Christoph Waltz is an acclaimed Austrian-German actor known for his compelling performances in both European and Hollywood films.
Born on October 4, 1956, in Vienna, Austria, he grew up in a family deeply rooted in the arts.
His father, Johannes Waltz, was a German-born stage builder who passed away when Christoph was just seven years old, and his mother, Elisabeth Urbancic, was an Austrian costume designer of Austrian and Slovenian descent.
After his father’s death, his mother remarried composer and conductor Alexander Steinbrecher, which connected the family to additional artistic circles.
Waltz studied acting at the Max Reinhardt Seminar in Vienna and later at the Lee Strasberg Theatre and Film Institute in New York.
He holds Austrian, German, and American citizenship, having acquired the latter in 2020.
Siblings
Christoph has three siblings, including Johannes Waltz and Martin Waltz.
The family background is steeped in theatrical and artistic traditions, which likely influenced Waltz’s own path in the performing arts.
Additionally, through his mother’s remarriage to Alexander Steinbrecher, who had previously been married to the mother of renowned director Michael Haneke, Waltz gained Michael Haneke as a stepsibling.
Career
Waltz’s career began in the late 1970s with roles in German television and theater, where he honed his skills on stages in Vienna, Salzburg, Cologne, and Hamburg.
He appeared in numerous German TV productions throughout the 1980s and 1990s, including the British series The Gravy Train in 1990.
In 2000, he made his directorial debut with the German TV film Wenn man sich traut.
His international breakthrough arrived in 2009 with Quentin Tarantino’s Inglourious Basterds, where he portrayed the chilling SS officer Hans Landa, a role that catapulted him to global fame.
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This collaboration with Tarantino continued in 2012’s Django Unchained, in which he played the bounty hunter Dr. King Schultz, a part specifically written for him.
Waltz’s versatility shone in subsequent films such as The Green Hornet in 2011 as a gangster, Water for Elephants that same year, Roman Polanski’s Carnage in 2011, The Zero Theorem in 2013, Big Eyes in 2014 as Walter Keane, Downsizing in 2017, Alita: Battle Angel in 2019, and The French Dispatch in 2021.
He took on the iconic villain Ernst Stavro Blofeld in the James Bond films Spectre in 2015 and No Time to Die in 2021, and appeared as Captain Leon Rom in The Legend of Tarzan in 2016.
Beyond acting, Waltz directed opera productions like Der Rosenkavalier from 2013 to 2014 and Falstaff from 2017 to 2018 at the Vlaamse Opera, and he starred in and directed the 2019 crime film Georgetown, released in 2021.
In television, he earned recognition for the web series Most Dangerous Game in 2020 and The Consultant in 2023.
More recently, in 2024, he starred in Old Guy, and he is set to appear in upcoming projects including Frankenstein and Dracula: A Love Tale in 2025, as well as joining the cast of Only Murders in the Building for its fifth season as AI tycoon Bash Steed.
Waltz has also served on prestigious film festival juries, including at Cannes in 2013 and Berlin in 2014.
Accolades
Waltz has won two Academy Awards for Best Supporting Actor: first in 2010 for Inglourious Basterds and again in 2013 for Django Unchained.
Similarly, he secured two BAFTA Awards for Best Actor in a Supporting Role for the same films in those years.
His Golden Globe wins include Best Supporting Actor in a Motion Picture for Inglourious Basterds in 2010 and Django Unchained in 2013, with an additional nomination in 2015 for Best Actor in a Motion Picture – Musical or Comedy for Big Eyes.
Waltz received a Primetime Emmy Award nomination in 2020 for Outstanding Actor in a Short Form Comedy or Drama Series for Most Dangerous Game.
At the Cannes Film Festival, he was honored with the Best Actor Award in 2009 for Inglourious Basterds.
He also earned two Screen Actors Guild Awards in 2010 for Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Supporting Role and Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture, both for Inglourious Basterds.
Beyond these, Waltz has collected numerous critics’ choice awards, including from the New York Film Critics Circle, Boston Society of Film Critics, and Los Angeles Film Critics Association, along with other honors such as the Icon Award at the 2024 Newport Beach Film Festival.
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