Christoph Waltz turns 70 after an acclaimed career and late Hollywood breakthrough

Actor and director Christoph Waltz turns 70 on Sunday, after a career spanning theatre, television and film that brought him two Oscars. The Vienna-born star’s achievements include celebrated roles in Quentin Tarantino films, ORF reports.

Born in Vienna on October 4, 1956, Waltz grew up in a family connected to the theatre. His father, Johannes Waltz, was a German stage designer, and his mother, Elisabeth Urbancic, was an Austrian costume designer. After his father died, Waltz was raised mainly by his grandparents in Vienna alongside two brothers and a sister.

Waltz made his stage debut as Amadeus at Schauspielhaus Zürich and went on to work at several theatres. In Austria, an early television appearance in the children’s programme “Am dam des”, in which he wore a rainbow-striped romper, became memorable. He later appeared in films including “The Roy Black Story” and “The Strange Behaviour of Sexually Mature City Dwellers in the Mating Season”, as well as television series such as “Derrick”, “Der Alte” and “Kommissar Rex”.

His international breakthrough came in 2009, when Tarantino cast him as SS officer Hans Landa in “Inglourious Basterds”. Waltz later played bounty hunter Dr King Schultz in “Django Unchained” (2012). He won the Oscar and a Golden Globe for best supporting actor for each role. Waltz said the Oscars gave him “total freedom” and an “indescribable feeling of happiness”.

He continued to play antagonists in films including “The Green Hornet”, “The Three Musketeers”, “Carnage” and “Big Eyes”. In 2015, he took the role of Franz Oberhauser, also known as Ernst Stavro Blofeld, in the James Bond film “Spectre”, and reprised it in “No Time to Die”. Waltz later said he was dissatisfied with his performance in “Spectre”, saying it was not what he had aimed for.

Waltz has also directed for film and opera. His 2013 production of Strauss’s “Der Rosenkavalier” and 2017 staging of Verdi’s “Falstaff” were followed by a 2020 production of “Fidelio” at Theater an der Wien. He became a US citizen in 2020, in addition to holding Austrian and German citizenship. He has lived primarily in Los Angeles since 2010 and is the father of four.