Dan Aykroyd - Biography

Last Editor: iljazi				Dan Aykroyd Biography -   Name : Dan Aykroyd Date of birth : 1 July 1952 Placeof birth : Ottawa, Ontario, Canada Birth name : Daniel Edward Aykroyd Nickname : Danny Height : 6' 1

Dan Aykroyd Trivia -

As an avid blues fan, he hosted a nationaly sindicated radio how "House of Blues" as his blues brother character Elwood Blues. A third baby daughter, with Dixon, Stella Irene August, weighing in at 6 lbs was born. [5 April 1998] A police buff, he rides an Ontario Provincial Police motercycle, collects police badges, sometimes rides shotgun with detectives in squad cars, and owns in partnership with several Toronto police officers. Was good friends with John Belushi. Is very interested in the supernatural and has an extensive collection of books on the subject. His grandfather was a Mountie. Was once engaged to Carrie Fisher. Daughters with Donna Dixon; Danielle (b. 1989) and Kingston Belle (b. 1993). Worked as a mail sorter for Canada's national postal service before he became an actor. Older brother of Peter Aykroyd. Like Peter, an alumni of the Second City comedy troupe in Toronto. Roman Catholic of English and French extraction. On his father's side, he can trace his ancestry to the 15th century. Is a victim of syndactylism, a birth defect where several digits are fused together. In the film Mr. Mike's Mondo Video (1979), Mr. Aykroyd takes his shoes & socks off on-screen, to reveal this anomaly. Co-owns House of Blues with friend Isaac Tigrett On his passport, he lists his occupation as "Writer". Has played harmonica since he was 17 years old. Holds an advisory commission with the police force in Payne City, Georgia. Once helped to subdue a drunk and disorderly passenger on a Montreal-LA flight. Was offered the role of "D-Day" in Animal House, but turned it down. After working together on three films, Jamie Lee Curtis called him the best "screen kisser" who ever had a scene with her. Though he has made numerous appearances on "Saturday Night Live" since leaving the show in 1979, he did not actually host the show until the 2002-2003 season finale. Has a "Blues Brothers" type band with John Belushi's brother, actor Jim Belushi. Biography in: "Who's Who in Comedy" by Ronald L. Smith. pg. 32-33. New York: Facts on File, 1992. ISBN 0816023387 Proposed to Donna Dixon on Fran Drescher's porch. Fran played a huge hand in getting them together from the start. Received the Order of Canada in 1999. Aykroyd met with John Belushi in a Chicago speak easy that was a favorite night spot of his and put on a blues record to play in the background while he and John discussed Aykroyd's possibly joining Saturday Night Live. Not only did they hit it off and become good friends, Belushi became fascinated with the blues music that was being played in the background because, to Aykroyd's surprise, the Chicago born Belushi was primarily a fan of heavy metal. Aykroyd's familiarizing Belushi with blues music eventually led to them forming their popular "Blues Brothers" act, with a little input from then SNL music director Howard Shore. Aykroyd and John Belushi were scheduled to present the first annual Best Visual Effects Oscar at the 1982 Academy Awards, but Belushi died weeks before the ceremony. Aykroyd presented the award alone, and stated from the podium: "My partner would have loved to have been here tonight to present this award, since he was a bit of a Visual Effect himself." His right eye is Blue and his left eye is Brown Came up with the character of Fred Garvin, Male Prostitute, when he lived with former SNL writer Rosie Schuster. He first did it to entertain Rosie at home. As a child in the early 1960s, he was diagnosed with Tourette's syndrome and Asperger syndrome. The symptoms had mostly subsided by the time he was 14. He has owned or co-owned several bars and restaurants, including the Hard Rock Cafe in New York City and the House of Blues chain. He has such a fascination with both police officers and criminals, one of the writers from the original Saturday Night Live said his ultimate fantasy was to commit a crime, then arrest himself for it. Said that his original finished script for The Blues Brothers (1980) was over 300 pages long, roughly the size of a phone book. He even sent it to director John Landis in the guise of a phone book as a joke. Ranked #14 on Tropopkin's Top 25 Most Intriguing People [Issue #100] His original idea for Ghostbusters was set in the future, where an army of Ghostbusters fought hordes of ghosts. He used to refer to the green Slimer ghost from Ghostbusters (1984) as "the ghost of John Belushi", as Slimer's party animal personality reminded him very much of his friend. A scene was deleted from Steven Spielberg's 1941 (1979) where his character, Sgt. Frank Tree, met John Belushi's character, Wild Bill Kelso. The scene took place right after the tank was dropped into the water by the Japanese sub: Wild Bill was swimming out in the sub's direction just as Frank emerges from the top of the sinking tank, spots Wild Bill and they look at each other curiously, as if recognizing each other, a nod to their real life friendship. It was the only scene in the film where they interacted.

