Val Kilmer
Birthdate: December 31, 1959 (66 Years Old)
Birthplace: Los Angeles, California, USA
Once pegged as a great hope for young American actors, and even a prodigy (he was at the time the youngest acting student to ever attend Julliard’s theater program), Val Kilmer (birthname: Val Edward Kilmer) has experienced dramatic highs and lows in an adventurous career. His life experiences have been enough to comprise perhaps the most personal, self-revealing, and accomplished documentary on an American actor’s life in recent decades, Val (2021).
Drawn to acting as a serious artist (Kilmer wrote and acted in a play, How It All Began, which transferred from Julliard workshops to the Public Theatre), Kilmer became a major movie star within a few years while retaining fairly radical method approaches, intentionally losing himself in the roles he took on.
After Julliard, Val Kilmer landed roles in comedies Top Secret! (1984) and, as a star, Real Genius (1985), but although he only joined the ensemble of Tony Scott’s Top Gun (1986), with Tom Cruise and Kelly McGillis, because of contractual obligations, his role as Iceman established him as a global star. Kilmer co-starred with future wife Joanne Whalley back to back in Ron Howard’s Willow (1988) and in John Dahl’s very good noir, Kill Me Again (1989).
Kilmer’s profile rose even higher in the early 90s; first as an extremely convincing Jim Morrison in Oliver Stone’s The Doors (1991), then as an FBI agent in Michael Apted’s fine contemporary Western, Thunderheart (1992), with Sam Shepard and Graham Greene; as Doc Holliday in Tombstone (1993) with Kurt Russell and Sam Elliott; and, to huge pre-release publicity, as Bruce Wayne/Batman in Joel Schumacher’s Batman Forever (1995), with Nicole Kidman, Chris O’Donnell, Jim Carrey, and Tommy Lee Jones.
This interesting period for Kilmer also included a striking appearance as Elvis Presley (just two years after his Jim Morrison!) in Tony Scott’s/Quentin Tarantino’s stylish True Romance (1993), with Christian Slater, and another strong supporting turn opposite Robert De Niro and Al Pacino in one of the decade’s key movies, Michael Mann’s Heat (1995).
Things took an unfortunate turn for Val Kilmer after this, with a disastrous collaboration with director John Frankenheimer and Marlon Brando on The Island of Dr. Moreau (1996); the critically lambasted The Ghost and the Darkness (1996) with Michael Douglas; a negligible attempt to revive The Saint (1997) as a hoped-for franchise, and the box-office bomb Red Planet (2000). It was enough to make a serious dent in Hollywood’s perception of Val Kilmer as a box-office name, along with some accounts of his “difficult” relationships with directors and actors: while Michael Mann reportedly loved Kilmer on Heat, John Frankenheimer vowed never to work with him again after Dr. Moreau.
Val Kilmer turned to noir for a modest career revival in the cult hit, The Salton Sea (2002) with Vincent D’Onofrio, and as porn star John Holmes in the effective true-crime Wonderland (2003), plus one of Ron Howard’s best movies, The Missing (2003) with Cate Blanchett, and David Mamet’s thriller, Spartan (2004), with William H. Macy and Kristen Bell. Kilmer reunited with Oliver Stone for one of the director’s uncharacteristic costume dramas, Alexander (2004) with Colin Farrell, and finished his major movie run with Shane Black’s crime drama-comedy, Kiss Kiss Bang Bang (2005) with Robert Downey, Jr.
With just a few exceptions—such as Tony Scott’s terrific Déjà Vu (2006), and Werner Herzog’s vivid Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans (2009) with Nicolas Cage—Val Kilmer and his movies after 2005 went generally nowhere commercially or artistically, and many of them went straight to video.
This included work with major directors like Francis Ford Coppola (the ignored Twixt in 2011), Terrence Malick (the endemic Song to Song in 2017), and Tomas Alfredson (the disappointing The Snowman in the same year). Val Kilmer notably continued working recovering from throat cancer from 2015 to 2017 and enduring severe damage to his voice, which was significantly repaired by 2021 due to new AI technology. Certainly, the arrival of the highly original autobiographical Val shifted the popular perception of Kilmer, and his return as Iceman in Top Gun: Maverick (2022) marks his first wide-audience appearance in familiar surroundings in well over a decade.
