The charming smile of the Fast and Furious family

“I’ve always wanted to race cars, ever since I was a young boy, as I think a lot of guys have.”

He once said so. He lived in that dream he had as a child, conquered the world from that dream, and ended his life in the midst of that dream. American actor Paul William Walker became famous through the movie ‘Varsity Blues’. He starred as Brian O’Conner, his character in the Fast and the Furious film series.

Walker was born on September 12, 1973, in Glendale, California, USA. He grew up in the San Fernando Valley of Los Angeles. His parents were Paul Walker 3, a sewer contractor, and Cheryl, a former fashion model. Walker was the second child in a family of two sisters and two brothers. After high school, Walker entered a number of community colleges, where he sought a degree in marine biology.

Walker first entered the field at the age of two through an advertisement. Since then he has been involved in various modelling acts and has been working in television programs since 1985. In 1986 he played a role in ‘Monster in Your Closet ‘ and entered the cinema through that film. Walker appeared on a number of television programs during the 1990s.
Among them,

Charles in Charge
Who’s the Boss?
The Young and the Restless
Varsity Blues
Highway to Heaven
are the main ones. He came to fame in the 1999 film Varsity Blues. He became the talk of the field with the 1986 film Monster in Your Closet. He was also talked about on TV through his role as Throb.

Walker began his full-time acting career in 1993. He then starred in the soap opera ‘The Young and the Restless’. He gained stability through the TV shows ‘Tammy and the T-Rex’ and the family comedy ‘Meet the Deedles’. After starring in the film ‘Pleasantville’ with Rees Witherspoon from the late 1990s, he continued to appear in films with her. Among them are;

She’s all that
Varsity Blues
The skulls are all pitched
Due to the old movies, he became a craze among the teenage audience.

The year 2001 was the turning point of his life. He played Brian O’conner in The Fast and the Furious. The film, which starred Walker alongside superstar Vin Diesel, grossed over $ 200 million at the box office. After that first film, Walker joined the series, The Fast and the Furious, which continued to be a spring-summer hit.
Two years after the first film, Franchise released its second film, 2 Fast 2 Furious, in 2003, which was even more popular and more successful than the first. This was followed by its third film in 2007, The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift, its fourth film in 2009, and its fifth film, Fast Five, in 2011. In 2013, its sixth film was released. At the time of Walker’s death, the seventh film in the series was being shot.

In addition to The Fast and the Furious, he also starred in other action movies.

Timeline (2003)
In to the Blue (2005)
Running Scared (2006)
The death and life of Bobby Z (2007)
Taker (2010)
Hours (2013)
Vehicle 19 (2013)
These are some of the movies among them.
He also starred in the children’s adventure movie Noel (2004). In 2006, he starred in Clint Eastwood’s war film ‘Flags of Our Father’, which showed his wide range as an actor. Walker starred in the independent film, ‘The Lazarus Project Wich’ was released on DVD on October 21, 2008. Meanwhile, Paul Walker was named the most beautiful man in the world in 2001.

Walker was 40 when he died. He travelled to Santa Clarita, California in November 2013 to attend a charity called ‘Reach out Worldwide’ to help those affected by Hurricane Haiyan in the Philippines. On November 30, he was traveling with his friend Roger Rodas, 38, in Rodas’ red 2005 porsche carrera GT when the car crashed. It is reported that the incident took place at around 3.30 pm. Rodas was also reported to be in the driver’s seat. The Los Angeles Country Sheriff’s Department said the car lost control and crashed on a power pole and a tree and caught fire killing the two on the spot. Early reports of Walker’s death have been confirmed by his publicist, Ame Van Iden. Roger Rodas, who died with Walker, had met Walker on a race track. He has been Walker’s financial advisor since 2007 and helped to establish reach out worldwide. Rodas was the CEO of always Evoling, a valencia performance shop for high-end vehicles.

At the time of Walker’s death, work on Brick Mansions’ film was completed and was released in 2014. At the time of his death he was involved in the filming of the seventh film in the series The Fast and the Furious. After his death, Walker’s two brothers, Caleh and Cody, who bear a close physical resemblance to Walker, enlisted his help to complete the film.
In scenes that the late Walker had to recreate, the brothers teamed up with visual effect artists to bring Walker back to life.

The Fast and Furious 7 was released on April 3, 2015, grossing $ 1.7 billion internationally, setting box office records.

Wiz Khalifa’s See You Again, Paul Walker’s song, which coincided with the film’s, received 5.2 billion views on Youtube and is still one of the most popular songs in the world today.

Among the awards he has won are;

MTV Movie Award for Best On-Screen Duo ( 2014, 2002 ) – The Fast and Furious 6, The Fast and Furious.
Teen Choice Award for Choice Movie Actor: Action/Adventure ( 2015 ) – Furious 7
Teen Choice Award for Choice Movie: Chemistry ( 2003) – 2 Fast 2 Furious
Young Hollywood Award for Exciting New Face – Male (2000)
Young Hollywood Award for New Stylemaker – Male ( 2001 )

Without Walker, The Fast and the Furious will be the ninth film in the series. The latest film F9 released in 2021. About that Vin Diesel said, “Ever, ever, ever. I never think I’m continuing the franchise in his absence. I always feel like I’m continuing the franchise in his honour.”

And also Walker had named Vin Diesel, Walker’s co-star and personal best friend, as the god-father of his only daughter, Meadow Rain Walker. Diesel also named his new daughter Pauline Sinclair Diesel after his friend in 2015, in memory of his friend.
Also referring to his memory, Diesel once said, “We walked into this bodega, and people just can’t believe that Dom and Brian are walking into a bodega”, Diesel recalled. One of the guys called him Brian. And when we left, and we were in the car, he said, “That’s my favourite thing. It’s my favourite thing when people call me Brian.”

However, it has been almost eight years since Paul Walker passed away. If he was alive, he would be celebrating his 48th birthday today. But he is not with us today. As Paul Walker once said, “There’s more than to life than movies.”
Rest in peace Paul Walker.