Background

Ethnicity: Stiller is from Jewish family that emigrated from Poland and Galicia in Central Europe.

Benjamin Edward Meara Stiller was born on November 30, 1965, in New York, to Jerry Stiller and Ann Meara, both comedians.

Education

In 1984, Ben attended the University of California in Los Angeles, California, United States.

Career

After leaving the University of California, Los Angeles in 1984 (he had been there only nine months), Stiller made his acting debut in a Broadway revival of The House of Blue Leaves in 1985. Two years later he made his big-screen debut in Fresh Horses, starring alongside aging Brat Pack members Molly Ringwald and Andrew McCarthy. The fact that the film was a disaster didn’t phase Stiller, whose next gig, in 1989, was as a writer for the sketch comedy show Saturday Night Live (SNL).

He described the backstage atmosphere there as “very negative” and, disillusioned, left for Los Angeles after just five weeks as an SNL writer. In Los Angeles Stiller began work on The Ben Stiller Show, a half-hour sketch comedy that aired on MTV before being picked up by Fox for a brief run. Like the Saturday Night Live of the 1970s and 1980s, The Ben Stiller Show became fertile breeding grounds for young, hip comics. Bob Odenkirk, Andy Dick and Janeane Garofalo were among those who wrote or acted for The Ben Stiller Show. Despite the critics’ fondness for the show Fox canceled it after just twelve episodes. Stiller and his co-writers did win an Emmy for outstanding writing in a variety or music program in 1993, after the show had already been canceled.

Stiller’s next project was directing and acting in Reality Bites, a film about twenty-somethings and their relationships and issues. Also, starring Winona Ryder, Ethan Hawke, and Garofalo, and often seen as a glorification of Generation X and the values commonly associated with it, Reality Bites was unpopular with critics but became a minor cult classic. Stiller was to follow that project with the directing A Simple Plan, but six weeks into production he had a falling out with Savoy Pictures over budget issues and abandoned the picture.

Stiller returned to acting on the big screen with the David O. Russell (Spanking the Monkey, Three Kings) who directed Flirting with Disaster, a comedy in which Stiller plays a young father searching for his birth parents. A very successful film on a relatively small scale, Flirting with Disaster was a hit with critics and financially successful. Stiller’s next project was to direct the off-beat comedy Cable Guy, which starred Jim Carrey and Matthew Broderick. He followed Cable Guy with a starring role in the extremely (surprisingly) successful gross-out comedy There’s Something about Mary.

Nineteen-ninety-nine saw the release of his spoof selfhelp book, Feel This Book: An Essential Guide to Self-Empowerment, Spiritual Supremacy, and Sexual Satisfaction which he penned with Garofalo.

In 2000, Stiller appeared with Jenna Elfman and Edward Norton in Keeping the Faith and teamed with Hollywood veterans Robert De Niro and Blythe Danner for the sidesplitting comedy Meet the Parents. The film's success eventually led to the creation of two sequels, Meet the Fockers (2004) and Little Fockers (2010). In 2001, Stiller appeared in distinctly contrasting roles on the big screen: Zoolander, a satirical look at the fashion industry, was more of his typical goofy effort. However, he also showed a serious side as a fiercely protective father in the Wes Anderson comedy-drama The Royal Tenenbaums.

In 2004, Stiller teamed with Owen Wilson for an update of the classic TV action comedy Starsky & Hutch, and played Vince Vaughn's nemesis in the comic spoof Dodgeball. He also paired with Jennifer Aniston for the romantic comedy Along Came Polly. In 2006, Stiller channeled his brand of neurotic humor toward younger audiences for Night at the Museum. A huge hit, it spawned the sequels Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian (2009) and Night at the Museum: Secret of the Tomb (2014).

Stiller directed and starred in Tropic Thunder (2008) and the remake of The Secret Life of Walter Mitty (2013), drawing mixed reviews. During this period, he also appeared alongside Eddie Murphy in the comedy caper Tower Heist (2011), and reunited with Vaughn for The Watch (2012). The funnyman then prepared to reprise one of his most famous roles with Zoolander 2, set for a 2016 release. In 2018 and 2019, Stiller played Michael Cohen on Saturday Night Live for 6 episodes.

Achievements

• Ben Stiller is most commonly known as the comedian, who also produces and directs, remains one of Hollywood's biggest stars. Stiller's highest-grossing films are his family movies like the Madagascar series and Night at the Musuem. He is an Emmy Award winner for his directed, produced and written television show The Ben Stiller Show.

Works

More photos

• book

  • Feel This Book: An Essential Guide to Self-Empowerment, Spiritual Supremacy, and Sexual Satisfaction

    (If you're tired of following the rules, dating people fro...)

    1999

• movie

  • Night at the Museum

    (Ben Stiller leads an all-star cast including Robin Willia...)

    2006
  • Flirting With Disaster

    (In a quest to find his biological parents, Mel Coplin (Be...)

