Just Like Brian O'Conner, Paul Walker's Life Was Too Fast, Too Furious

Documentarian Adrian Buitenhuis interviewed family members, friends, and colleagues to put together an emotional look on the late actor's life. The documentary, titled I Am Paul Walker, is set to premiere on August 11, 2018, on Paramount Network. 

"If you loved him the way we did, you would say, well, why him and not us?" Tyrese Gibson asks in the first moments of the trailer. Have the tissues ready.

Walker was an accomplished martial artist who held a brown belt in Brazilian jiu-jitsu. He studied for years under famed jiu-jitsu teacher Ricardo "Franjinha" Miller. After his death, Miller awarded Walker a posthumous black belt. Reflecting on Walker's fondness for the sport, Miller wrote:

"He always wanted to showcase jiu-jitsu in his movies. Rather than the punches and kicks so common to many action films, he wanted to use his movies as a stage for jiu-jitsu. Some of the jiu-jitsu techniques from our training sessions were utilized in the Fast and Furious series. Paul would always tell me that he did not just want to be known for fast cars. He wanted to be known for fast cars and jiu-jitsu. He wanted to be an ambassador for jiu-jitsu."

At a time when most of us were endlessly fascinated by our fingers and toes, Paul Walker was busy launching a career. At the ripe old age of two, he was already modeling and acting, with his first gig being a Pampers diapers commercial.

Walker didn't jump directly from diapers to drag racing; he put in his dues like most hardworking actors. By the mid-1980s, he had guest-starred in several television shows, providing the perfect launchpad for a career that would eventually reach stratospheric heights.

The Teen Choice Awards aren't exactly the Oscars, but they are a fun way for young people to honor the movies and celebs they find particularly entertaining. In 2003, Walker won a Teen Choice Award for "Best Movie Chemistry."

This is hardly surprising; with his ravishing good looks, there was rarely a time when Walker didn't smolder onscreen. What is surprising is who he shared the award with: his car. Yup, the bright green 2002 Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution VII he drove in 2 Fast 2 Furious is now an award-winning actor.

Monster in the Closet was a 1986 kids movie that featured an impressive cast of renowned character actors, including Stella Stevens, Paul Dooley, Claude Akins, and John Carradine. Playing the role of Professor Bennett was a newly-teenaged Paul Walker, who starred alongside an 11-year-old Sarah "Fergie" Ferguson as Lucy.

Monster was the first movie for both young performers. Blending horror and comedy in a surprisingly dark tale about serial murders committed in closets, it's still a creepy concept for viewers of any age.

Another aspect of Walker's life that was largely kept out of the public spotlight was his charity work. Namely, the star founded a disaster relief and humanitarian aid organization. After the devastating 2010 earthquake in Haiti, Walker started Reach Out Worldwide (ROWW), which contributes to relief efforts in the wake of various disasters. Walker's role was pretty hands-on, as he told the Daily Telegraph:

"I'd made a few runs into Port-au-Prince and was negotiating with the army to give me baby formula, tents, extension cords. I was hustling for everything."

ROWW lives on, continuing the good work started by Walker.