Paul Walker
Paul William Walker IV was an American actor. He was best known for his role as Brian O'Conner in the Fast & Furious franchise.
Paul Walker began his career as a child actor in the 1980s, gaining recognition in the 1990s after appearing in the television soap opera The Young and the Restless; he received praise for his performances in the teen comedy She's All That and the comedy-drama Varsity Blues, and rose to international fame by starring in The Fast and the Furious.
He also starred in the commercially successful road thriller Joy Ride, becoming an action star. He followed this with the box-office disappointments Into the Blue and Running Scared. However, he earned praise for his performance in the survival drama Eight Below and for his portrayal of Hank Hansen in Flags of Our Fathers. Outside of these, Walker largely appeared in low-budget action films, but starred in the commercially successful heist film Takers.
Walker died in a single-vehicle collision on November 30, 2013, as a passenger in a speeding Porsche Carrera GT. His father and daughter filed separate wrongful death lawsuits against Porsche, which resulted in settlements. At the time of his death, Walker had not completed filming Furious 7 ; it was released after rewrites and stand-ins, including his brothers Cody and Caleb, were used to complete the film while the song "See You Again" by Wiz Khalifa and Charlie Puth was commissioned as a tribute.
Early life and education
Walker was born on September 12, 1973, in Glendale, California. His mother, Cheryl, was a fashion model, and his father, Paul William Walker III, was a sewer contractor and former amateur boxer who was a two-time Golden Gloves champion. Walker's paternal grandfather, William, had a short-lived boxing career as "Irish" Billy Walker, while another raced factory cars for Ford in the 1960s.Walker was raised in the Mormon religion, and had four younger siblings: Aimee, Ashlie, Caleb, and Cody. He spent most of his early life in the Sunland neighborhood of Los Angeles and graduated from high school at Village Christian School in 1991. Walker subsequently attended several community colleges in Southern California, majoring in marine biology.
Career
Walker began a modeling career as a toddler, starring in a television commercial for Pampers at age two. He continued to appear in commercials, most notably for Showbiz Pizza in 1984, before beginning an acting career on television that year, appearing in the teen anthology series CBS Schoolbreak Special. Walker continued to work in television until 1996, across several genres; he appeared in two episodes of the fantasy drama Highway to Heaven between 1984 and 1986, and secured his first leading role in 1986, appearing as Jeremy Beatty in the sitcom Throb. He continued to feature on sitcoms in the early 1990s, with guest roles in Charles in Charge, Who's the Boss?, and the short-lived What a Dummy. In 1993, he portrayed Brandon Collins on the soap opera The Young and the Restless; he and co-star Heather Tom, who played Victoria Newman, gained fame and were nominated for Outstanding Lead Actor and Actress in a Soap Opera at the Youth in Film Awards. Walker's final television role was on Touched by an Angel, although he appeared as himself, alongside his sister Ashlie, as contestants on a 1988 episode of the game show I'm Telling!, in which they finished in second place.Walker began his film career in 1986, appearing mainly in low-budget B films. His first role was in the horror comedy Monster in the Closet, and a year later, he starred in The Retaliator, a science fiction film. In 1994, he returned to film, starring in Tammy and the T-Rex, but secured his first feature film role in the comedy Meet the Deedles in 1998; although commercially and critically unsuccessful, it allowed Walker to secure supporting roles in the films Pleasantville, Varsity Blues, She's All That, and The Skulls.
In 2001, Walker's breakthrough role was starring opposite Vin Diesel in the action film The Fast and the Furious; it was commercially successful, and subsequently launched a media franchise. The film also established Walker as a film star and leading man, as his performance garnered the MTV Movie Award for Best On-Screen Team in 2002. Walker starred in the critically successful thriller Joy Ride. Walker was originally set to play Jim Street in S.W.A.T. and had even started training for the part, but backed out to reprise his role as Brian O'Conner in the 2003 sequel 2 Fast 2 Furious. The role of Jim Street went to Colin Farrell. After this, he starred either in low-budget or commercially unsuccessful films for a time, notably Timeline and Into the Blue.
File:Fast Five Cast 2.jpg|thumb|upright=1.15|Picture of Fast Five cast Dwayne Johnson, Ludacris, Jordana Brewster, Vin Diesel, and Walker with Natalie Morales for NBC's Today Show taken in April 2011
Walker portrayed Hank Hansen in Clint Eastwood's war film Flags of Our Fathers and starred in the survival drama 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 opening weekend. In 2007, Walker debuted as a producer in the action film The Death and Life of Bobby Z, in which he also starred. He would later go on to be an executive producer in the thriller film Vehicle 19 and produce the crime comedy film Pawn Shop Chronicles. Walker then starred in the independent film The Lazarus Project, which was released on DVD on October 21, 2008.
