Ben Stiller - Biography

Last Editor: princess_x_hanna				Ben Stiller Biography -   Name : Ben Stiller Birth Date : November 30, 1965 Birth Place : New York, New York, USA Education : University of California at Los Angeles (majored in Film; attended for nine months; dropped out) Nationality : American Profession : Actor, director, producer, writer Wife : Christine Taylor (actress; engaged in November 1999; married on May 13, 2000 in Kauai, Hawaii) Claim to fame : as Ted Stroehmann in There's Something About Mary (1998)

Ben Stiller Trivia -

Ben produced a short film parody of The Color of Money (1986) entitled "The Hustler of Money" which got him noticed by "Saturday Night Live" (1975) who eventually offered him employment there. He is the brother of Amy Stiller. He got engaged to Christine Taylor. [November 1999] Longtime girlfriend was Jeanne Tripplehorn. He is a major fan of Tom Cruise and has impersonated Tom for many years. He even portrayed Tom Cruise's fictitious crazed stunt double, Tom Crooze, on 2000 MTV Movie Awards (2000) (TV) on a segment called Mission: Improbable. (This segment is included on the Mission: Impossible II (2000) DVD.) Tom and Ben have been friends ever since 1996. He appeared in "Who Wants to Be a Millionaire" (1998) on May 9, 2001 and walked away with $32,000 for his charity. He phoned his mother, actress Anne Meara, for help but lost on the question. Often casts/co-stars with Janeane Garofalo. Ben and his wife Christine Taylor, have both guest starred on the TV-show "Friends" (1994), though not in the same episode. Attended UCLA School of Theater, Film, and Television. Daughter, Ella Olivia, born 10 April 2002 in Los Angeles. Briefly appears in the film clip for the song "Tribute" by Tenacious D, a band that includes fellow actors Jack Black and Kyle Gass. He's one of the people walking past the studio booth in the shopping center. Ranked #78 in Premiere's 2003 annual Power 100 List. Had ranked #68 in 2002 and #80 in 2001. His famous parents, Anne Meara and Jerry Stiller, often make cameo appearances in his movies. Has a Hollywood "clique" of close friends that have often appeared in his movies: Owen Wilson, Jack Black, Kyle Gass and Janeane Garofalo. Helped Jenifer Estess raised millions of dollars to combat A.L.S. (Lou Gehrig's disease). His favorite actress of all time is Diane Keaton. He even wrote an article about her for Premiere magazine in 1997. Frequent co-star of Vince Vaughn, appearing with him in three movies in 2004 alone. Is a member of, what the media refers to as, "The Frat Pack," along with Will Ferrell, Jack Black, Vince Vaughn, Steve Carell, Owen Wilson, and Luke Wilson. The "Frat Pack" name is a reference to the film, Old School (2003), featuring Vaughn, Ferrell and Luke Wilson, due to the wide number of films featuring the seven actors. Stiller's "Frat Pack" films include Zoolander (2001), Envy (2004), The Royal Tenenbaums (2001) and Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy (2004).. Is a big fan of "Star Trek" (1966). He named his production company "Red Hour Films" after an alien riot featured in the episode "Star Trek: The Return of the Archons (#1.21)" (1967). Has a humorous, You Tube website "gag" episode of "Star Trek" where he is imitating Shatner's Captain Kirk. Holds a distinct Razzie Award record - nominated for most titles in one year. He was nominated in 2004 for Worst Actor in five of the six films in which he appeared: Along Came Polly (2004), Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy (2004), Dodgeball: A True Underdog Story (2004), Envy (2004)_, and Starsky & Hutch (2004). The only film he was not nominated in for that year was Meet the Fockers (2004). Has played two very similar characters in the movies Heavy Weights (1995) and Dodgeball: A True Underdog Story (2004). In both films he plays an obnoxious, slightly insane and formerly overweight fitness instructor who's hell-bent on getting others into shape, and perhaps also on making other peoples' lives miserable. Played the part of an arrogant director in Get Shorty (1995), but the scene was cut. In "The King of Queens: Shrink Wrap (#4.25)" (2002) he played his own real-life father's father. Hosted the MTV Movie Awards in 1996 along with Janeane Garofalo He and wife Christine Taylor have both guest-starred on the TV series "Arrested Development" (2003). She played "Sally Sitwell", the love interest of "Michael Bluth" (two episodes) and he played the incompetent magician "Tony Wonder" in the episode "The Sword of Destiny". Wife Christine Taylor gave birth to their second child, Quinlin Dempsey Stiller, on July 10, 2005, 8 lb. 2 oz. in Los Angeles, California. One of his first showbiz jobs was working as an intern on the Alan Thicke show "Thicke of the Night" (1983). Mother is Irish-American. Ben  was considered for the role of "Willy Wonka" in Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (2005). He revealed in 2005 that he has bipolar disorder and that it runs in his family. His wife, Christine Taylor, appeared in one episode of "Seinfeld" (1990) as Jerry Seinfeld's girlfriend. His father, Jerry Stiller, had a recurring role on that series as George Costanza's father. Every so often he and his father enjoy getting together and going to Alaska to fish in the summer. 2007 - Ranked #20 on EW's The 50 Smartest People in Hollywood. In the year 2007, Forbes Magazine estimated his earnings for the year to be $38 million. Along with Kirk Thatcher, one of the few actors to give William Shatner the middle finger (jokingly) on screen. According to Jews Who Rock, a book by Guy Oseary, Stiller was once a drummer in a band called Capital Punishment. Ben fractured his hand in a snowboarding accident on Sunday, December 21, 2008 and was taken to New York's Mount Sinai Hospital.

Ben Stiller Detailed Biography -

New York-born Ben's parents, Jerry Stiller and Anne Meara, had been a successful comedy duo on stage and television since the 1950s, as well as having acting careers in their own rights; Jerry is probably best known as George Costanza's father on "Seinfeld", while Anne has been a long-time fixture on "All My Children", as well as appearing in numerous films. So perhaps it was unavoidable that Ben and his older sister Amy would find their way into the business, acting out plays and making Super-8 films at home. Ben became involved in youth theater productions and entered UCLA as a film major, but dropped out after less than a year. He returned to New York and found work in the theater world, and eventually made his film debut in 1987 in the John Cusack film Hot Pursuit; later that year, he appeared in a small role in Steven Spielberg's Empire of the Sun. He also began to make his mark in television, joining "Saturday Night Live" in 1989 (on the strength of a short Tom-Cruise-as-bowler spoof called "The Hustler of Money") but left after only a few weeks, going on to create his own series, "The Ben Stiller Show", which landed an Emmy in 1993 - ironically, the award came after the show's cancellation. Ben's feature film directorial debut came with 1994's Reality Bites, in which he costarred with Winona Ryder, Ethan Hawke and Janeane Garofalo. Two years later, he helmed the darkly funny (but largely unsuccessful) Jim Carrey feature The Cable Guy, which he once described as "a satiric Cape Fear," and over the next few years acted in such diverse films as There's Something About Mary, Your Friends and Neighbors (1998), Mystery Men (1999) and the highly successful Meet the Parents (2000). Meanwhile, he was continuing to work with longtime friend Janeane Garofalo, with whom he wrote the parody self-help guide "Feel This Book", and developing the self-obsessed fashion model character Derek Zoolander, who would himself become the subject of a movie in 2001. What's next for Ben? Apart from new parenthood with wife Christine Tayor (better known as Marcia in 1995's The Brady Bunch Movie), he's currently putting together a sequel to Meet the Parents, called Meet the Fockers. If the previous projects of this driven, dedicated all-round talent are anything to go by, it will be yet another success.