paul walker biography

For other people named Paul Walker, see Paul Walker (disambiguation).
Paul Walker
PaulWalkerEdit-1.jpg
Walker in March 2009 at the Fast & Furious premiere in London's Leicester Square
Born     Paul William Walker IV
September 12, 1973[1]
Glendale, California, U.S.
Died     November 30, 2013 (aged 40)
Santa Clarita, California, U.S.
Cause of death
    Injuries sustained in a traffic collision
Resting place
    Forest Lawn Memorial Park (Hollywood Hills),
Los Angeles, California, U.S.
Court of Liberty, Gardens of Heritage, Lot 393
34.14413°N 118.31614°W[2]
Residence     Santa Barbara, California
Education     Village Christian School
Occupation     Actor
Years active     1985–2013
Net worth     $45 million (2013)[3]
Religion     Christianity[4]
Children     1
Website
www.paulwalker.com

Paul William Walker IV[5] (September 12, 1973 – November 30, 2013) was an American actor. Walker began his early career guest-starring in several television shows such as The Young and the Restless and Touched by an Angel. He would then gain prominence with breakout roles in coming-of-age and teen films such as She's All That and Varsity Blues. In 2001, Walker gained international fame for playing Brian O'Conner, one of the lead protagonists in the street racing action film The Fast and the Furious, and would reprise the role in its additional sequels. He also branched out in various films such as Eight Below, Into the Blue, Joy Ride and Takers.

Outside of acting, Walker was the face of The Coty Prestige fragrance brand Davidoff Cool Water for Men and starred in the National Geographic Channel series, Expedition Great White. He also founded his own charity, Reach Out Worldwide (ROWW), an organization providing relief efforts for areas affected by natural disasters.

Walker died in a single car-accident on November 30, 2013 alongside friend Roger Rodas. His films Hours and Brick Mansions were released posthumously and his final film Fast & Furious 7 is slated to be released on April 10, 2015.

Contents

    1 Early life and education
    2 Career
    3 Personal life
    4 Death
    5 Filmography
        5.1 Film
        5.2 Television
        5.3 Music videos
    6 Awards and nominations
    7 References
    8 External links

Early life and education

Walker, the son of Cheryl (née Crabtree), a fashion model, and Paul William Walker III, a sewer contractor and a fighter who was a two-time Golden Gloves champion,[6] was born in Glendale, California.[7][8] His ancestry was mostly English, with a smaller amount of German, and possibly Irish. His paternal grandfather, a professional boxer, had English immigrant grandparents.[9][10][11] One of his grandfathers raced factory cars for Ford in the 1960s.[6] The oldest of five siblings, Walker was raised primarily in the Sunland community of Los Angeles and attended high school in the San Fernando Valley, graduating from Sun Valley's Village Christian School in 1991.[12][13] He was raised as a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.[7] After high school, Walker attended several community colleges in Southern California, majoring in marine biology.[14]
Career

Walker began his small screen career as a toddler, when he starred in a television commercial for Pampers. He began modeling at the age of two 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. That same year, he starred in a commercial for Showbiz Pizza.[15] 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!; they finished in second place. In 1993 he played Brandon Collins on the CBS soap opera The Young and the Restless. He and his co-star Heather Tom, who played Victoria Newman, were nominated for Outstanding Lead Actor and Actress in a soap opera at the Youth in Film Awards. In 1998, 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 (1998), Varsity Blues (1999), She's All That (1999), and The Skulls (2000).
Walker at a convention in February 2006

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 first film in the franchise. 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 (2001), Into the Blue (2005), and Timeline (2003); he had a supporting role in Clint Eastwood's adaptation of Flags of Our Fathers (2006).

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.[16] During the filming of Running Scared, director Wayne Kramer stated that "[Walker] is that guy on some level"[17] 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."[17]

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.[18] Walker then appeared in the crime drama Takers, which began filming in early September 2008 and was released in August 2010.[19]

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.[20] 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).

