Ben Stiller

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Ben Stiller
Birth name	Benjamin Edward Stiller
Born	November 30, 1965 (Age 41) New York, New York, USA
Notable roles	Gaylord Focker in Meet the Parents Derek Zoolander in Zoolander White Goodman in Dodgeball: A True Underdog Story
Spouse(s)	Christine Taylor

Benjamin Edward Stiller (born November 30, 1965) is an Emmy-winning American comedian, actor, and film director, the son of Jerry Stiller and Anne Meara, both of whom are veteran comedians and actors themselves. Ben Stiller's most recent role was in the film Tenacious D in: The Pick of Destiny, of which he was also a producer.

Stiller has a total gross of $1.38 billion throughout his film career^[1] and may be best known for his roles in films such as: There's Something About Mary, Zoolander, Dodgeball: A True Underdog Story, Mystery Men, Along Came Polly, Meet the Parents, and its sequel, Meet the Fockers.

Contents 1 Biography 2 Personal 3 Filmography 4 Salary 5 Trivia 6 See also 7 References 8 External links

[edit] Biography

Stiller was born in New York City and grew up in Manhattan, the second child of his famous comedy parents, who frequently took him on the sets of their appearances. He displayed an early interest in film making, making Super 8 movies with his sister and friends. At ten years old, he made his acting debut as a guest on his mother's series Kate McShane.

In 1983, he enrolled as a film student at the University of California, Los Angeles. Stiller lasted nine months before dropping out to relocate back to New York City as he made his way through acting classes, auditioning and trying to find an agent.

He landed a role in the Broadway revival of John Guare's The House of Blue Leaves, alongside John Mahoney, a play which later garnered four Tonys. During its run, Stiller produced a satirical mockumentary whose principal was fellow actor Mahoney. His comedic work was so well received that he followed up with a 10 minute short called "The Hustler of Money," a parody of the Martin Scorsese film The Color of Money featuring him in a send-up of Tom Cruise's Vince character and Mahoney in the Paul Newman role--only this time as a bowling hustler instead of a pool shark. The short got the attention of Saturday Night Live, which aired it in 1987, and two years later offered him a spot as a writer. In the meantime, he also had a bit part in Steven Spielberg's Empire of the Sun.

In 1989, Stiller wrote and appeared on a season of Saturday Night Live as a featured performer. He was offered his own vehicle on MTV as host and performer in a self-titled comedy sketch show, which led to The Ben Stiller Show on the Fox Network in 1992. The show lasted 12 episodes on FOX-- with a thirteenth unaired episode broadcast by Comedy Central in a later revival. Throughout its short run, the Ben Stiller Show frequently appeared at the bottom of the ratings, even as it garnered critical acclaim, eventually winning the Emmy for "Outstanding Individual Achievement in Writing in a Variety or Music Program" after it was cancelled. The show also starred (and launched the careers of) his frequent collaborators Andy Dick, Janeane Garofalo, and Bob Odenkirk.

Stiller directed both Reality Bites and The Cable Guy, to generally mixed reviews. Stiller put aside his directing ambitions to star in There's Something About Mary, which launched Stiller's career into the stratosphere. Another directorial effort, 2001's Zoolander was well-received, showing he could be a bankable star both behind the camera as well as in front of it.

In the parody self-help book they co-authored, Feel This Book, he and frequent co-star Janeane Garofalo wrote about, as they put it, their "train wreck of a relationship", but it was done with a tongue in cheek style. During much of the 1990s, he was involved with actress Jeanne Tripplehorn.

Although Stiller is best known for his film roles, he has appeared in many sitcoms, the earliest being the 1997 Friends episode The One With the Screamer playing Rachel's angry boyfriend 'Tommy'. In recent years he has made notable cameos in groundbreaking shows such as Arrested Development and Curb Your Enthusiasm, as well as the British sitcom Extras. In the latter two programs, Stiller appeared as a twisted version of himself: a Hollywood hotshot who is pithy, childish, and hot-tempered. In Arrested Development he took on the role of "Tony Wonder," a "cool" magician.

His film credits include a tyrannical nursing home employee in Happy Gilmore (his appearance in that film was uncredited), an evil fitness instructor named Tony Perkis in Heavyweights, a put upon attorney in Zero Effect and a second rate superhero in Mystery Men. He also appeared in dramatic roles as a slimy detective in Black and White and as drug-addicted writer Jerry Stahl in the film version of Stahl's Permanent Midnight.

In July 2006, Stiller announced he would be directing a comedy starring his wife as the lead role. The show will be featured on CBS and will use a single-camera format. Stiller will make several cameos as husband to his wife's character.^[2]

[edit] Personal

In May 2000, Stiller married Christine Taylor, whom he met while filming a never-broadcast television pilot for the FOX network called Heat Vision and Jack, starring Jack Black. Christine has also appeared alongside Ben Stiller in Zoolander and Dodgeball: A True Underdog Story. He and Taylor have a daughter, Ella Olivia, born April 10, 2002, and a son, Quinlin Dempsey, born July 10, 2005.

Amy Stiller, his older sister, is also an actress.

Princeton University's Class of 2005 inducted Stiller as an honorary member of the class during its "Senior Week" in April 2005.

