History Creator / ValKilmer

He was also the youngest actor ever accepted into Julliard's drama program for many years and is so far the only actor to play Batman who attended Drama school.

* BadassBaritone: His voice used to be very deep and smooth, before his battle with throat cancer reduced it to a weak rasp.

* Lt. Tom "Iceman" Kazansky in ''Film/TopGun'' (1986) and ''Film/TopGunMaverick'' (2020)

His career was almost completely sidelined by throat cancer, which he kept hidden for over a decade. Complications have resulted in the continued use of a tracheotomy tube that prevents him from speaking louder than a squeak. He's since shifted his focus towards painting and outreach programs to encourage students to pursue the arts and theater. He is also developing projects and curricula about Creator/MarkTwain, a personal hero of his.

* J.T. Barker in ''The Real [=McCoy=]'' (1993)

!! Tropes:

%%* ButNotTooWhite: He's of Cherokee and Mongolian descent. (Actually, he's of mixed French, German, Scots-Irish, English and Swedish descent.)

* SameLanguageDub: Starting with ''The Snowman'' all of his appearances have been dubbed due to his battle with throat cancer.

* VocalEvolution: He was noted for his deep, smooth voice. This became noticeably strained in the New Tens because of a tumor pressing against his vocal chords. Post-surgery complications have left him reliant on a tracheotomy tube and rendered his voice into a rasp.

* SameLanguageDub: Starting with The Snowman all of his appearances have been dubbed due to his battle with throat cancer.
* SmallNameBigEgo: [[http://whatculture.com/film/10-famous-actors-who-are-notoriously-difficult-to-work-with.php/11 Built himself a reputation]] [[http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/film/3614594/A-solitary-man.html for it.]] Creator/JoelSchumacher declared that "Val did me two great favors. When I wanted him to be Batman, he said yes. Then he created a situation which allowed me not to have him play Batman again". Creator/JohnFrankenheimer was even crueller (""There are two things I will never do in my life, I will never climb Mount Everest, and I will never work with Val Kilmer again. There isn't enough money in the world.") [[http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/films/features/val-kilmer--the-hollywood-bad-boy-done-good-7766422.html Apparently he's mellowed out]], culminating in some AdamWesting playing himself in Creator/HarmonyKorine's ''The Fourth Dimension''.

From 1988 to 1996 he was married to British actress Creator/JoanneWhalley, whom he met while filming the sword and sorcery film ''Willow'' (and would star opposite for a second time in the thriller ''Kill Me Again''). They had two children, daughter Mercedes and son Jack who is also an actor.

* Paul Pryzwarra in ''Film/DejaVu'' (2006)

[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/val_kilmer.jpg]]

* SmallNameBigEgo: [[http://whatculture.com/film/10-famous-actors-who-are-notoriously-difficult-to-work-with.php/11 Built himself a reputation]] [[http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/film/3614594/A-solitary-man.html for it.]] Creator/JoelSchumacher declared that "Val did me two great favors. When I wanted him to be Batman, he said yes. Then he created a situation which allowed me not to have him play Batman again". Creator/JohnFrankenheimer was even crueller ("“There are two things I will never do in my life, I will never climb Mount Everest, and I will never work with Val Kilmer again. There isn’t enough money in the world.”) [[http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/films/features/val-kilmer--the-hollywood-bad-boy-done-good-7766422.html Apparently he's mellowed out]], culminating in some AdamWesting playing himself in Creator/HarmonyKorine's ''The Fourth Dimension''.

* JOhn Cologne in ''Film/ColumbusDay'' (2008)

Val Edward Kilmer (born December 31, 1959) is an award winning actor known for playing [[Film/TopGun Iceman]] ([[NamesTheSame no]], not ''[[Franchise/XMen that]]'' Iceman), [[Film/TheDoors1991 Jim Morrison]], [[Film/{{Tombstone}} Doc Holliday]], [[Film/BatmanForever Batman]], and [[WesternAnimation/ThePrinceOfEgypt Moses]]. He ''really'' likes to prepare himself for his roles, as some of his fellow actors have noted.

* As himself in the autodocumentary ''Film/{{Val}}'' (2021). His son Jack reads the narration though it it from Val's perspective.

