Benjamin Edward Stiller was born November 30, 1965. He is an Emmy-winning American comedian, actor, film producer and director. He is the son of veteran comedians and actors Jerry Stiller and Anne Meara. After beginning his acting career with a play, he wrote several mockumentaries, and was offered two of his own shows, both entitled The Ben Stiller Show. After acting in a few films, Stiller had his directorial debut with Reality Bites, and has since written, starred in, directed, and produced over fifty films and television shows. Stiller's films have grossed $1.38 billion.
Stiller is a 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 Starsky and Hutch, There's Something About Mary, Zoolander, Dodgeball: A True Underdog Story, Meet the Parents, its sequel Meet the Fockers, and Night at the Museum. Throughout his career, Stiller has received several awards and honors including an Emmy Award, several MTV Movie Awards, and a Teen Choice Award. Stiller's most recent role was in the movie The Heartbreak Kid.
The Heartbreak Kid Trailer
Stiller is 5 ft 8 in (1.7 m) tall and left-handed. He 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, which starred Jack Black. The couple appeared onscreen together in Zoolander and Dodgeball: A True Underdog Story. He and Taylor 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 and later donated to Obama's, John Edwards, and Hillary Clinton's 2008 U.S. Presidential campaigns. 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 stated 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. He admitted in an interview with Parade that Robert Klein, George Carlin, and Jimmie Walker were inspirations for his comedy career.
In 1998, Stiller put aside his directing ambitions to star in There's Something About Mary alongside Cameron Diaz, which skyrocketed Stiller's career. In that same year he also starred in several dramas including Zero Effect, Your Friends & Neighbors, and Permanent Midnight. Stiller was invited to take part in hosting the Music Video awards, for which he developed a parody of the Backstreet Boys and performed a sketch with his father commenting on his current career. In 1999, he starred in three films, including Mystery Men where he played a superhero wannabe called Mr. Furious. He returned to directing with a new spoof television series for FOX entitled Heat Vision and Jack, starring Jack Black. However, the show was not picked up by FOX after its pilot episode and the series was cancelled. 2000 would be a better year for Stiller as he starred in four more films including one of his most recognizable roles, as a male nurse named Gaylord Focker in Meet the Parents. MTV again invited him to make another short film and he developed Mission: Improbable, a spoof of Tom Cruise's roles in the films Risky Business, Magnolia, Cocktail, and Mission: Impossible.
In 2001, Stiller would direct his third feature film, Zoolander, which focused on the character Derek Zoolander (which was also played by Stiller) that he developed for the VH1 Fashion Awards. The film featured multiple cameos from a variety of celebrities including Donald Trump, Paris Hilton, Lenny Kravitz, Heidi Klum, and David Bowie among others. The film was banned in Malaysia (as the plot centered on an assassination attempt of a Malaysian prime minister) and shots of the World Trade Center had to be digitally removed and hidden for the film's release after the September 11 terrorist attacks.
After Stiller invited Owen Wilson to star in Zoolander, Wilson returned the favor and invited Stiller to play Chas Tenenbaum in The Royal Tenenbaums. Over the next two years, Stiller continued on with the lackluster box office film Duplex and several cameos in Orange County and Nobody Knows Anything!. He also guest-starred on several television shows, including an appearance in an episode of the television series King Of Queens as Arthur's father (Stiller's father Jerry Stiller) in a flashback. He also made a special guest appearance on World Wrestling Entertainment's WWE Raw.
2004 would be Stiller's busiest year as he acted in six different films. All six of the films were comedies, and include some of his highest grossing films. They include Starsky & Hutch, Envy, Dodgeball: A True Underdog Story, an uncredited cameo in Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy, Along Came Polly, and Meet the Fockers. Although Envy only grossed $14.5 million worldwide, his most successful film of the year was Meet the Fockers, which grossed over $516.5 million worldwide. In 2005, Stiller would begin his first attempt at a computer-animated film with Madagascar, which performed so well at the box office that it resulted in a sequel due in 2008.
In 2006, Stiller had two cameos, one in School for Scoundrels, and Tenacious D in: The Pick of Destiny, of which he was the executive producer. In December, Stiller starred in the lead role of Night at the Museum. Although the film received many poor reviews, the film earned over $115 million in ten days. His most recent film, The Heartbreak Kid, was released on October 5, 2007.
Upcoming work
Stiller has several upcoming films in 2008 and 2009, including Madagascar 2: The Crate Escape. He will provide a voice for one of the characters in The Smurfs, and has completed production for Tropic Thunder, a film he is directing and starring in about a group of actors in a war film who must become commandos themselves when a problem during filming ensues. In February 2007, it was announced that Stiller would star alongside Jason Schwartzman in The Marc Pease Experience as a former theater teacher and star alongside Tom Cruise in a comedy adaptation of The Hardy Boys entitled Hardy Men. When speaking about working with Tom Cruise Stiller said, "I'd be very excited about working with him, because I've always been a huge fan". Stiller will also produce the upcoming Date School. Stiller runs together with Stuart Cornfeld the Red Hour Productions company. The company will produce the comedy television show Gods Behaving Badly based on Marie Phillips' novel. In 2009, he will star in the sequel Night at the Museum 2: Escape from the Smithsonian and Hardy Men.
