar	Gore Verbinski	[51]
	Suicide Kings	Carlo Bartolucci / Charlie Barret	Peter O'Fallon	[52]
	Touch	Bill Hill	Paul Schrader	[53]
1998	Antz	Colonel Cutter (voice)	Eric Darnell	[54]
	Illuminata	Umberto Bevalaqua	John Turturro	[55]
	New Rose Hotel	Fox	Abel Ferrara	Also co-producer[56]
	The Prophecy II	Gabriel	Greg Spence	Direct-to-DVD[57]
	Trance	Uncle Bill Ferriter	Michael Almereyda	[58]
1999	Blast from the Past	Calvin Webber	Hugh Wilson	[59]
	Kiss Toledo Goodbye	Max	Lyndon Chubbuck	[60]
	Sleepy Hollow	Headless Horseman	Tim Burton	[61]
	The Opportunists	Victor "Vic" Kelly	Myles Connell	[62]
2000	The Prophecy 3: The Ascent	Gabriel	Patrick Lussier	Direct-to-DVD[63]
2001	America's Sweethearts	Hal Weidmann	Joe Roth	[64]
	Joe Dirt	Anthony Benedetti / Clem Doore / Gert B. Frobe	Dennie Gordon	[65]
	Popcorn Shrimp		Christopher Walken	Short film; Also writer[66]
	Scotland, PA	Lieutenant McDuff	Billy Morrissette	[67]
	The Affair of the Necklace	Alessandro Cagliostro	Charles Shyer	[68]
2002	Catch Me If You Can	Frank William Abagnale Sr.	Steven Spielberg	[69]
	Engine Trouble	Rusty (voice)	Brad Barnes	Short film[58]
	Poolhall Junkies	Uncle Mike Flynn	Mars Callahan	[70]
	The Country Bears	Reed Thimple / Benny Bogswaggle	Peter Hastings	[71]
	Undertaking Betty	Frank Featherbed	Nick Hurran	[72]
2003	Gigli	Detective Stanley Jacobellis	Martin Brest	[73]
	Kangaroo Jack	Salvatore "Sal" Maggio	David McNally	[74]
	The Rundown	Cornelius Hatcher	Peter Berg	[75]
2004	Around the Bend	Turner Lair	Jordan Roberts	[76]
	Envy	"J-Man"	Barry Levinson	[77]
	Man on Fire	Paul Rayburn	Tony Scott	[78]
	The Stepford Wives	Mike Wellington	Frank Oz	[61]
2005	Domino	Mark Heiss	Tony Scott	[79]
	Romance & Cigarettes	Cousin Bo	John Turturro	[80]
	Wedding Crashers	William Cleary	David Dobkin	[81]
2006	Click	Morty	Frank Coraci	[82]
	Fade to Black	Brewster	Oliver Parker	[78]
	Man of the Year	Jack Menkan	Barry Levinson	[83]
2007	Balls of Fury	Feng	Robert Ben Garant	[84]
	Hairspray	Wilbur Turnblad	Adam Shankman	[85]
2008	Five Dollars a Day	Nat Parker	Nigel Cole	[86]
2009	The Maiden Heist	Roger Barlow	Peter Hewitt	[87]
2011	Dark Horse	Jackie	Todd Solondz	[73]
	Kill the Irishman	Alex "Shondor" Birns	Jonathan Hensleigh	[88]
2012	A Late Quartet	Peter Mitchell	Yaron Zilberman	[89]
	Life's a Beach	Roy Callahan	Tony Vitale	[90]
	Seven Psychopaths	Hans Kieslowski / The Quaker	Martin McDonagh	[91]
	Stand Up Guys	"Doc"	Fisher Stevens	[92]
2013	Gods Behaving Badly	Zeus	Marc Turtletaub	[93]
	The Power of Few	Doke	Leone Marucci	[94]
2014	Jersey Boys	Angelo "Gyp" DeCarlo	Clint Eastwood	[95]
2015	Joe Dirt 2: Beautiful Loser	Anthony Benedetti / Clem Doore / Gert B. Frobe	Fred Wolf	[96]
	One More Time	Paul Francis Lippman / Paul Lombard	Robert Edwards	[97]
	The Family Fang	Caleb Fang	Jason Bateman	[98]
2016	Eddie the Eagle	Warren Sharp	Dexter Fletcher	[99]
	Nine Lives	Felix Perkins	Barry Sonnenfeld	[99]
	The Jungle Book	King Louie (voice)	Jon Favreau	[100]
2017	Father Figures	Dr. Walter Tinkler	Lawrence Sher
2018	Irreplaceable You	Myron	Stephanie Laing	[101]
2019	The Jesus Rolls	The Warden	John Turturro
2020	The War with Grandpa	Jerry	Tim Hill
	Percy	Percy Schmeiser	Clark Johnson
	Wild Mountain Thyme	Tony Reilly	John Patrick Shanley
2024	Dune: Part Two	Shaddam IV	Denis Villeneuve
TBA	That's Amore!		Nick Vallelonga	Post-production

Television

In the beginning of his acting career, Walken had relatively small roles in episodes for a number of television shows. This list includes appearances in various episodes of fictional shows, while excluding appearances as himself on talk shows, interview shows, ceremonies, and the like.

