Early life Kilmer was born in Los Angeles, California to Eugene Kilmer and Gladys Ekstadt, the second of three sons; the family has Scottish, Irish, Sephardic Jewish, Cherokee Native American (from a paternal great-grandmother), Swedish, German and distant Mongolian ancestry.Kilmer's paternal grandfather was a gold miner in New Mexico; the poet Joyce Kilmer is a second cousin of Kilmer's. Kilmer grew up in the San Fernando Valley with his two siblings, older brother Mark and younger brother Wesley. During Kilmer's teenage years, his brother Wesley drowned in the family's swimming pool, an incident that Kilmer claims to have inspired his later performance in The Salton Sea. Kilmer, who was raised a Christian Scientist, attended Chatsworth High School, as well as Hollywood's Professional's School. At the age of seventeen, he was at the time the youngest person to be accepted into Juilliard's drama program, where he trained alongside now well-known actors Kevin Spacey and Mare Winningham. Personal life Kilmer was married to Joanne Whalley, an actress and former lead singer of Cindy & the Saffrons, from March 1988 to February 1996. The two met while working together on the film Willow. They share two children, daughter Mercedes, born in 1991, and son Jack, born in 1995. Kilmer is regarded as "difficult" by some in the industry, including director John Frankenheimer, who worked with Kilmer on The Island of Doctor Moreau. Frankenheimer reportedly became so angry that he had Kilmer physically escorted from the set of his film, later commenting "At my age there are two things I will never do, climb Mount Everest or work with Val Kilmer ever again!", as well as "If I were making the Val Kilmer story, I wouldn't cast Val Kilmer!" Following their appearance together in Top Gun, Kilmer and co-star Tom Cruise reportedly have taken their on-screen conflict off-screen. Reports have classified the two as holding a vitriolic hatred of one another, with Kilmer even refusing to participate in a charity beach volleyball game starring the movie's cast with Cruise on the foundation that he was "dangerous", after which Tom Cruise and he physically assaulted each other for almost five minutes before it was broken up. Reports have also surfaced in regards to incidents of continual harrasment and further fighting, including Tom Cruise mocking Val Kilmer on the set of Batman Forever and Val Kilmer vandalizing Tom Cruise's motorcycle around the release time of Eyes Wide Shut. Warwick Davis, Kilmer's co-star from the 1988 fantasy Willow, defended Kilmer in his audio commentary for the film, describing Kilmer as a very funny man who was also a hard working and dedicated actor.

Val Kilmer's Photos