Christoph Waltz

Is fluent in English, French and German. Is skilled at mimicking Italian speech.

Made his stage debut at the Schauspielhaus in Zurich.

Is divorced from his first wife, Jackie, a psychotherapist. They have three adult children: Miriam, Leon and Rachel.

Studied acting at the Max Reinhardt -Seminar in Vienna and the Lee Strasberg Theater Institute in New York.

Son of set designers Elisabeth Urbancic and Johannes Waltz.

His grandparents were actors.

His son from his first marriage is a rabbi, a daughter from his first marriage is an architect.

Lives in London, but his longtime companion, costume designer Judith Holste , and their daughter live in Berlin.

Is one of 11 actors to have won the Academy Award, BAFTA Award, Critics Choice Award, Golden Globe Award and SAG Award for the same performance. The others in chronological order are Geoffrey Rush for Shine , Jamie Foxx for Ray , Philip Seymour Hoffman for Capote , Forest Whitaker for The Last King of Scotland , Javier Bardem for No Country for Old Men , Daniel Day-Lewis for There Will Be Blood and Lincoln , Heath Ledger for The Dark Knight , Colin Firth for The Kings Speech , Christopher Plummer for Beginners , and J.K. Simmons for Whiplash .

Was originally cast as Sigmund Freud in A Dangerous Method , but dropped out of the project in order to film Water for Elephants . Viggo Mortensen was later cast instead.

The first and, thus far, only actor to win an Oscar for acting in a Quentin Tarantino film. He received Best Supporting Actor for both Inglourious Basterds and Django Unchained .

His first wife, Jackie, was from New York and Jewish.

Despite being born in Austria, he was born with German citizenship (and kept it all his life) since his father was German.

Is one of four consecutive Oscar winners in the Best Supporting Actor category whose name begins with Chris, the other actors being Christian Bale and Christopher Plummer. Waltz won twice.

Counts Federico Fellini s 8 as one of his all-time favorite films, having seen it numerous times since his teens.

Both his Oscar-winning performances were directed by Quentin Tarantino. This makes him one of four actors to win two Oscars under the same persons direction. The other three are: Walter Brennan for Come and Get It and The Westerner (both directed by William Wyler ), Jack Nicholson for Terms of Endearment and As Good as It Gets (both directed by James L. Brooks ) and Dianne Wiest for Hannah and Her Sisters and Bullets Over Broadway (both directed by Woody Allen ).

As of 2013, he is only one of 6 actors who have a 2-0 winning record when nominated for an acting Oscar. The others are Luise Rainer for The Great Ziegfeld and The Good Earth ; Vivien Leigh for Gone with the Wind and A Streetcar Named Desire ; Helen Hayes for The Sin of Madelon Claudet and Airport ; Kevin Spacey for The Usual Suspects and American Beauty ; and Hilary Swank for Boys Dont Cry and Million Dollar Baby .

Is the only Austrian actor (born in Vienna) to win two Oscars.

He and Marcia Gay Harden are the only two actors to win an Oscar without receiving a SAG nomination for the same performance.

He loves opera. His favorite opera composer is Donizetti.

His stepfather Alexander Steinbrecher had previously been the stepfather of director Michael Haneke by his marriage to actress Beatrix Degenschild.

In 2013, he won the Best Supporting Actor Oscar for Quentin Tarantino s anti-slavery western Django Unchained , where he plays a bounty hunter who opposes the enslavement of the blacks. The next year, he presented the Best Supporting Actress Oscar to Lupita Nyongo , who won for her performance as a slave in Steve McQueen s anti-slavery drama 12 Years a Slave . In addition to this, his Oscar for Django was presented to him by Supporting Actress winner Octavia Spencer , who had been awarded the previous year for her performance in The Help , focused on the racism against blacks.

He was awarded a Star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 6667 Hollywood Boulevard on December 1, 2014.

He is the first actor to appear in the James Bond franchise to have won two Academy Awards.

He played the small part of a German spy in the British TV-Movie Goldeneye about the life of James Bond creator Ian Fleming. Waltz was an unknown actor then. Fleming was played by Charles Dance. 26 years later Waltz would appear in Spectre in the iconic role of James Bonds greatest villain: Ernst Stavro Blofeld.

Along with Christopher Walken in A View To A Kill and Javier Bardem (in Skyfall ), he is one of three Oscar-winning actors to play a main Bond villain. Benicio Del Toro , who appeared in Licence to Kill as a henchman of the main villain, won his Oscar after appearing in the Bond film.

Similar to Robin Williams , most of the villainous characters Waltz has played have been clean-shaven, while most of the protagonists he has played have sported beards or some form of facial hair.

He is the grandchild of the actress Maria Mayen.

Is one of six performers to win an Oscar playing a character that mostly spoke in a foreign language (for his performance in Inglourious Basterds ). The others are Sophia Loren , Robert De Niro , Roberto Benigni , Benicio Del Toro and Marion Cotillard.

Pictured on an 80c Austrian postage stamp issued 12 July 2017.

The piece of art -- the person, the performance, everything that leads,up to it -- is so difficult to separate from each other.

Thank you.

[on waiting 30 years to become an overnight success] That was my,experience, and it was very frustrating. These false dawns went on for,a long time. It feels like someone keeps trying to switch the light on,but the dimmer switch is broken. And then sometimes the bulb blows,altogether.

[on fame] As a motivation in itself, celebrity is foolhardy and stupid.

I do feel I can say - without smugness - that it feels good. I am,entitled. I am entitled to judge the situation and say that yes: It,feels good, and that yes, I agree with you. I feel like I served my,time. I feel like I paid [my dues].

[on director Roman Polanski] His process is diligent preparation, utmost,precision, and masterful execution.

I think in Europe, movies are made like a commodity and then sold as art. .