Biography
Artist, actor, and stunt performer Walker Babington began his film career as a stunt performer in an attempt to bring a new, dynamic level of spectacle to his performance art. However, after training with the United Stuntmen's Association in 2012, Walker fell in love with the artistry of the stunt craft itself, and soon found himself driving a getaway van in a Nike ad, fighting on Steven Spielberg's battlefield, and stunt-doubling the likes of Oscar-winner Sam Rockwell.
After several years of fighting, falling, and taking bullets, he parlayed his stunt career into an acting one, playing a role (and of course, doing his own stunts) opposite Chris Pratt in Antoine Fuqua's 2016 remake of The Magnificent Seven.
Over the subsequent decade, Walker simultaneously plowed forward with his art, acting, and stunt careers.
Normally sporting his signature handlebar mustache, Babington often portrays ne'er-do-wells on the large and small screen who (thanks to his stunt abilities) frequently meet unsavory ends. He attempts to play these characters "as grounded and as despicable as possible," and loves the moment of justice when he gets to act out their undoing.
His acting career has led to dramatic roles opposite the likes of Will Smith, Holly Hunter, and Giancarlo Esposito, while his stunt career has seen his characters dispatched by actors like Pierce Brosnan, Michael B. Jordan, and Taron Egerton.
As an artist, Walker builds large-scale, dreamscape, folk-art sculptures, paints with sunlight and flamethrowers, and makes "creatively destructive" portraiture by exploiting the inherent deteriorative properties of his media. His work has been displayed in galleries, museums, and arts spaces across the US, in Central America, India, and the EU. His large-scale work has been featured in sculpture gardens as well as music & arts festivals such as Bonnaroo and Burning Man.
Realizing his dream of blending his artwork and stunt work, Walker once set his entire body on fire in the streets of New Orleans, scorching a "Fire Angel" into a panel of reclaimed wood.
He and his wife, director and screenwriter Shana Betz, live in New Orleans where Walker uses his unconventional woodworking skills to create fantastical Mardi Gras floats for their daughter.