Shortly after Walker's death, Hours, which he had completed earlier in 2013, was released on December 13, 2013. Another completed film, Brick Mansions, is set for release in May 2014. At the time of his death, Walker had been filming Fast & Furious 7, which was slated for release in July 2014. The film will now be completed and release in April 2015 by writing out Walker's character in the film's remaining scenes.[21] He was also set to play Agent 47 in the Hitman film adaptation but died before production began.[22]
Personal life
Paul Walker shared a close friendship with Tyrese Gibson

Walker lived in Santa Barbara with his dogs.[7][23] He and Rebecca Soteros,[24] a one-time girlfriend, have a daughter named Meadow,[25] who lived with her mother in Hawaii for 13 years and then moved to California to live with Walker in 2011.[26] He held a brown belt in Brazilian jiu-jitsu under Ricardo "Franjinha" Miller at Paragon Jiu-Jitsu[27] and was awarded with his black belt by Miller posthumously.[28]

Walker's first passion was marine biology; he joined the Board of Directors of The Billfish Foundation in 2006.[29] He fulfilled a lifelong dream by starring in a National Geographic Channel series Expedition Great White (later retitled Shark Men), which premiered in June 2010.[30][31] 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 took measurements, gathered DNA samples, and fastened real-time satellite tags to the great white sharks. This allowed Dr. Domeier to study migratory patterns especially those associated with mating and birthing over a 5-year period of time.[32]

In March 2010, Walker went to Constitución, Chile to offer his help and support to the people injured in the 8.8 magnitude earthquake that struck on February 27. He flew with his humanitarian aid team, Reach Out Worldwide, to Haiti to lend a helping hand to the 2010 Haiti earthquake victims.[33]

An avid car enthusiast, he competed in the Redline Time Attack racing series in which he raced an M3 E92 and was on the AE Performance Team. His car was sponsored by Etnies, Brembo Brakes, Ohlins, Volk, OS Giken, Hankook, Gintani, and Reach Out Worldwide.[34] Walker had been preparing for an auto show prior to his death.[35]

Roger Rodas became Walker's financial adviser in 2007 and helped to establish Reach Out Worldwide.[36] Rodas was the CEO of Always Evolving, a Valencia high-end vehicle performance shop owned by Walker.[37] Walker shared a close friendship with his The Fast and the Furious co-star Tyrese Gibson, who was his best friend.[38][39] [40]
Death
Walker drove a Nissan Skyline GT-R in 2 Fast 2 Furious.

On November 30, 2013, at approximately 3:30 p.m. PST, Walker and friend Roger Rodas, age 38, a former professional racer and who worked as Walker's financial adviser[41] left an event for Walker's charity Reach Out Worldwide for victims of Typhoon Haiyan[42][43] in Rodas' red 2005 Porsche Carrera GT. The car crashed into a concrete light pole and two trees on Hercules Street, a 45 mph speed zone near Kelly Johnson Parkway in Valencia, Santa Clarita, California, after which the vehicle burst into flames. The crash was caught on film by a security camera[42][44][45][46][47] Authorities determined that Rodas was driving the car, while Walker was the passenger.[48] The Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department declared both victims dead at the scene.[45][49] Rodas died of multiple traumatic injuries, while Walker died from the combined effects of traumatic and thermal injuries, according to the Los Angeles county coroner's office. Both of their bodies were burned beyond recognition.[48]

The curve where Walker and Rodas were killed is a popular spot for drifting cars.[50] The coroner's report stated that the 2005 Porsche Carrera GT may have been traveling at speeds up to 100 miles per hour (160 km/h) before the crash. The coroner's report further stated that no alcohol or drugs were found in the systems of either man.[51] Furthermore, it states that there were no hints on technical problems with the car and neither a damaged surface of the street nor parts on the street played a role in the accident.[52] Police investigated as to whether drag racing played a role, but were unable to find evidence of a second car's involvement.[53] Walker's family claims that reflectors on the road may have contributed to the crash, claiming this particular kind of Porsche would lose control if it comes into contact with even the tiniest bumps in the road at high speeds.[54] A piece of the car was stolen off the tow truck as the wreckage was towed away on a flatbed. Two men were arrested for grand theft.[55]

With Fast & Furious 7 in the middle of filming at the time of Walker's death, Universal announced an indeterminate hiatus on the production, citing a desire to speak with his family before determining what to do with the film.[56] His brother, Cody Walker, was asked to be the stand-in to complete this film.[57] Numerous friends and movie stars have posted tributes to Walker on social media.[58] Two weeks after his death, Walker's ashes were buried in a non-denominational ceremony at Forest Lawn Memorial Park – Hollywood Hills,[59] in the Courts of Liberty, Gardens of Heritage,