It's Sept. 12, 2015 and Paul Walker would have just turned 42.
The Fast and Furious series star died with friend Paul Rodas in a Nov. 2013 car crash, but on this, the late actor's birthday, it seems more appropriate to look back on the good times before his career was tragically cut short.
Walker, a Glendale, California native and the oldest of five siblings, was the son of fashion model Cheryl Crabtree Walker and two-time Golden Gloves champ Paul William Walker III. Paul started acting as a toddler, appearing first in a Pampers diapers commercial and later in an assortment of popular TV series and soap operas, including Who's the Boss?, Charles in Charge, and The Young and the Restless.
That last role earned Walker an Outstanding Lead Actor nomination from the 1993 Youth in Film Awards, though his big screen debut didn't come until five years later, with a co-starring role alongside Steve Van Wormer in director Steve Boyum's Meet the Deedles.
Deedles was a flop, but the exposure was enough to set Walker up with a series of supporting roles in Pleasantville, Varsity Blues, She's All That and The Skulls. These, in turn, set him up for his 2001 breakout, when he starred opposite Vin Diesel in the high-speed car chase blockbuster The Fast and the Furious.
Although Walker drifted away from the Fast series after the 2003 sequel 2 Fast 2 Furious, his star status was cemented. Walker had proven himself as a capable and adaptable performer, and he leveraged his first big success to land leading or key roles in a wide range of films, including Clint Eastwood's adaptation of Flags of Our Fathers, the crime thriller Running Scaredand Disney's family-friendly snow dog adventure, Eight Below.
On this anniversary of what was by all accounts a life well lived, Paul's brother Cody is working to raise money for his disaster relief fund, Reach Out WorldWide. The organization oversees "a network of professionals with first responder skill-sets" who are deployed to natural disaster zones, where they provide aid and expertise to local relief efforts.
"I don't know anyone that loves the ocean as much as Paul did. It will always remind me of him. So, on his birthday, that's where I'll be," Cody Walker told People. "We will have a small celebration for Paul with close friends and family – nothing big. Paul was a low-key guy."
A quick search through various social media networks shows timelines flooded with heartfelt remembrances of the late actor, though the most poignant ones come from some of those who knew him best.
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