Waltz was born on 4 October 1956 inVienna,[4] the son of Johannes Waltz, a German set designer, and Elisabeth Urbancic, an Austrian costume designer of Austrian and Slovenian descent.[5][6][7] Waltz comes from a family of theatrical heritage: his maternal grandmother wasBurgtheater and silent film actress Maria Mayen, and his step-grandfather, Emmerich Reimers, and his great-grandfather, Georg Reimers, were both stage actors who also appeared in silent films.[6][8] Waltz's maternal grandfather,Rudolf von Urban, was a psychiatrist ofSlovene descent[5][a] and a student ofSigmund Freud.[11] Waltz's father died when he was seven years old[6] and his mother later married composer and conductor Alexander Steinbrecher.[12][13] Steinbrecher was previously married to the mother of directorMichael Haneke; as a result, Waltz and Haneke shared the same stepfather.[14]
Waltz had a passion for opera as a youth, having seen his first opera (Turandot withBirgit Nilsson in the title role) at around the age of ten. As a teenager, Waltz would visit the opera twice a week.[13] He was uninterested in theatre[6] and wished to become an opera singer.[11] After graduating from Vienna'sTheresianum,[6] Waltz went to study acting at the renownedMax Reinhardt Seminar.[15] At the same time, he also studied singing and opera at theUniversity of Music and Performing Arts Vienna, but eventually decided that his voice was not good enough for an opera career.[8][16] In the late 1970s, Waltz spent some time in New York City where he trained withLee Strasberg andStella Adler. He studied script interpretation under Adler and credits his analytical approach to her teaching.[8]
On his return to Europe, Waltz found work as a stage actor, making his debut at theSchauspielhaus Zürich.[17] He also performed in Vienna,Salzburg,Cologne andHamburg.[8][11] He became a prolific television actor in the years 1980 to 2000. In 2000, he made his directorial debut, with the German television productionWenn man sich traut.[18] In 1990, he played Dr. Hans-Joachim Dorfmann in the British TV seriesThe Gravy Train oppositeIan Richardson. The show is a story of intrigue and misdeeds set in the offices of theEuropean Union in Brussels.[19] In 2007, Waltz narrated theaudiobook ofRobert Sapolsky's German version ofA Primate's Memoir,Mein Leben als Pavian.[20]
The following month, he won theBAFTA for Best Supporting Actor,[23] and won theAcademy Award for Best Supporting Actor.[24][25] Tarantino acknowledged the importance of Waltz to his film by stating: "I think that Landa is one of the best characters I've ever written and ever will write, and Christoph played it to a tee. It's true that if I couldn't have found someone as good as Christoph I might not have madeInglourious Basterds".[26]
Waltz in 2010
Waltz played gangster Benjamin Chudnofsky inThe Green Hornet (2011); that same year, he starred inWater for Elephants andRoman Polanski'sCarnage. He played German bounty hunter King Schultz in Quentin Tarantino'sDjango Unchained (2012), a role Tarantino wrote specifically for Waltz.[27] During a training accident prior to filming, Waltz injured his pelvis, though it did not impact his role in the film.[28] His role garnered him acclaim once again, with Waltz winning the Golden Globe, the BAFTA, and ultimately the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor.
In July 2016, he portrayed lead villain Captain Leon Rom, a corrupt Belgian captain, inThe Legend of Tarzan.
In 2017, Waltz appeared in the filmsTulip Fever andDownsizing. In 2019, Waltz appeared in the action fantasyAlita: Battle Angel. He directed a production of the operaFalstaff, again at the Vlaamse Opera in Antwerp in late 2017, and inGhent in early 2018.
In 2018, Waltz agreed to play the leading role in a film adaptation of the novelThe Nazi and the Barber. He described the main role, that of mass murderer Max Schulz, as a "juicy role".[35]
In 2019, Waltz directed and starred in the crime filmGeorgetown, in which he portrays a man suspected of murdering his wife in order to raise his social status. The film premiered at the 2019Tribeca Film Festival and was released to cinemas on 14 May 2021.[36][37]
In March 2025, it was announced he would joinSeason 5 ofOnly Murders in the Building onDisney+. It was later confirmed that he would portray the recurring character of Bash Steed, an artificial intelligence tycoon and murder suspect.[42][43]
Waltz was born in Vienna to an Austrian mother and German father. Upon his birth his German father only requested a citizenship certificate of Germany. Being born to an Austrian mother, Waltz was Austrian by birthright, and requested his Austrian citizenship certificate in 2010, thus holding citizenships of both Austria and Germany, but considers that he also has a German passport a "legal, citizenship law banality".[3] Asked whether he felt Viennese, he responded: "I was born in Vienna, grew up in Vienna, went to school in Vienna, graduated in Vienna, studied in Vienna, started acting in Vienna — and there would be a few further Viennese links. How much more Austrian do you want it?"[44]He received American citizenship by naturalization in 2020 noting that he strongly believed "in this old dictum of no taxation without representation" as he was living in Los Angeles since 2010.[45]
Waltz has three children with his former wife, Jacqueline (née Rauch), a dance therapist originally from New York.[46] The two lived in London and their marriage lasted 17 years.[7][8] Waltz married his second wife, German costume designer Judith Holste, with whom he has a daughter. They divide their time between Berlin, Vienna and Los Angeles.[47][48]
^Lemke-Matwey, Christine (12 December 2013)."Christoph Waltz".Die Zeit (in German).Archived from the original on 28 April 2022. Retrieved2 February 2020.
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