Despite initial reluctance, Walker reprised his role as Brian O'Conner after six years, in Fast & Furious. The film became the highest-grossing film in the franchise up until that point. He then reprised his role in the fifth and sixth installments of the franchise, which were commercially successful, while his performances were praised. Walker was nominated for Choice Movie Actor – Action at the 2011 Teen Choice Awards for the former, and nominated for Choice Movie: Chemistry and won his second MTV Movie Award for Best On-Screen Duo with Diesel for the latter. Walker also starred in the heist film Takers, and returned to modeling in 2011, appearing as the face of fragrance brand Cool Water. In 2012, he founded the film production company Laguna Ridge Pictures, which signed a first-look deal with Fast & Furious distributor Universal Pictures.
After he died in 2013, three films starring Walker were released; the thriller film Hours, which he also served as an executive producer, the action film Brick Mansions, itself a remake of the French film District 13. He also starred in the action film Furious 7 but died before he had wrapped up filming. It was originally set to release in 2014, but was pushed back to recreate Walker's likeness. At the time of his death, he had completed around 85% of his scenes. The filmmakers hired Peter Jackson's Weta Digital visual effects house to complete this, using existing reference materials, Walker's brothers Caleb and Cody, as well as co-star John Brotherton, as stand-ins, and outtakes or older footage, to create an accurate remodel of Walker's face. The film was then released in 2015, and Walker won the award for Choice Movie Actor: Action at the 2015 Teen Choice Awards, and was nominated for Choice Movie: Chemistry. Brick Mansions and Furious 7 were dedicated to Walker's memory.
Walker was also set to play Dawson Cole in Nicholas Sparks's film adaptation of The Best of Me and Agent 47 in the film adaptation Hitman: Agent 47 after wrapping up production of Furious 7, but died before both productions began. His roles went to James Marsden and Rupert Friend, respectively. It was later revealed Walker declined the role of Superman in Superman Returns, allegedly due to the "Superman curse" and the celebrity associated with the role. After Walker's death, the Fast & Furious franchise has paid tributes to him and his character in the movies, such as his character making an off-screen cameo appearance by driving a Nissan Skyline GT-R at the end of F9, which he also drove in Fast & Furious. Archive footage of Walker from Fast Five was used in Fast X as a flashback scene, and his character is set to return in Fast X: Part 2. He also posthumously received a star on Hollywood Walk of Fame in 2023.
Personal life
Raised in a Mormon household, Walker became a non-denominational Christian as an adult. He lived in Santa Barbara with his dogs. He and Rebecca Soteros, a childhood friend with whom he had an on-and-off relationship, had a daughter named Meadow Rain Walker. Meadow lived with her mother in Hawaii for 13 years and, in 2011, moved to California to live with Walker. Vin Diesel, Walker's close friend, is the godfather of Walker's daughter. At the time of his death, Walker was in a relationship with Jasmine Pilchard-Gosnell, whom he met when she was 16 and he was 33.In addition to Diesel, Walker was also close friends with fellow Fast & Furious co-star Tyrese Gibson.
He held a brown belt in Brazilian jiu-jitsu under Ricardo "Franjinha" Miller at Paragon Jiu-Jitsu and was awarded his black belt by Miller posthumously. Walker founded the humanitarian aid nonprofit charity Reach Out Worldwide with financial adviser Roger Rodas in response to the 2010 Haiti earthquake. He traveled to a number of disaster-stricken areas to supply aid until his death.
Walker had an interest in marine biology, and joined the board of directors of The Billfish Foundation in 2006. He fulfilled a lifelong dream by starring in the National Geographic Channel series Expedition Great White, which premiered in June 2010. Walker spent 11 days catching and tagging seven great white sharks off the coast of Mexico. The expedition, led by Chris Fischer, founder and CEO of Fischer Productions, and Brett McBride and Michael Domeier of the Marine Conservation Science Institute, took measurements, gathered DNA samples, and fastened real-time satellite tags to the great white sharks to study migratory patterns, especially those associated with mating and birthing, over five years.
File:Nissan Skyline - 2 Fast 2 Furious.JPG|thumb|Walker drove a R34 Nissan Skyline GT-R V-Spec in 2 Fast 2 Furious. He later owned the car.|alt=
A car enthusiast, Walker competed in the Redline Time Attack racing series in which he raced on the AE Performance Team driving a BMW E92 M3. His car was sponsored by Etnies, Brembo, Öhlins, Volk, OS Giken, Hankook, Gintani and Reach Out Worldwide. Walker had been preparing for an auto show prior to his death. Walker owned Always Evolving, a Valencia high-end vehicle performance shop, where Rodas, a pro-am racer, acted as CEO. Walker had a large collection of about 30 cars, a portion of which he co-owned along with Rodas. In January 2020, 21 vehicles owned by Walker were sold for a combined $2.33 million during spirited bidding at an annual car auction in Arizona.