Val Kilmer was an American film actor born in 1959. He reached major milestones in his career with his performances in The Doors (1991), directed by Oliver Stone, and Batman Forever (1995). Known for his obsessive attention to detail, Kilmer was renowned for his deep immersion into the characters he portrayed.

Val Edward Kilmer was born on December 31, 1959, in Los Angeles, California, as the middle of three sons of Eugene Kilmer and Gladys Ekstadt. His older brother was named Mark Kilmer, and his younger brother Wesley Kilmer, who tragically drowned in the family swimming pool during Val Kilmer’s adolescence. Kilmer’s family heritage was diverse, including Scottish, Irish, Swedish, German, distant Mongolian roots, and Cherokee Native American ancestry through his paternal great-great-grandmother.

Raised in the San Fernando Valley, Kilmer attended Chatsworth High School and later Hollywood Professional School. At the age of 17, he became the youngest student ever accepted into the drama program at The Juilliard School in New York. There, he studied alongside future stars such as Kevin Spacey and Mare Winningham, with whom he shared three years of education.

In 1981, Kilmer appeared as both co-writer and lead actor in the play How It All Began at the New York Shakespeare Festival. He declined a role in Francis Ford Coppola’s The Outsiders and instead appeared in the educational television drama One Too Many, co-starring Michelle Pfeiffer. His early success on stage established him as a formidable theatrical talent.

Kilmer made his film debut in Top Secret! (1984), portraying rock singer Nick Rivers. He performed all the songs himself and even released an album under the character’s name. This was followed by a breakthrough role as Iceman, the rival of Tom Cruise, in Top Gun (1986). His career-defining transformation came with The Doors (1991), in which he portrayed Jim Morrison. For the role, Kilmer lost weight, grew his hair for six months, memorized Morrison’s lyrics word for word, and recorded demo tapes to convince Oliver Stone. Members of The Doors later admitted they struggled to distinguish Kilmer’s voice from Morrison’s.

By the mid-1990s, Kilmer had become one of his generation’s most respected actors. In 1995, he starred alongside Tommy Lee Jones, Jim Carrey, and Nicole Kidman in Batman Forever, becoming the second actor after Michael Keaton to portray Batman. The same year, he appeared in Michael Mann’s Heat, holding his own opposite Robert De Niro and Al Pacino. Throughout his career, Kilmer appeared in numerous acclaimed productions.

Known for recurring physical habits such as spinning coins or pens between his fingers and stroking his right hand during tense scenes, Kilmer never directed a feature film but wrote a screenplay based on the novel The Killer Inside Me. He often stated that directing this film was among his greatest ambitions.

In 1997, Empire magazine ranked Kilmer 62nd on its list of “The 100 Greatest Movie Stars of All Time.” He married singer Joanne Whalley of the band Cindy & the Saffrons on February 28, 1988, and the couple divorced on February 1, 1996. They had two children: Mercedes Kilmer (born 1991) and Jack Kilmer (born 1995).

In 2014, Kilmer was diagnosed with throat cancer and underwent radiation therapy, chemotherapy, and a tracheostomy procedure to assist breathing. Val Kilmer died of pneumonia on April 1, 2025, in Los Angeles, at the age of 66.

Filmography and Television Work:
Actor:
2022 – Top Gun: Maverick (Tom “Iceman” Kazansky) (Feature Film)
2021 – Riptide (Feature Film)
2021 – The Birthday Cake (Angelo) (Feature Film)
2020 – Paydirt (Sheriff Tucker) (Feature Film)
2020 – Soldier’s Heart (CJ) (Feature Film)
2019 – Jay and Silent Bob Reboot (Bluntman) (Feature Film)
2017 – Weightless (Feature Film)
2017 – The Snowman (Rafto) (Feature Film)
2014 – Tom Sawyer & Huckleberry Finn (Mark Twain) (Feature Film)
2014 – The Spoils of Babylon (General Cauliffe) (TV Series)
2013 – Planes (Echo) (Voice) (Feature Film)
2013 – Palo Alto (Stewart) (Feature Film)
2012 – Wyatt Earp’s Revenge (Wyatt Earp) (Video)
2011 – Twixt (Hall Baltimore) (Feature Film)
2011 – Kill the Irishman (Joe Manditski) (Feature Film)
2010 – MacGruber (Cunth) (Feature Film)
2009 – The Thaw (Dr. David Kruipen) (Feature Film)
2008 – Felon (John Smith) (Feature Film)
2008 – Delgo (Bogardus) (Voice) (Feature Film)
2006 – Déjà Vu (Andrew Pryzwarra) (Feature Film)
2005 – Kiss Kiss Bang Bang (Gay Perry) (Feature Film)
2004 – Alexander (Philip of Macedon) (Feature Film)
2003 – Wonderland (John Holmes) (Feature Film)
2002 – The Salton Sea (Danny Parker / Tom Van Allen) (Feature Film)
2000 – Pollock (Willem de Kooning) (Feature Film)
1999 – At First Sight (Virgil Adamson) (Feature Film)
1998 – The Prince of Egypt (Moses / God) (Voice) (Feature Film)
1997 – The Saint (Simon Templar) (Feature Film)
1996 – The Ghost and the Darkness (John Henry Patterson) (Feature Film)
1995 – Heat (Chris Shiherlis) (Feature Film)
1995 – Batman Forever (Bruce Wayne / Batman) (Feature Film)
1993 – Tombstone (Doc Holliday) (Feature Film)
1991 – The Doors (Jim Morrison) (Feature Film)
1988 – Willow (Madmartigan) (Feature Film)
1986 – Top Gun (Iceman) (Feature Film)
1985 – Real Genius (Chris Knight) (Feature Film)
1984 – Top Secret! (Nick Rivers) (Feature Film)

Source: Biyografiler.com