Paul William Walker IV (September 12, 1973 — November 30, 2013) was an American actor famous for playing Brian O'Conner in the The Fast and the Furious film series.
His career as an actor began when he was only a toddler, appearing in Pampers commercials. He had begun modeling at age 2 and by the mid-80s began doing roles in TV and film. His first film role as a lead came in 1998 with Meet the Deedles, though it was not a commercial success. He did a few more supporting roles until he was cast in what would be his breakthrough role as Brian O'Connor in The Fast and the Furious which help secure more leading roles in Hollywood films, including the sequel 2 Fast 2 Furious and Eight Below which were commercial successes as well as a supporting role in the Clint Eastwood directed Flags of Our Fathers. He would later reprise his role as Brian O'Connor in the fourth, fifth, sixth and seventh entries in the Fast and Furious franchise.
On November 30, 2013, Walker was riding as a passenger in his Porsche Carrera GT driven by his good friend Roger Rodas, when Rodas suddenly lost control of the car and it collided with a concrete lamp post and two trees, killing both Walker and Rodas instantly as the car burst into flames. He was only 40 years old. At the time of his death, Walker hadn't completed filming for Furious 7, and it was delayed for rewrites. The song "See You Again", performed by Wiz Khalifa and Charlie Puth, was commissioned for the Furious 7 Soundtrack as a tribute to Walker.
Filmography:
- Highway to Heaven as Todd Bryant/Eric Travers
- Monster in the Closet as Professor Bennett
- Charles in Charge as Russell Davis
- Who's the Boss? as Michael Haynes
- The Young and the Restless as Brandon Collins
- Tammy And The Trex as Michael
- Touched by an Angel as Jonathan
- Pleasantville as Skip Martin
- Varsity Blues as Lance Harbor
- She's All That as Dean Sampson
- Brokedown Palace as Jason
- The Skulls as Caleb Mandrake
- The Fast and the Furious series as Brian O'Conner
- Joy Ride as Lewis Thomas
- Timeline as Chris Johnston
- Into the Blue as Jared Cole
- Eight Below as Jerry Shepard
- Running Scared (2006) as Joey Gazelle
- Flags of Our Fathers as Hank Hansen
- Takers as John Rahway
- Hours (2013) as Nolan Hayes
- Brick Mansions as Damien Collier
Tropes associated with the actor:
- Badass Family: He came from a family of boxers, and was a Brown Belt in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu himself.
- Celebrity Elegy: "See You Again" by Charlie Puth and Wiz Khalifa was dedicated to Walker following his death and plays at the end of Furious 7 with a montage of Walker's scenes across the The Fast and the Furious movies.
- Character Outlives Actor: The crew of The Fast and the Furious series apparently couldn't bring themselves to kill Brian off, so they gave him an Earn Your Happy Ending.
- Creator Backlash: He absolutely hated The Death and Life of Bobby Z.
- Died During Production: Died before completing Furious 7.
- Fake Shemp: His younger brothers Cody and Caleb were used as stand-ins to complete his scenes for Furious 7.
- Hidden Depths: He majored in marine biology and helped out with tagging Great White Sharks for research. Not to mention that he was an avid environmentalist and humanitarian.
- In Memoriam: At the very end of Furious 7.
- Mr. Fanservice: While his films were mainly Rated M for Manly, they had a huge
Estrogen Brigade, which is not hard to know and see why. - Posthumous Credit: He died before the releases of Hours and Brick Mansions
- Production Posse: Frequently worked with Scott Caan. (Varsity Blues, Life Makes Sense If You're Famous, and Into the Blue).
- Real-Life Relative: A rather sad example. Two of his brothers were used as stand-ins to complete his scenes in Furious 7.
- So My Kids Can Watch: This was the reason he made Eight Below, as he wanted a film that his daughter, nephews, and nieces could watch at the movie premiere. It was released a week before the very, very, very dark and violent Running Scared (2006).
- Star-Making Role: As Brian O'Conner in The Fast and the Furious series.
- True Companions: With his The Fast and the Furious series co-stars, especially with Vin Diesel, who eventually became the godfather to Walker's daughter Meadow and gave her away at her wedding in his stead.
- What Could Have Been:
- Auditioned for the role of Anakin Skywalker but was too old for the part. He has said it was the only role he's ever really wanted. He would eventually co-star with Hayden Christensen, the actor eventually cast as Anakin, eight years later.
- Was set to star in S.W.A.T. (2003) as Jim Street but backed out. Colin Farrell was cast instead.
- Was considered for the role of Johnny Storm in Fantastic Four (2005). Chris Evans was cast instead. Interestingly, it also starred his Into the Blue co-star Jessica Alba.
- Was set to star in both The Best of Me (2014) and Hitman: Agent 47 (2015) after wrapping production of Furious 7 (2015), but sadly passed away before being able to film either of them. His roles went to James Marsden and Rupert Friend, respectively.