Filmography
1987
Empire of the Sun - Dainty
Hot Pursuit - Chris Honeywell
Shoeshine
1988
Fresh Horses - Tipton
1989
Next of Kin - Lawrence Isabella
Elvis Stories - Bruce
That's Adequate - Chip Lane
1990
Stella - Jim Uptegrove
1992
The Nutt House - Pie Thrower
Highway to Hell - Pluto's Cook/Attila the Hun
1994
Reality Bites - Michael Grates
1995
Heavyweights - Tony Perkis/Tony Perkis Sr.
2 Stupid Dogs - Tony Robbins-style character
1996
The Cable Guy - Sam Sweet/Stan Sweet
Flirting with Disaster - Mel
If Lucy Fell - Bwick Elias
Happy Gilmore - Nursing Home Orderly
1998
Permanent Midnight - Jerry Stahl
Your Friends & Neighbors - Jerry
There's Something About Mary - Ted Stroehmann
Zero Effect - Steve Arlo
1999
Black and White - Mark Clear
Mystery Men - Mr. Furious
The Suburbans - Jay Rose
2000
Meet the Parents - Gaylord 'Greg' Focker
Keeping the Faith - Rabbi Jake Schram
The Independent - Cop
2001
The Royal Tenenbaums - Chas Tenenbaum
Zoolander Derek - Zoolander
2002
Orange County - The Firefighter
Run Ronnie Run - Himself
2003
Nobody Knows Anything! - Peach Expert
Duplex - Alex Rose
Pauly Shore Is Dead - Himself
2004
Meet the Fockers - Gaylord 'Greg' Focker
Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy - Arturo Mendes
Dodgeball: A True Underdog Story - White Goodman
Envy - Tim Dingman
Starsky & Hutch - David Starsky
Along Came Polly - Reuben Feffer
2005
Danny Roane: First Time Director - Himself
Madagascar - Alex
Sledge: The Untold Story - Commander
2006
Night at the Museum - Larry Daley
In Search of Ted Demme - Himself
Tenacious D in: The Pick of Destiny - Guitar Store Dude
School for Scoundrels - Lonnie
2007
The Heartbreak Kid - Eddie Cantrow
2008
Tropic Thunder - Speedman
Madagascar 2: The Crate Escape - Alex
The Marc Pease Experience - Jon Dribble
2009
Hardy Men (pre-production)
Night at the Museum 2: Escape from the Smithsonian - Larry Daley (pre-production)
Stiller is a 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 Starsky and Hutch, There's Something About Mary, Zoolander, Dodgeball: A True Underdog Story, Meet the Parents, its sequel Meet the Fockers, and Night at the Museum. Throughout his career, Stiller has received several awards and honors including an Emmy Award, several MTV Movie Awards, and a Teen Choice Award. Stiller's most recent role was in the movie The Heartbreak Kid.
The Heartbreak Kid Trailer
Stiller is 5 ft 8 in (1.7 m) tall and left-handed. He 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, which starred Jack Black. The couple appeared onscreen together in Zoolander and Dodgeball: A True Underdog Story. He and Taylor 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 and later donated to Obama's, John Edwards, and Hillary Clinton's 2008 U.S. Presidential campaigns. 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 stated 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. He admitted in an interview with Parade that Robert Klein, George Carlin, and Jimmie Walker were inspirations for his comedy career.
In 1998, Stiller put aside his directing ambitions to star in There's Something About Mary alongside Cameron Diaz, which skyrocketed Stiller's career. In that same year he also starred in several dramas including Zero Effect, Your Friends & Neighbors, and Permanent Midnight. Stiller was invited to take part in hosting the Music Video awards, for which he developed a parody of the Backstreet Boys and performed a sketch with his father commenting on his current career. In 1999, he starred in three films, including Mystery Men where he played a superhero wannabe called Mr. Furious. He returned to directing with a new spoof television series for FOX entitled Heat Vision and Jack, starring Jack Black. However, the show was not picked up by FOX after its pilot episode and the series was cancelled. 2000 would be a better year for Stiller as he starred in four more films including one of his most recognizable roles, as a male nurse named Gaylord Focker in Meet the Parents. MTV again invited him to make another short film and he developed Mission: Improbable, a spoof of Tom Cruise's roles in the films Risky Business, Magnolia, Cocktail, and Mission: Impossible.
In 2001, Stiller would direct his third feature film, Zoolander, which focused on the character Derek Zoolander (which was also played by Stiller) that he developed for the VH1 Fashion Awards. The film featured multiple cameos from a variety of celebrities including Donald Trump, Paris Hilton, Lenny Kravitz, Heidi Klum, and David Bowie among others. The film was banned in Malaysia (as the plot centered on an assassination attempt of a Malaysian prime minister) and shots of the World Trade Center had to be digitally removed and hidden for the film's release after the September 11 terrorist attacks.
