"You can't always do the extraordinary, in between you have to do the ordinary. Because if you didn't, what would constitute the extraordinary?"
Christoph Waltz (born 4 October 1956 in Vienna) is an Austrian-German actor.
His career revolved mainly around theatre and television in German-speaking Europe... until he was cast as SS Standartenführer Hans Landa (a.k.a. "The Jew Hunter") in Quentin Tarantino's Inglourious Basterds, a groundbreaking role that brought him international fame and acclaim. He has been regularly cast as a villain or mentor figure ever since. He is fluent in German, French, and English and speaks all three of the languages by himself in both Tarantino movies he appeared in.note
Waltz has also won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor twice so far, for his roles in the aforementioned Tarantino movies.
His roles include:
- Friedrich Nietzsche in Wahnfried (1986)
- A German spy in Goldeneye: The Secret Life of Ian Fleming (1989)
- Dr. Hans Joachim Dorfmann in The Gravy Train (1990)
- Martin Wolf in Inspector Rex (1994)
- SS Standartenführer Hans Landa in Inglourious Basterds (2009)
- Benjamin Chudnofsky in The Green Hornet (2011)
- August Rosenbluth in Water for Elephants (2011)
- Cardinal Richelieu in The Three Musketeers (2011)
- Alan Cowan in Carnage (2011)
- Dr. King Schultz in Django Unchained (2012)
- Mandrake in Epic (2013)
- Qohen Leth in The Zero Theorem (2013)
- Walter Keane in Big Eyes (2014)
- Franz Oberhauser/Ernst Stavro Blofeld in two James Bond films
- Spectre (2015)
- No Time to Die (2021)
- Léon Rom in The Legend of Tarzan (2016)
- Dusan Mirkovic in Downsizing (2017)
- Cornelius in Tulip Fever (2017)
- Dr. Dyson Ido in Alita: Battle Angel (2019)
- Ulrich Mott in Georgetown (2019)
- Death in Woody Allen's Rifkin's Festival (2020)
- Boris Schommers in The French Dispatch (2021)
- Count Volpe in Guillermo del Toro's Pinocchio (2021)
- Max Borlund in Dead For A Dollar (2022)
- Regus Patoff in The Consultant (2023)
Tropes associated with him:
- As Himself: In Muppets Most Wanted, playing the special guest in the Muppets' Berlin show.
- Chronically Killed Actor: Well, not every time, but it sure adds up. Even his more heroic roles aren't safe. At least one of his roles allows him to play not only a bona-fide (anti)hero, but keeps him alive in the end.
- Multiple Languages, Same Voice Actor: He frequently dubs his English-speaking roles in other languages, most notably in German (obviously) and in French.
- Faux Affably Evil: Extremely skilled at playing murderous, monstrous villains who are capable of politeness when needed.
- Smug Smiler: One of his characteristic traits are his slightly tilted lips, giving this impression. It's very effective when he's playing villains.
- Soft-Spoken Sadist: Hero or villain, his characters rarely raise their voices or sound rude. Doesn't makes them any less capable... or deadly.
- Wicked Cultured: When he plays villains, they tend to be cultured and versed in several languages.