Year	Show	Role	Run
1953	Wonderful John Acton[III]	Kevin Acton	Recurring character
1954	The Motorola Television Hour[III]		Episode: "The Muldoon Matter"
1954–1956	The Guiding Light	Michael "Mike" Bauer#1
1963	Naked City[III]	Chris Johannis / Brian Trust	2 episodes
1970	Hawaii Five-O	Walt Kramer	Episode: "Run, Johnny, Run"
1977	Kojak	Ben Wiley	Episode: "Kiss It All Goodbye"
1982	Who Am I This Time?	Harry Nash	Television film
1990–2023	Saturday Night Live	Himself (host) / various	8 episodes
1991	Sarah, Plain and Tall	Jacob Witting[102]	Television film
1993	Skylark	Jacob Witting [103]	Television film
1993	Scam	Jack Shanks	Television film
1999	Vendetta	James Houston[104]	Television film
1999	Sarah, Plain and Tall: Winter's End	Jacob Witting[105]	Television film
2003	Julius Caesar	Cato the Younger[106]	2 episodes
2014	Turks & Caicos	Curtis Pelissier	Television film
2014	Peter Pan Live![107]	Captain Hook	Live television special
2021–2024	The Outlaws	Frank Sheldon	13 episodes
2022–present	Severance	Burt Goodman	Main role[108]

^ III Credited as "Ronnie Walken".

Theater

In addition to acting for film and television, Walken has acted in numerous Broadway and off-Broadway theater productions. He has acted in more than 100 additional plays including some by Shakespeare.^[109] This list includes the most popular of them.

Year	Title	Role	Venue	Run
1952	The Climate of Eden[IV]	Berton	Martin Beck Theatre	November 13, 1952 – November 22, 1952
1958	The Visit[IV]	Karl Schill	Lunt-Fontanne Theatre	May 5, 1958 – July 5, 1958
			Morosco Theatre	August 20, 1958 – November 29, 1958
	J.B.[III]	David[V]	ANTA Playhouse	December 11, 1958 – October 24, 1959
1964	High Spirits[III]	musical ensemble	Alvin Theatre	April 7, 1964 – February 27, 1965
1965	Baker Street	One of the Killers	The Broadway Theatre	February 2, 1965 – November 30, 1965
			Martin Beck Theatre	November 3, 1965 – November 14, 1965
1966	The Lion in Winter	Philip Capet (King of France)	Ambassador Theatre	March 3, 1966 – May 21, 1966
	The Rose Tattoo	Jack Hunter	Billy Rose Theatre	November 9, 1966 – December 31, 1966
1967	The Unknown Soldier and His Wife	Unknown Soldier	Vivian Beaumont Theater	July 6, 1967 – September 16, 1967
			George Abbott Theatre	September 18, 1967 – November 12, 1967
1968	Romeo and Juliet	Romeo	Stratford Shakespeare Festival[110]
	A Midsummer Night's Dream	Lysander
1970	Lemon Sky[111]	Alan	Playhouse Theatre	May 17–31, 1970
1972	Enemies	Sintsov	Vivian Beaumont Theater	November 9, 1972 – December 16, 1972
1973	The Plough and the Stars	Jack Clitheroe		January 4, 1973 – February 10, 1973
	The Merchant of Venice	Bassanio		March 1, 1973 – April 7, 1973
1975	Sweet Bird of Youth	Chance Wayne	Harkness Theatre	December 29, 1975 – February 8, 1976
1984	Hurlyburly	Mickey	Ethel Barrymore Theatre	August 7, 1984 – June 2, 1985
1995	Him[112]	Elvis Presley, director, writer	New York Shakespeare Festival
2000	James Joyce's The Dead	Gabriel Conroy	Belasco Theatre	January 11, 2000 – April 16, 2000
2001	The Seagull	Sorin	Delacorte Theater	July 24, 2001 – August 26, 2001[113]
2010	A Behanding in Spokane	Carmichael	Schoenfeld Theatre	March 4, 2010 – June 6, 2010

Video games

Year	Title	Role
1996	Ripper	Detective Vince Magnotta
	Privateer 2: The Darkening	David Hassan
2003	True Crime: Streets of LA	Sergeant George[114]
2005	True Crime: New York City	Gabriel Whitting[115]

Music videos

• 1993 Madonna – "Bad Girl" as Madonna's Guardian Angel
• 1995 Skid Row – "Breakin' Down" as Gabriel from The Prophecy trilogy^{[citation needed]}
• 2001 Fatboy Slim – "Weapon of Choice" (also co-choreographer)

CD

• 1997 "The Raven" by Edgar Allan Poe on Closed on Account of Rabies

See also

• List of awards and nominations received by Christopher Walken