He grew up in the San Fernando Valley with his two siblings, older brother Mark and younger brother Wesley. Kilmer is of German, Swedish, Irish, and Cherokee descent. Kilmer's grandfather was a gold miner in New Mexico the poet Joyce Kilmer is a second cousin of Kilmer's. Kilmer was born in Los Angeles, California, the son of Gladys (née Ekstadt) and Eugene Kilmer, an aerospace equipment distributor and real estate developer. During the early 2000s, Kilmer appeared in several well-received roles, including The Salton Sea, Spartan, and supporting performances in Kiss Kiss Bang Bang, Alexander, and as the voice of KITT in Knight Rider.
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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 blockbuster action films, including a role in Top Gun and a lead role in Willow.ĭuring the 1990s, Kilmer gained critical respect after a series of films that were also commercially successful, including his roles as Jim Morrison in The Doors, Doc Holliday in 1993's Tombstone, Batman in 1995's Batman Forever, Chris Shiherlis in 1995's Heat and Simon Templar in 1997's The Saint. He is a musician and model.ĭead's real name was "Per Yngve Ohlin" but his nickname "Pelle" was used in the film credit.Val Edward Kilmer (born December 31, 1959) is an American actor. The film premiered on Amazon Prime on Augfollowing a screening at the Cannes Film Festival. In reviewing the documentary, many critics noted the similarity in voice between Kilmer and his father as a young man. Kilmer also provided extensive narration for the 2021 documentary Val, which details the life of his father. He played Chet, a young film projectionist who proves vital to the investigation in the 2016 neo-noir crime buddy comedy film The Nice Guys, which was written and directed by Shane Black, who had previously worked with Kilmer's father Val on the 2005 crime buddy comedy Kiss Kiss Bang Bang. In April 2014, he filmed Len and Company with Juno Temple and Rhys Ifans. He intended for his acting job on Palo Alto to be a brief project before applying to colleges, but after the film's production he decided to enter acting full-time. Kilmer graduated from high school in 2013. The film was released in May 2014 to mostly positive reviews, and Kilmer's performance was described as "formidable", "naturalistic and sincere". Before filming Palo Alto when he was 16 years old, Kilmer had never acted before, and did not aspire to be an actor. After he was cast as Teddy, his father, actor Val Kilmer, joined the cast as the father of another character. Coppola filmed him as he read through the lines and this became his audition tape he eventually won the role. After he ran through a table read with her, she encouraged him to audition for one of the film's main roles, Teddy. She asked him to advise whether the dialog was an authentic reflection of "kids today". Career Ĭoppola asked him to review her script for Palo Alto, a film adaptation of James Franco's book of the same name which she also planned to direct. Kilmer grew up in Los Angeles and attended primary school at The Center for Early Education, where he met would-be filmmaker Gia Coppola (he was in the first grade she was in the sixth).
Kilmer, born to actors Joanne Whalley and Val Kilmer, was named after his mother.