Val Edward Kilmer was born on December 31, 1959 in Los
Angeles, California. Kilmer is the son of Gladys (née Ekstadt) and Eugene
Kilmer, an aerospace equipment distributor and real estate developer. He grew
up in the San Fernando Valley with older brother Mark and younger brother
Wesley [1962–1977], who died at 15 due to an epileptic seizure in a swimming
pool. His parents divorced when he was nine years old. His father passed away
while Val was filming Tombstone. The poet Joyce Kilmer [1886-1918] is a distant
cousin of Kilmer. Kilmer attended Berkeley Hall School, a Christian Science
school in Los Angeles, until 9th grade. He then attended Chatsworth High School
as well as the Hollywood Professional School. At the age of 17, he became the
youngest person at the time to be accepted into the Juilliard School's Drama
Division, where he was a member of Group 10 (1977–1981).
Originally a stage actor, Kilmer became popular 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 the
blockbuster action film “Top Gun” (1986) and the swords and sorcery fantasy
film “Willow” (1988).
Some of his notable film roles include Jim Morrison in
Oliver Stone's “The Doors” (1991), Doc Holliday in the Western “Tombstone”
(1993), armed robber Chris Shiherilis in Michael Mann's crime saga “Heat”
(1995), Bruce Wayne/Batman in Joel Schumacher's “Batman Forever” (1995), Simon
Templar in “The Saint” (1997) and a meth-using informant in the 2002 crime
thriller “The Salton Sea”.
Kilmer’s lone Euro-western was playing a corpse in “Dead
Man’s Bounty” (2006).
Today we celebrate Val Kilmer’s 55th birthday.
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