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Benjamin Edward Stiller (born November 30, 1965) is an Emmy-winning American
comedian, actor, film producer and director. He is 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 Night at the Museum and his next upcoming film is
The Heartbreak Kid.
Stiller has a total gross of $1.38 billion throughout his film career and is a core
member of the comedic acting brotherhood known as the Frat Pack. With multiple
cameos in music videos, television shows, and films, he 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, Starsky & Hutch, Meet the
Parents, and its two sequels, Meet the Fockers and Little Fockers.
 Early
life
Stiller was born in New York City and grew up in Manhattan, the second child of
famous comedians Jerry Stiller and Anne Meara, who frequently took him on the sets
of their appearances, including an appearance on The Mike Douglas Show when he was
six. He admitted in an interview that he considered his childhood unusual: "In some
ways, it was a show-business upbringing—a lot of traveling, a lot of late
nights—not what you'd call traditional." His older sister, Amy Stiller, was also an
actress, and she appeared in his movie "Dodgeball" in a short scene as a waitress
at a restaurant. 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 television series Kate McShane. After being inspired by the
television show Second City Television while in high school, Stiller realized that
he wanted to get involved with sketch comedy.
In 1983, after graduating from the Calhoun School in New York, he enrolled as a
film student at the University of California, Los Angeles and he became a member of
the Beta Theta Pi fraternity. 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.
Beginning
career
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 by the cast and crew of the play 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. The film featured him in a send-up of Tom
Cruise's 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. However, since the show did not want him to make any more short
films for the show, he left after five shows. He then put together Elvis Stories, a
short film about a fictitious tabloid focused on recent sightings of Elvis Presley.
The film starred fellow friends and co-stars John Cusack, Jeremy Piven, Mike Myers,
Andy Dick, and Jeff Kahn. The film was considered a success, and led him to develop
another film entitled Back to Brooklyn for MTV, a music video cable television
network. MTV was so impressed with the film that they offered Stiller a weekly show
where he would show behind-the-scenes footage of comedy television shows. The show
parodied various television shows, music stars, and films. The show also starred
(and launched the careers of) his frequent collaborators Andy Dick, Janeane
Garofalo, and Bob Odenkirk. Although the show was canceled after its first season,
it would lead 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.
Directorial
debut
After a few film roles in the early 1990s such as Stella, Highway To Hell, and a
cameo in The Nutt House, Stiller devoted his time on writing, raising funds,
recruiting cast members, and directing Reality Bites. The film was produced by
Danny DeVito (who would later direct Stiller's 2003 film Duplex and produce the
2004 film Along Came Polly) and Stiller also acted in the film, which was praised
by some critics. He joined his parents in the family film Heavyweights, where he
played two different roles, and then had a brief uncredited role in Adam Sandler's
Happy Gilmore. Next, he had lead roles in If Lucy Fell and Flirting with Disaster
before he would made his next directorial effort with, The Cable Guy starring Jim
Carrey. Stiller once again featured in his own film as two twins. The film received
mixed reviews and performed poorly at the box office, but was noted for being the
film for which the highest salary was paid to a star for their work in just one
film, Jim Carrey receiving $20 million for his work in the movie. The film would
also connect Stiller with future Frat Pack members Jack Black and Owen Wilson. Also
in 1996, Stiller was invited by MTV to host the VH1 Fashion Awards. Along with SNL
writer Drake Sather, developed a short film for the awards about a male model known
as Derek Zoolander. It was so well received that Stiller developed another short
film about the character for the 1997 VH1 Fashion Awards and finally developed the
skit into a film.
Personal
life
Stiller is 5 ft 8 in tall and left-handed. Stiller dated several actresses during
his early television and film career including Jeanne Tripplehorn, Janeane
Garofalo, Calista Flockhart, and Amanda Peet. 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. The couple
appeared onscreen together in Zoolander and Dodgeball: A True Underdog Story. He
and Taylor currently reside in Hollywood Hills and have a daughter, Ella Olivia,
born April 10, 2002, and a son, Quinlin Dempsey, born July 10, 2005.
Stiller is a supporter of the Democratic Party and donated money to John Kerry's
2004 U.S. Presidential campaign. In February 2007, Stiller attended a fundraiser
for Barack Obama's 2008 U.S. Presidential campaign. Stiller is also a supporter of
several charities including Declare Yourself, the Elizabeth Glaser Pediatric AIDS
Foundation, and the Starlight Starbright Children's Foundation.
In a 1999 interview with GQ and later in a 2001 interview with Hollywood.com,
Stiller revealed that he had bipolar disorder, an illness he said that ran in his
family. In two interviews in November and December 2006, Stiller claimed that this
earlier interview's comment about the disorder was false. In one interview he said:
"I said jokingly in GQ that I was, like, crazy, and it came out as: Ben Stiller,
bipolar manic-depressive!"
Stiller frequently does impersonations of many of his favorite performers,
including Bono, Tom Cruise, Bruce Springsteen, and David Blaine.
On the December 18, 2006 broadcast of The Late Show with David Letterman, Stiller
revealed that he is a big fan of the original Star Trek television series and
enjoys the M&M's brand chocolate candies. He admitted in an interview with
Parade that Robert Klein, George Carlin, and Jimmie Walker were inspirations for
his comedy career.
Source : Some of the information on this page came
from a Wikipedia article and is licensed under the GNU Documentation
License. ©2008 www.geneticmatrix.com.
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Ben
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