He began acting around age seven, initially working as a catalogue model before moving into television. At age 10, he appeared in a sketch with Jerry Lewis and Dean Martin, an experience that inspired him to pursue acting seriously. In 1953, he played Kevin Acton in the sitcom Wonderful John Acton. From 1954 to 1956, he and his brother Glenn originated the role of Michael Bauer on the long-running soap opera The Guiding Light.
A pivotal moment in his look occurred in the mid-1950s. When he was around 15, his girlfriend showed him a photo of Elvis Presley. Walken was so struck by the singer's appearance that he styled his hair to match, and famously claims he hasn't really changed the hairstyle since.
When he wasn’t on a TV set, Ronnie was often helping out at Walken’s Bakery, the family business in Astoria owned by his German-immigrant father, Paul. There are several famous archival photos from 1955 showing Ronnie and his brothers rolling out pie crusts or having pillow fights in their Long Island home.
He didn’t become “Christopher” until 1964. A friend and fellow performer, Monique van Vooren, told him the name suited him better than “Ronnie,” and it stuck just as his adult career began to take off.