* As himself in the autodocumentary ''Film/{{Val}}''(2021). His son Jack reads the narration though it it from Val's perspective.

%%* ButNotTooWhite: He's of Cherokee and Mongolian descent. (Actually he's of mixed French, German, Scots-Irish, English and Swedish descent.)

Val Edward Kilmer (born December 31, 1959) is an award winning actor known for playing [[Film/TopGun Iceman]] ([[NamesTheSame no]], not ''[[Franchise/XMen that]]'' Iceman), [[Film/TheDoors1991 Jim Morrison]], [[Film/{{Tombstone}} Doc Holliday]], and [[Film/BatmanForever Batman]]. He ''really'' likes to prepare himself for his roles, as some of his fellow actors have noted.

For a time in the 90s it looked like Kilmer was going to become one of Hollywood's truly elite A-listers, especially after the success of ''Batman Forever''. However, his career began to slow after he developed a reputation for being difficult on set and appeared in a string of movies that did badly at the box office. Although he had a brief resurgence in the 2000's, with several critically acclaimed turns in smaller projects, his filmography began being filled with direct-to-DVD projects.

Fittingly, like the real Jim Morrison, Kilmer is a musician as well, having released a CD in 2007. Nowadays, he only appears in DirectToVideo material, sadly - this seems to be due at least in part to his unfortunate reputation of being [[ThePrimaDonna difficult to work with]]. Roles in more mainstream films are painfully rare.

* ButNotTooWhite: He's of Cherokee and Mongolian descent.

* J.T. Barker in ''Film/TheRealMcCoy'' (1993)

* Doc Holiday in ''Film/{{Tombstone}}'' (1993)

* SameLanguageDub: Starting with The Snowman all of his appearances have dubbed due to his battle with throat cancer.

[[quoteright:300:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/01_7.jpg]]

Val Edward Kilmer (born December 31, 1959 in Los Angeles, California) is an award winning actor known for playing [[Film/TopGun Iceman]] ([[NamesTheSame no]], not ''[[Franchise/XMen that]]'' Iceman), [[Film/TheDoors1991 Jim Morrison]], [[Film/{{Tombstone}} Doc Holliday]], and [[Film/BatmanForever Batman]]. He ''really'' likes to prepare himself for his roles, as some of his fellow actors have noted.

For a time in the 90s it looked like Kilmer was going to become one of Hollywood's truly elite A-listers, especially after the success of ''Batman Forever''. However, his career began to slow after he developed a reputation for being difficult and set and appeared in a string of movies that did badly at the box office. Although he had a brief resurgence in the 2000's, with several critically acclaimed turns in smaller projects, his filmography began being filled with direct-to-DVD projects.

* VocalEvolution: He was noted for his deep, smooth voice. This became noticeable strained in the New Tens because of a tumor pressing against his vocal chords. Post-surgery complications have left him reliant on a tracheotomy tube and rendered his voice into a rasp.

Val Edward Kilmer (born December 31, 1959) is an award winning actor known for playing [[Film/TopGun Iceman]] ([[NamesTheSame no]], not ''[[Franchise/XMen that]]'' Iceman), [[Film/TheDoors1991 Jim Morrison]], [[Film/{{Tombstone}} Doc Holliday]], and [[Film/BatmanForever Batman]]. He ''really'' likes to prepare himself for his roles, as some of his fellow actors have noted.

Val Edward Kilmer (born December 31, 1959) is an award winning actor known for playing [[Film/TopGun Iceman]] ([[NamesTheSame no]], not ''[[Franchise/XMen that]]'' Iceman), [[Film/TheDoors1991 Jim Morrison]], [[Film/{{Tombstone}} Doc Holliday]], and [[Film/BatmanForever Batman]]. He ''really'' likes to prepare himself for his roles, as some of his fellow actors have noted. For a time in the 90s it looked like Kilmer was going to become one of Hollywood's truly elite A-listers, especially after the success of ''Batman Forever'', but his career was sidelined by a cancer diagnosis he kept hidden for over a decade -- especially since the side effects from the treatments didn't do his looks any favors -- but he managed to keep working by taking smaller roles.