Biography
Family and Early Life
Paul William Walker IV was born on September 12th 1973 in Glendale, California. The eldest of four children to contractor Paul William Walker III and former fashion model Cheryl Walker, Paul grew up together with his brothers, Caleb, Cody and sister, Ashlie. Paul’s paternal grandfather, William Walker was a Pearl Harbor survivor and a Navy middleweight boxing champion, while his maternal grandfather commanded a tank Battalion that attacked Italy under General Patton in World War II.
With his mother’s connections in the industry Pauls modelling and television career began at the early age of two followed by a string of commercials and television appearances.
Entering his teenage years Paul’s experience had grown and with that came more opportunities including his first movie role in the 1986 children’s film ‘Monster in The Closet’ and a 23 episode run on tv series ‘Throb’. At the age of 14 Paul landed his first B-movie role in the 1987 film ‘Programmed to Kill’, this was followed by many more television appearances, most notably a reoccurring role on daytime soap ‘The Young and The Restless’ atop a film appearance in 1994’s ‘Tammy The T-Rex’. Throughout this time Paul also undertook part time modelling in between film roles.
After completing high school at Village Christian High School in Sun Valley California, Paul’s acting money came to use attending several community colleges in Southern California majoring in Marine Biology. However after receiving a role in an episode of ‘Touched by An Angel’ in 1996 Paul began to pursue acting full time.
Pauls Big Break
Paul’s roles in television began to gain him connections and an image in the industry and lead to his first major film role in ‘Meet The Deedless’ in 1986. Although the film set badly with critics the experience Paul gained paid off later that year with the release of ‘Pleasantville’ alongside Reese Witherspoon and Toby Maquire sparkeding a rise in fame. The following year supporting roles in ‘Varsity Blues’, ‘She’s All That’ and ‘Brokedown Palace’ were followed by a lead role in 2000’s ‘The Skulls’.
However it was not until Paul’s casting in the 2001 film ‘The Fast and The Furious’ that Paul sprung to stardom receiving a handful of minor nominations and awards and further film roles such as ‘Joy Ride’ (2001), ‘2 Fast 2 Furious’ (2003) and ‘Into The Blue’ (2005).
Parents Divorce and Fatherhood.
On November 4 1999, Paul and his then-girlfriend had a baby girl named Meadow Rain Walker. Paul and Meadow’s mother, Rebecca separated a years later, his daughter Meadow is currently living with her in Hawaii. Paul also has custody of his daughter whom he will visit and bring back to his home in Santa Barbara and Huntington Beach, California.
Paul’s parents Paul William Walker III and Cheryl Walker separated sometime around September 2004.
Film Industry Success
His job in the industry gained Paul a few new friends. Paul has formed a friendship with Tyrese Gibson, his co-star from 2 Fast 2 Furious, Jason Biggs from the movie Eight Below, his stunt double, Oakley Lehman whom he has been best friend with since he was 7 years old, and even Jessica Alba from Into the Blue.
Aside from that, Paul enjoys working out. His fighting scenes in the movies he has acted in eventually developed a passion for martial arts. Paul has studied a few forms of martial arts that include Jujitsu, Taekwondo, Jeet Kune Do and Eskrima. Paul mentioned in a magazine interview that he hopes to be able to enroll himself as a student in Keysi Fighting Method when it comes to the United States martial arts talent.
Other than practicing martial arts, Paul enjoys relaxing at home with his daughter, Meadow, surfing near his Huntington Beach abode, walking his dogs and just driving around with his car. When Paul seriously does get a break from the entertainment business, he says he loves traveling. So far, Paul has traveled to places like India, Fiji, Costa Rica, parts of Sarawak, Brunei, Borneo and even a few other parts in the Asian continent. Paul mentioned that he finds traveling a great way to free his mind from all the rush he gets working in the entertainment business and he gets to experience other people’s culture and their lives.