Early life

Walker was born in Glendale, California, and was the son of Cheryl (née Crabtree), a fashion model, and Paul William Walker III, a sewer contractor and a fighter who was a two-time Golden Gloves champion.^[7][8][9] Paul’s paternal grandfather had a boxing career as “'Irish' Billie Walker”. Paul's ancestry was mostly English, with some German, Swiss,^[10] and Irish.^[11][12][13] One of his grandfathers raced factory cars for Ford in the 1960s.^[7] The oldest of five siblings, Walker was raised primarily in the Sunland community of Los Angeles and attended high school in the San Fernando Valley, graduating from Sun Valley's Village Christian School in 1991.^[14][15]He was raised as a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.^[8] After high school, Walker attended several community colleges in Southern California

Career

Walker began his small screen career as a toddler, when he starred in a television commercial for Pampers. He began modeling at the age of two and began working on television shows in 1985, with roles in shows such as Highway to Heaven, Who's the Boss?, The Young and the Restless, and Touched by an Angel. That same year, he starred in a commercial for Showbiz Pizza.^[17] Walker's film career began in 1986, with the horror/comedy film Monster in the Closet. In 1987 he appeared in The Retailiator (aka Programmed to Kill), a low budget cyborg action film, with Robert Ginty. He and his sister Ashlie were contestants on a 1988 episode of the game show I'm Telling!; they finished in second place. In 1993 he played Brandon Collins on the CBS soap opera The Young and the Restless. He and his co-star Heather Tom, who played Victoria Newman, were nominated for Outstanding Lead Actor and Actress in a soap opera at the Youth in Film Awards. In 1998, Walker made his feature film debut in the comedy Meet the Deedles, which finally gained him fame. This subsequently led to supporting roles in the movies Pleasantville (1998), Varsity Blues (1999), She's All That(1999), and The Skulls (2000).

Walker drove a Nissan Skyline GT-Rin 2 Fast 2 Furious.

In 2001, Walker's breakthrough role arrived when he starred opposite actor Vin Diesel in the successful action film The Fast and the Furious, the first film in the franchise. The film established Walker as a notable film star and leading man and led to his reprise of the role in the 2003 sequel 2 Fast 2 Furious. He continued his career with leading roles in films such as Joy Ride (2001), Into the Blue (2005), andTimeline (2003); he had a supporting role in Clint Eastwood's adaptation of Flags of Our Fathers (2006).