Val Kilmer Photos and Videos
Personal life
Known For
The Doors
Jim Morrison (1991)
The Saint
Simon Templar (1997)
Willow
Madmartigan (1988)
Val Kilmer Movies
Actor
Previous (20)
- 2022 |
Top Gun: Maverick
asAdm. Tom 'Iceman' Kazansky
More than thirty years after graduating from Top Gun, Pete Mitchell is still a Navy captain, still flying, and still refusing every promotion that would ground him. When a classified mission requires pilots trained beyond what's currently possible, Maverick is brought in to train them. Among the candidates is Lt. Bradley Bradshaw, call sign Rooster, the son of Goose, Maverick's partner. A legacy sequel about the cost of living in the past, the fear of losing the people you fly with, and what it takes to lead.
- 2022 |
- 2021 |
The Birthday Cake
asUncle Angelo
On the 10th anniversary of his father's death, Giovanni reluctantly accepts the task of bringing a cake to the home of his uncle, a mob boss, for a celebration. Just two hours into the night, Gio's life is forever changed.
- 2017 |
The Snowman
asRafto
Detective Harry Hole investigates the disappearance of a woman whose scarf is found wrapped around an ominous-looking snowman.
- 2017 |
Song to Song
asDuane
Two intersecting love triangles. Obsession and betrayal set against the music scene in Austin, Texas.
- 2017 |
- 2013 |
- 2005 |
Kiss Kiss Bang Bang
asGay Perry
After being mistaken for an actor, a New York thief is sent to Hollywood to train under a private eye for a potential movie role, but the duo are thrown together with a struggling actress into a murder mystery.
- 2000 |
Red Planet
asGallagher
Astronauts, and their robotic dog AMEE (Autonomous Mapping Evaluation and Evasion), search for solutions to save a dying Earth by searching on Mars, only to have the mission go terribly awry.
- 2000 |
- 1998 |
The Prince of Egypt
asMoses, God
Egyptian Prince Moses learns of his identity as a Hebrew and his destiny to become the chosen deliverer of his people.
- 1995 |
Batman Forever
asBatman
Batman must battle former district attorney Harvey Dent, who is now Two-Face and Edward Nygma, The Riddler with help from an amorous psychologist and a young circus acrobat who becomes his sidekick, Robin.
- 1995 |
- 1986 |
Top Gun
asIce
Pete Mitchell, call sign Maverick, is one of the most talented and reckless naval fighter pilots in the US Navy. He and his radar intercept officer, Goose, are sent to the elite Fighter Weapons School at Naval Air Station Miramar, where the country's best pilots compete to be number one. Maverick wants the top spot. He also wants the attention of an astrophysics instructor named Charlie. His attitude makes both harder than they need to be. An action drama about competition, ego, grief, and the cost of being the best!
- -- | as Dale
- -- | as Batman
- -- | as Hall Baltimore
- -- | as Self
- -- | as Hall Baltimore
- -- | as Moses, God
Cinematographer
Previous (1)
- 2021 |
Val
For over 40 years Val Kilmer, one of Hollywood’s most mercurial and/or misunderstood actors has been documenting his own life and craft through film and video. He has amassed thousands of hours of footage, from 16mm home movies made with his brothers, to time spent in iconic roles for blockbuster movies like Top Gun, The Doors, Tombstone, and Batman Forever. This raw, wildly original and unflinching documentary reveals a life lived to extremes and a heart-filled, sometimes hilarious look at what it means to be an artist and a complex man.
Producer
Previous (1)
- 2021 |
Val
For over 40 years Val Kilmer, one of Hollywood’s most mercurial and/or misunderstood actors has been documenting his own life and craft through film and video. He has amassed thousands of hours of footage, from 16mm home movies made with his brothers, to time spent in iconic roles for blockbuster movies like Top Gun, The Doors, Tombstone, and Batman Forever. This raw, wildly original and unflinching documentary reveals a life lived to extremes and a heart-filled, sometimes hilarious look at what it means to be an artist and a complex man.
Self
Previous (1)
- 2021 |
Val
For over 40 years Val Kilmer, one of Hollywood’s most mercurial and/or misunderstood actors has been documenting his own life and craft through film and video. He has amassed thousands of hours of footage, from 16mm home movies made with his brothers, to time spent in iconic roles for blockbuster movies like Top Gun, The Doors, Tombstone, and Batman Forever. This raw, wildly original and unflinching documentary reveals a life lived to extremes and a heart-filled, sometimes hilarious look at what it means to be an artist and a complex man.
Facts About Val Kilmer
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