9 things you probably didn’t know about Paul Walker

Last night while listening to one of the instrumentals in Pink Floyd’s found-in-the-gravel compilation The Endless River all I could think of was how a disintegrated band, even with few members passed away, made a powerful comeback-seemingly out of nowhere-almost from the other side. It was a surprise package for fans and the industry; something that only one in a million gets an opportunity to witness. And yet, as we breathe, Furious 7-the latest block-f’ing-buster on the box office-has Paul Walker rising back from the ashes like the proverbial phoenix.

As a tribute to him, we bring to you a list of 9 things you didn’t know about Paul Walker.

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• He was officially named Paul William Walker IV. His grandfather Paul William II was a professional boxer and also raced factory cars for Ford.
• His first stint with camera was when he was 2 years old and featured in a Pampers commercial. So it’s safe to say that he was a model before becoming an actor.
• Paul studied Marine Biology at a California community college. Who knows if his love for the ocean had overshadowed that for cars, he’d have been lecturing in universities.
• His passion for the ocean extended beyond college. He was featured on the National Geographic’s Expedition Great White in 2010, catching and tagging great white sharks off the coast of Mexico.
• That Paul was physically fit is common knowledge, but besides surfing, car racing and shooting for films he also practiced jiu-jitsu. He held the second highest brown belt in the martial art. He was awarded an honorary black belt posthumously.
• Paul Walker co-owned a performance shop called AE (Always Evolving) Performance and was a professional race driver. Roger Rodas, who had been driving the Porsche on the tragic day of his death, was the company’s CEO.
• He had 3 siblings, two younger brothers and a younger sister. The two brothers Caleb and Cody filled in as body doubles for Paul in a few action sequences in the Furious 7.
• Vin Diesel, who plays Paul’s screen brother-in-law in Fast & Furious, considered him as a brother off screen too, calling him affectionately ‘Pablo’. He even named his newly born daughter ‘Pauline’ after his friend.
• Few months before his death, Paul had suggested quitting acting for a few years and being a full time dad to his daughter Meadow. Meadow Rain Walker is 16 and is set to inherit Paul’s entire £15 million fortune.

From the May 2015 issue of FHM India.