Christoph Waltz

Christoph Waltz is one of the most acclaimed actors of his generation, and has been praised for his powerful and nuanced performances in films like Inglourious Basterds and Django Unchained. His versatile skills have landed him roles in both dramatic and comedic projects, and he is often hailed as a leading light of the new generation of European actors. Christoph Waltz was born in the small town of Graz, Austria to a Catholic family. His father, Josef Waltz, was a tax inspector and his mother, Johanna (née Sepp), was a housewife. Waltz was raised in a devout Catholic family and spent his early years performing in local theater productions. He studied acting at the Academy of Fine Arts Vienna, graduating in 1982. Waltz began his professional career in the late 1980s, appearing in a number of television films and short films. He made his feature film debut in the 1992 Austrian drama Lola rennt (Lola Runs), for which he was nominated for the Austrian Film Award for Best Actor. He soon gained international attention for his portrayal of SS Colonel Hans Landa in the German film Inglourious Basterds, for which he won the Best Actor Award at the Cannes Film Festival and the BAFTA, Golden Globe and Screen Actors Guild Award for Best Supporting Actor in 2009 and the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor in 2010. Since then, Christoph Waltz has appeared in a number of acclaimed films, including the dramas The Green Zone and Zero Dark Thirty, the comedies Django Unchained and The Dictator, and the biopic The Great Beauty. He is currently starring in the World War II drama The Fencer, and is in pre-production on the crime thriller The Hood, both of which are scheduled for release in 2017.