Adam McKay
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Adam McKay is a writer and film director. He was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania in 1968 and is one of the founding members of the Upright Citizens Brigade improv comedy group and a former performer at Chicago's ImprovOlympic theater. While a member of the mainstage cast at Second City, he wrote and performed in that company's landmark revue, Pinata Full of Bees. In several politically charged sketches, McKay played characters like Noam Chomsky as a substitute kindergarten teacher, and a hapless personnel manager trying to inform a corporate vice president (Scott Adsit) of some disastrous IQ test results without losing his own job. (The latter performance was excerpted in Second City's 25th anniversary compilation.)
McKay auditioned for Saturday Night Live as on-camera talent, but didn't make the cut. However, the scripts he submitted to the show earned him a job as writer from 1995 to 2001, including three years as head writer. He also directed several popular short films for the show. McKay also encouraged former Second City castmate Tina Fey to submit some of her scripts to Saturday Night Live, and she later succeeded him as head writer for that show.
After leaving Saturday Night Live, he teamed with comedian Will Ferrell to write the feature films Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy (2004), and Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby (2006), both of which he also directed.
Since May 2005, he has been a contributing blogger at The Huffington Post.
He has been married to actress and director Shira Piven (the sister of actor Jeremy Piven) since 1996. They have two children.