After Stiller invited Owen Wilson to star in Zoolander, Wilson returned the favor and invited Stiller to play Chas Tenenbaum in The Royal Tenenbaums. Over the next two years, Stiller continued on with the lackluster box office film Duplex and several cameos in Orange County and Nobody Knows Anything!. He also guest-starred on several television shows, including an appearance in an episode of the television series King Of Queens as Arthur's father (Stiller's father Jerry Stiller) in a flashback. He also made a special guest appearance on World Wrestling Entertainment's WWE Raw.
2004 would be Stiller's busiest year as he acted in six different films. All six of the films were comedies, and include some of his highest grossing films. They include Starsky & Hutch, Envy, Dodgeball: A True Underdog Story, an uncredited cameo in Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy, Along Came Polly, and Meet the Fockers. Although Envy only grossed $14.5 million worldwide, his most successful film of the year was Meet the Fockers, which grossed over $516.5 million worldwide. In 2005, Stiller would begin his first attempt at a computer-animated film with Madagascar, which performed so well at the box office that it resulted in a sequel due in 2008.
In 2006, Stiller had two cameos, one in School for Scoundrels, and Tenacious D in: The Pick of Destiny, of which he was the executive producer. In December, Stiller starred in the lead role of Night at the Museum. Although the film received many poor reviews, the film earned over $115 million in ten days. His most recent film, The Heartbreak Kid, was released on October 5, 2007.
Upcoming work
Stiller has several upcoming films in 2008 and 2009, including Madagascar 2: The Crate Escape. He will provide a voice for one of the characters in The Smurfs, and has completed production for Tropic Thunder, a film he is directing and starring in about a group of actors in a war film who must become commandos themselves when a problem during filming ensues. In February 2007, it was announced that Stiller would star alongside Jason Schwartzman in The Marc Pease Experience as a former theater teacher and star alongside Tom Cruise in a comedy adaptation of The Hardy Boys entitled Hardy Men. When speaking about working with Tom Cruise Stiller said, "I'd be very excited about working with him, because I've always been a huge fan". Stiller will also produce the upcoming Date School. Stiller runs together with Stuart Cornfeld the Red Hour Productions company. The company will produce the comedy television show Gods Behaving Badly based on Marie Phillips' novel. In 2009, he will star in the sequel Night at the Museum 2: Escape from the Smithsonian and Hardy Men.
Filmography
1987
Empire of the Sun - Dainty
Hot Pursuit - Chris Honeywell
Shoeshine
1988
Fresh Horses - Tipton
1989
Next of Kin - Lawrence Isabella
Elvis Stories - Bruce
That's Adequate - Chip Lane
1990
Stella - Jim Uptegrove
1992
The Nutt House - Pie Thrower
Highway to Hell - Pluto's Cook/Attila the Hun
1994
Reality Bites - Michael Grates
1995
Heavyweights - Tony Perkis/Tony Perkis Sr.
2 Stupid Dogs - Tony Robbins-style character
1996
The Cable Guy - Sam Sweet/Stan Sweet
Flirting with Disaster - Mel
If Lucy Fell - Bwick Elias
Happy Gilmore - Nursing Home Orderly
1998
Permanent Midnight - Jerry Stahl
Your Friends & Neighbors - Jerry
There's Something About Mary - Ted Stroehmann
Zero Effect - Steve Arlo
1999
Black and White - Mark Clear
Mystery Men - Mr. Furious
The Suburbans - Jay Rose
2000
Meet the Parents - Gaylord 'Greg' Focker
Keeping the Faith - Rabbi Jake Schram
The Independent - Cop
2001
The Royal Tenenbaums - Chas Tenenbaum
Zoolander Derek - Zoolander
2002
Orange County - The Firefighter
Run Ronnie Run - Himself
2003
Nobody Knows Anything! - Peach Expert
Duplex - Alex Rose
Pauly Shore Is Dead - Himself
2004
Meet the Fockers - Gaylord 'Greg' Focker
Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy - Arturo Mendes
Dodgeball: A True Underdog Story - White Goodman
Envy - Tim Dingman
Starsky & Hutch - David Starsky
Along Came Polly - Reuben Feffer
2005
Danny Roane: First Time Director - Himself
Madagascar - Alex
Sledge: The Untold Story - Commander
2006
Night at the Museum - Larry Daley
In Search of Ted Demme - Himself
Tenacious D in: The Pick of Destiny - Guitar Store Dude
School for Scoundrels - Lonnie
2007
The Heartbreak Kid - Eddie Cantrow
2008
Tropic Thunder - Speedman
Madagascar 2: The Crate Escape - Alex
The Marc Pease Experience - Jon Dribble
2009
Hardy Men (pre-production)
Night at the Museum 2: Escape from the Smithsonian - Larry Daley (pre-production)
