1. He was Paul William Walker IV
He was the fourth Paul William in his family. His grandfather, Paul William II, was a professional boxer who went by the name "Irish Billy Walker.
2. He entered showbiz at the age of 2.
You won't find this on his IMDb page, but the star was first in front of the cameras for a Pampers commercial at the ripe age of 2. He started working on TV shows in his early teens.
3. He starred in his first movie at 13.
The year was 1986 and the movie was a horror/comedy movie called Monster in the Closet. Fergie was also in the movie. Walker played "Professor" Bennett, a cute kid with glasses.
4. He was linked to Jessica Alba.
Before Jessica Alba tied the knot with Cash Warren, she and Walker were rumored to be a hot couple. They met while filming their movie Into the Blue. Nothing ever came of the rumors.
5. He studied marine biology.
Walker studied marine biology in community college and said that he'd always planned to pursue it as a career before he got famous. He met Jean-Michel Cousteau, son of his childhood idol Jacques Cousteau, at a charity event earlier this year.
6. He was on a kiddie game show.
It was like Newlyweds, for siblings. Walker was on the very awesomely '80s show I'm Telling! with his younger sister, Ashlie. They finished in second place.
7. He won a Teen Choice Award with his car.
That's right, the 2003 Teen Choice Award for Choice Movie Chemistry went to the star and his car — from 2 Fast 2 Furious. He won Best On-Screen Team at the MTV Movie Awards in 2002 with Fast and the Furious co-star Vin Diesel.
8. He hung out with great whites.
The star's passion for the ocean extended beyond the classroom. He was a board member of the Billfish Foundation, which monitors the health of the ocean worldwide, and was featured on the National Geographic series Expedition Great Whitein 2010. He spent almost two weeks with a crew catching and tagging great white sharks off the coast of Mexico. You can see him in the black outfit at around the 40:00 mark in the clip on the right.
9. He launched his career playing a wacky surfer.
It was his role in the zany surfer comedy Meet the Deedles in 1998 that supposedly launched him into the spotlight, leading to his breakout role inPleasantville.
10. He earned a brown belt in jiu-jitsu.
It's unclear how he had time for all of his hobbies, but Walker earned the second-highest achievement in jiu-jitsu and was working his way toward a black belt. He said the sport also helped him to be a better surfer.