    1999
  • The Watch

    (Ben Stiller, Vince Vaughn, Jonah Hill and Richard Ayoade ...)

    2012
  • Reality Bites

    (Ben Stiller, Winona Ryder, Ethan Hawke, Janeane Garofalo ...)

    1994
  • Starsky & Hutch

    (In Starsky & Hutch, the crime-fighting duo David Starsky ...)

    2004
  • The Secret Life of Walter Mitty

    (Ben Stiller directs and stars in this inspiring story abo...)

    2013
  • Brad's Status

    (A trip to Boston with his college-bound son triggers a cr...)

    2017
  • Tower Heist

    (Ben Stiller and Eddie Murphy lead an all-star cast in Tow...)

    2011
  • Zoolander No. 2: The Magnum Edition

    (When the world's most beautiful people are in danger, for...)

    2016
  • The Heartbreak Kid

    (When the single and indecisive Eddie (Ben Stiller) meets ...)

    2007
  • Dodgeball: A True Underdog Story

    (A group of misfits enter a Las Vegas dodgeball tournament...)

    2004
  • Little Fockers

    (Ben Stiller, Robert De Niro, Owen Wilson, Dustin Hoffman ...)

    2010
  • While We're Young

    (A funny cross-generational comedy about aging, ambition a...)

  • Duplex

    (Young and vibrant New Yorkers Alex (Stiller) and Nancy (B...)

    2003
  • Mystery Men

    (A group of inept amateur superheroes must try to save the...)

    1999
  • There's Something About Mary | Prime Video

    (A man gets a chance to meet up with his dream girl from h...)

    1998
  • Along Came Polly

    (Ben Stiller and Jennifer Aniston experience the meaning o...)

    2016
  • Tropic Thunder

    ("Tropic Thunder, " an action comedy about a group of self...)

    2008
  • Permanent Midnight

    (Based on an allegedly true story of TV writer Jerry Stahl...)

    1998
  • Zoolander

    (At the end of his career, a clueless fashion model is bra...)

    2001
  • Along Came Polly

    (Reuben (Ben Stiller) is a guy who's been content to play ...)

    2004

Religion

While Stiller's family was "never very religious", they celebrated both Hanukkah and Christmas, and Stiller had a Bar Mitzvah.

Politics

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 the 2008 U.S. Presidential campaigns of Democrats Obama, John Edwards, and Hillary Clinton.

Views

Quotations: "I've had a very good career and I'm grateful that the public has had some level of acceptance and appreciation of my work."

"If you look at my eyes when I'm dancing, you'll see that glazed look."

"There's always an element of fear that you need to work a lot until people get sick and tired of you or finally figure out that you're a fraud after all!"

"I love New York. I was sad, depressed and incredibly moved by our fellow countrymen and what they've done. I wanted to give people a chance to see something funny, have a distraction."

"The failure of The Cable Guy impacted my career. I had to start writing and acting again."

"I grew up wanting to make movies, and along the way I suddenly found that I had a career doing comedy."

"The failure of The Cable Guy impacted my career. I had to start writing and acting again."

Personality

In 2001, Stiller appeared as a celebrity contestant on the game show Who Wants to Be a Millionaire. He won $32,000 for his charity Project ALS, after incorrectly answering his $250,000 question in an attempt to equal Edie Falco's $250,000 win.

Stiller supports such charities as Declare Yourself, the Elizabeth Glaser Pediatric AIDS Foundation, and the Starlight Starbright Children's Foundation. Stiller is actively involved in support of animal rights. In 2010, Stiller, together with Jennifer Aniston, Courteney Cox, Robin Williams, and others, starred in The Cove PSA: My Friend is... , in an effort to stop the slaughter of dolphins and protect the Japanese population from the toxic levels of mercury found in dolphin meat. On July 2, 2018, Ben was appointed Goodwill Ambassador for UNHCR.

Stiller was diagnosed with Lyme disease in 2010. He believes he contracted the illness while visiting Nantucket, Massachusetts. Stiller was diagnosed with prostate cancer in June 2014. Following surgery, he received a cancer-free status in September 2014.

Connections

In May 2000, Stiller married Christine Taylor at an oceanfront ceremony in Kauai, Hawaii. They met while filming a never-broadcast television pilot for the Fox Broadcasting network called Heat Vision and Jack.

The couple have two children. In May 2017, Stiller and Taylor announced their separation in a joint statement, after 17 years of marriage.

Father:

Jerry Stiller

Born on June 8, 1927.

Mother:

Anne Meara Stiller

September 20, 1929 – May 23, 2015

ex-wife:

Christine Taylor

Born on July 30, 1971.

Daughter:

Ella Olivia Stiller

Born on April 9, 2002.

Son:

Quinlin Dempsey Stiller

References

• Contemporary Theatre, Film and Television This popular series brings you extensive biographical and career information on more than 20, 000 professionals currently working in the entertainment industry, including performers, choreographers, directors, technicians, writers, composers, producers, executives, designers, critics and more.
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