Val Kilmer Biography

Summary

"Val Edward Kilmer" (born December 31, 1959) is an American actor. A trained stage actor, Kilmer became well-known in the mid 1980s, after a string of appearances in comedy films, starting with "Top Secret!" (1984), then the cult classic "Real Genius" (1985), as well as blockbuster action films, including a role in "Top Gun" and a lead role in "Willow".

During the 1990s, Kilmer gained critical respect after a string of commercially successful and well reviewed films, including his roles as Jim Morrison in "The Doors", Doc Holliday in 1993's "Tombstone", and Batman in 1995's "Batman Forever". During the early 2000s, Kilmer appeared in several well-received roles, including "The Salton Sea", "Spartan", and an acclaimed supporting performance in "Kiss Kiss, Bang Bang".

Career

2000s

Kilmer's first role in 2000 was in the big budget Warner Bros. box office failure "Red Planet". That same year, he had a supporting role in the film "Pollock" and hosted "Saturday Night Live" for the first time. In 2002, he starred in the thriller "The Salton Sea", which was generally well-reviewed, but received only a limited release. The same year, he teamed with his "True Romance" co-star, Christian Slater, and the two starred in the low budget film, "Hard Cash", also known as "Run for the Money".

In 2003, Kilmer starred alongside Kate Bosworth in the drama/thriller "Wonderland", as well as appearing in "The Missing", where he again worked with "Willow" director Ron Howard. The next year, he starred in the thriller "Spartan", where he played a United States government secret agent who is assigned the task of rescuing the kidnapped daughter of the President. He received Delta Force-like training in preparation for the role. Subsequently, he had a role in the drama, "Stateside", and starred in the thriller "Mindhunters", which was filmed in 2003 but not released until 2005. He also appeared in the big budget Oliver Stone production, "Alexander", which received mixed reviews. Also in 2004, Kilmer returned to the theatre to play Moses in a Los Angeles musical production of "The Ten Commandments: The Musical", produced by BCBG founder Max Azria. The production played at the Kodak Theater in Hollywood. Kilmer had previously played Moses in the animated film "The Prince of Egypt".

Kilmer was in negotiations with Richard Dutcher (a leading director of Mormon-related films) to play the lead role in a film entitled "Prophet: The Story of Joseph Smith", although the project never materialized. Kilmer performed in "The Postman Always Rings Twice" on the London stage from June to September of 2005. In 2005, he starred in the action-comedy film "Kiss Kiss, Bang Bang". His performance was praised and the film was well reviewed, but the film received only a limited release. It later won the award as 'Overlooked Film of the Year' from the Phoenix Film Critics Society. In 2006 he reunited with director Tony Scott a third time for a supporting role opposite Denzel Washington in the box-office hit "Deja Vu". He will also star in the Lewis and Clark film opposite Bill Pullman.

Personal life

Kilmer grew up in Chatsworth, California next door to Roy Rogers and his wife, Dale Evans. He attended Chatsworth High School, where he appeared in numerous stage productions. At the time, he was the youngest person admitted to the drama program at The Juilliard School. Just before leaving for school, his younger brother, Wesley, passed away. Kilmer has described him as being 'brilliant' and 'a genius.' "

During his interview on Inside the Actors Studio, James Lipton informed the audience that Kevin Spacey transferred to Chatsworth High School and later attended Juilliard because he had seen Kilmer act in a play and was impressed. "

Kilmer was married to Joanne Whalley, an actress and former lead singer of Cindy & the Saffrons, from March 1988 to February 1996. The two met while working together on the film "Willow". They share two children, daughter Mercedes, born in 1991, and son Jack, born in 1995,

Jack was born without a name for 2 months.

Kilmer and Tom Cruise, with whom he starred opposite in "Top Gun", reportedly disliked each other a great deal off camera, much like their characters, and reportedly got into a fist fight when Kilmer refused to do a charity volleyball game opposite Cruise. Other actors have also noted that he prepares for his roles so extensively and meticulously, it is often done to the chagrin of cast and crew (although many have argued that this should be seen as a tremendous quality rather than a flaw). In addition, on the set of "The Island of Dr. Moreau", he and the director, John Frankenheimer, had an explosive argument on-set, after which Frankenheimer stated he would never work with Kilmer again. Moreover, Marlon Brando was reportedly so incensed at Kilmer's behavior on set that he snatched Kilmer's cell phone during a take and threw it away. It was reported that exactly the same was stated by Joel Schumacher, Kilmer's director for "Batman Forever" (hence Batman being recast with George Clooney).

Warwick Davis, Kilmer's co-star from the 1988 fantasy "Willow", defended Kilmer in his audio commentary for the film, describing Kilmer as a very funny man and a hard working, dedicated actor. He has now been cast in Davis' new movie, "Agent One-Half". Kilmer is also an avid musician, and will be releasing a CD in the fall of 2007, proceeds of which will go to his charity interests.

Kilmer owns a ranch in New Mexico where he hunts, hikes, fishes, and fly-fishes. Kilmer is also involved with The Wildlife Center of New Mexico and assists in rescuing animals and releasing them on his ranch.

Trivia

In 2007, Pop Punk/Comedy band Bowling For Soup released an album titled 'The Great Burrito Extortion Case', which featured a song called 'Val Kilmer'. It contains lyrics such as 'Give me Adam Sandler, Will Ferrell, Belushi and even Val Kilmer / He was funny in Real Genius / Top secret was funny too / But he sucked as Batman'.