In 2005, Stiller revealed that he has bipolar disorder, an illness he says runs in his family [1].

[edit] Filmography

Year	Title	Role	Other notes
2008	Madagascar 2	Alex	(voice)
2006
	Night at the Museum	Larry Daley
	The Mirror	Himself
	In Search of Ted Demme	Himself
	Tenacious D in: The Pick of Destiny	Guitar Store Dude
	School for Scoundrels	Lonnie	(cameo)
2005	Danny Roane: First Time Director	Himself
	Madagascar	Alex	(voice)
	Sledge: The Untold Story	Commander
2004	Meet the Fockers	Gaylord 'Greg' Focker
	Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy	Arturo Mendes	(cameo)
	Dodgeball: A True Underdog Story	White Goodman
	Envy	Tim Dingman
	Starsky & Hutch	David Starsky
	Along Came Polly	Reuben Feffer
2003	Nobody Knows Anything!	Peach Expert	(cameo)
	Duplex	Alex Rose
	Pauly Shore Is Dead	Himself	(cameo)
2002	Orange County	The Firefighter
	Run Ronnie Run	Himself
2001	The Royal Tenenbaums	Chas Tenenbaum
	Zoolander	Derek Zoolander	also Director
2000	Meet the Parents	Gaylord 'Greg' Focker
	Keeping the Faith	Rabbi Jake Schram
	The Independent	Cop
1999	Black and White	Mark Clear
	Mystery Men	Mr. Furious
	The Suburbans	Jay Rose
1998	Permanent Midnight	Jerry Stahl
	Your Friends & Neighbors	Jerry
	There's Something About Mary	Ted Stroehmann
	Zero Effect	Steve Arlo
1996	The Cable Guy	Sam Sweet/Stan Sweet	also Director
	Flirting with Disaster	Mel
	If Lucy Fell	Bwick Elias
	Happy Gilmore	Nursing Home Orderly
1995	Heavyweights	Tony Perkis/Tony Perkis Sr.
	2 stupid dogs	Tony Robbins-style character
1994	Reality Bites	Michael Grates	also Director
1992	The Nutt House	Pie Thrower	(cameo)
	Highway to Hell	Pluto's Cook/Attila the Hun
1990	Stella	Jim Uptegrove
1989	Next of Kin	Lawrence Isabella
	Elvis Stories	Bruce
	That's Adequate	Chip Lane
1988	Fresh Horses	Tipton
1987	Empire of the Sun	Dainty
	Hot Pursuit	Chris Honeywell
	Shoeshine

[edit] Salary

• Zoolander (2001) $2,500,000
• There's Something About Mary (1998) $3,000,000

[edit] Trivia

• Stiller spoofed David Blaine on Comedy Central's October 2006 Night of Too Many Stars.
• Stiller frequently does impersonations of many of his favorite performers, including U2's Bono, Tom Cruise (which he portrayed in an SNL short film from the late 1980s and in a Celebrity Jeopardy sketch when he came back to host Saturday Night Live in the late-1990s) and Bruce Springsteen.
• Stiller was featured in Limp Bizkit's video for their hit song "Rollin'," in which he gives the keys to friend Fred Durst and tells him "Don't scratch the car." He also appeared in the hidden track at the end of their album, Chocolate Starfish and the Hot Dog Flavored Water.
• Stiller also appears in Tenacious D's video "Tribute", in which he merely walks across the shot in the mall during the climax of the song.
• Stiller is left-handed.
• Stiller appears in Jack Johnson's music video, "Taylor," in which he runs over a chicken.
• Stiller is featured in P.Diddy's "Bad Boy for Life" video as P. Diddy's neighbor.
• Stiller has bipolar disorder. After unexplained mood swings during the making of Zoolander, he was quoted as saying, "I have not been an easygoing guy. I think it's called bipolar manic depression. I've got a rich history of that in my family." [2]
• Stiller is a supporter of the Democratic Party and donated money to John Kerry's 2004 U.S. Presidential campaign.[3]
• Stiller and his wife appear among the audience members caught on amateur camera footage during the Beastie Boys' 2006 in-concert movie Awesome: I Fuckin' Shot That!. Stiller is shown rapping along to one song, then in a brief vox pops-style interview during the closing credits.
• Stiller appeared in King Of Queens as Arthur's (father Jerry's character) father in a flashback.
• During one of the Monday nights on World Wrestling Entertainment's WWE RAW, Stiller made a special guest appearance. ^{[citation needed]}
• To date, Stiller has been in 9 movies with Owen Wilson. They include: The Cable Guy (1996), Permanent Midnight (1998), Heat Vision and Jack (1999) (TV), Meet the Parents (2000), Zoolander (2001), The Royal Tenenbaums (2001), Starsky & Hutch (2004), Meet the Fockers (2004), and Night at the Museum (2006).

[edit] See also

• Frat Pack
• The Ben Stiller Show

[edit] References

1. ^ www.usatoday.com. "Museum" exhibits funny pals. Retrieved on December 12, 2006.
2. ^ www.yahoo.com. Stiller, CBS down home for Taylor-tailored comedy. Retrieved on July 5, 2006.

[edit] External links

• Ben Stiller at the Internet Movie Database
• Ben Stiller at the Notable Names Database