Dan Aykroyd Detailed Biography -

Dan Aykroyd received an Academy Award nomination for his performance as Best Supporting Actor in Driving Miss Daisy. He was awarded an Emmy for his writing on the Saturday Night Live show starring Sissy Spacek and received a Grammy nomination for Best New Artist 1979 for the triple platinum selling Briefcase Full Of Blues record album, which he recorded with the late John Belushi. 50 First Dates marks a double-reunion for Aykroyd, first with Adam Sandler, who made his motion picture debut in Coneheads opposite Aykroyd and Jane Curtin and also with Peter Segal, for whom he starred in My Fellow Americans and Tommy Boy. He has appeared as a co-lead in at least 30 feature films with brief appearances in many more. The films with which Aykroyd has had principal associations have grossed close to one billion dollars in worldwide box office. The Canadian-born actor has enjoyed a three-decades long career in the entertainment business, starting as a writer and performer on his local cable access station in 1970. He originated the show with his then partner Valri Bromfield. The program was 15 minutes long and titled Change For A Quarter. Aykroyd can be next seen in the upcoming Stephen Fry-directed adaptation of Evelyn Waugh's book Vile Bodies entitled Bright Young Things in which he plays Lord Monomark, a 1930's press baron, and in director Dave Thomas' comedy Whitecoats in which he plays Dr. Cyril Kipp, a hospital administrator. He was awarded a Doctorate in Literature (Honoris Causa) from Carleton University in 1997 for recognition of his Saturday Night Live writing and for the nine produced screenplays on which he shares co-writing credits - Love At First Sight, Blues Brothers, Spies Like Us, Dragnet, Ghostbusters, Ghostbusters II, Coneheads, Nothing But Trouble (Valkenvania), Blues Brothers II. Born in Ottawa, Ontario Canada, Aykroyd first performed on CBC network television in the summer of 1970 as a writer/actor for producer Lorne Michaels in the Great Canadian Humour Test TV Special. Michaels was also the host and did a stand-up routine with a partner in his own network show. Leaving university without a degree Aykroyd moved full time to Toronto in 1972 to work for Ivan Reitman (Ghostbusters Director) and Moses Znaimer at the ground-breaking City-TV. In 1983 he co-ventured as an investor with the co-founder of Hard Rock Cafe International, Isaac Tigrett, to open U.S. outlets of the famous British American establishment in New York, Dallas and Washington, D.C. It was at the New York's Hard Rock Cafe Inaugural Concert that he reconvened the original Blues Brothers band for the first time since the death of his partner John Belushi a.k.a Jake Blues. Performing thereafter in the Elwood Blues Revue Aykroyd opened the Supreme Court of Rock n' Roll Hard Rock in Dallas, Texas, in 1985. In his persona as Elwood Blues he performs on seven CDs - Briefcase Full Of Blues, Blues Brothers Movie Soundtrack, Made In America, Best Of The Blues Brothers, Dancing With The Blues Brothers, Blues Brothers - Live From Chicago, Rhino Essential -The Blues Brothers. In total approximately five million units have been sold. Aykroyd recruited Jim Belushi to perform as Jake's blood brother Zee for a benefit concert underwriting Carleton University's Alumni fund in 1997. The two have since performed as Elwood and Zee Blues for audiences around the U.S. and to open House of Blues venues in America. As 'Elwood Blues," Dan hosts the 10-year-running House of Blues Radio Hour which is syndicated on 180 radio stations through the United Stations Radio Networks. The House of Blues Entertainment Inc. was founded in 1993 by Isaac Tigrett and Aykroyd. After numerous live musical performances with both the original Blues Brothers Band and with the house band for House of Blues, the Sacred Hearts, Aykroyd and Belushi began an active search for material outside of what they were performing from the traditional Blues Brothers CD repertoire. The result is their new Have Love Will Travel Revue in which Aykroyd and Belushi work as co-emcees, vocalists and dancers and a CD Have Love Will Travel, Big Men-Big Music. In 1999, Aykroyd was invested with the Order of Canada, receiving a Vice-Regal decoration from the Governor General of Canada, which is given to prominent Canadians who desire to make a better country.