Will Ferrell

Biography

Ferrell was born in Irvine, California to Lee Ferrell (a keyboardist for The Righteous Brothers) and Kay Overman. He attended Rancho San Joaquin Middle School and University High School in Irvine, where he was a kicker for the varsity football team, and still holds the school record for most field goals made . He became interested in performing while making his school's daily morning announcements over the public address system in disguised voices . He then enrolled at the University of Southern California, where he studied Sports Broadcasting and graduated with a degree in Sports Information. He is also a member of Delta Tau Delta Fraternity. After graduating in 1989, Ferrell developed his improvisation skills as a member of the comedy group The Groundlings. In August 2000, Ferrell married Swedish actress Viveca Paulin, whom he met in 1995 at an acting class. On December 19, 2006, Will Ferrell announced that he would make a book, entitled "Will Ferrell, the Comedy Revealed". No word on publisher or editor. " On March 7, 2004 their son Magnus Paulin Ferrell was born. On December 30, 2006, Paulin gave birth to another son Mattias Ferrell, just after 2 a.m.

Saturday Night Live

Will Ferrell impersonating Alex Trebek during the famous Saturday Night Live sketch Celebrity Jeopardy!.

Ferrell joined Saturday Night Live in 1995 (he was chosen over future co-star Steve Carell). He had planned to perform a comedy bit to win a spot on the show from producer Lorne Michaels who traditionally sits down for a final interview with prospective cast members. It was Will's idea to arrive with a suitcase full of Monopoly money and say, "I'm prepared to do anything to be on this show, Mr. Michaels." After bringing the suitcase to the audition and subsequent meetings, it became apparent that there would be no need for the suitcase bit and Will aborted the idea.

During his time on SNL, Ferrell made a name for himself with his impersonations, which included:

U.S. President George W. Bush ("strategery" was one of several fake Bushisms created by Ferrell during skits about the 2000 campaign),

announcer Harry Caray (even after Caray's death),

singer Robert Goulet (crooning a cappella pieces of music by Sisqi³, Baha Men, and Notorious B.I.G.)

singer Neil Diamond

Inside the Actors Studio personality James Lipton

Massachusetts Senator Ted Kennedy,

U.S. Attorney General Janet Reno

convicted Unabomber Ted Kaczynski

game show host Alex Trebek, and

professional wrestler-turned-Governor of Minnesota Jesse Ventura.

Will Ferrell in the famous Saturday Night Live cowbell sketch

His original characters included "Morning Latte" co-host Tom Wilkins, Ed the Horse's twin brother Ned, music teacher Marty Culp, Spartan cheerleader Craig Buchanan, Dale Sturtevant "Dissing Your Dog", and night clubber Steve Butabi in a sketch that went to the big screen in 1998's A Night at the Roxbury.

Ferrell returned to Saturday Night Live as a guest host on May 14, 2005. In one sketch, he reprised his role as Robert Goulet, advertising a series of crooned ringtones. Also on the same episode, during the performance of the song "Little Sister" by musical guests Queens of the Stone Age, Ferrell came onstage playing the cowbell.

Movie career

During his time on Saturday Night Live, Ferrell appeared in several movies: A Night at the Roxbury, Dick, Drowning Mona, Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back, and Zoolander.

Shortly after he left Saturday Night Live, Ferrell starred in the films Old School, Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy, and Elf. All three films were box office successes, making Ferrell a movie superstar. In 2005 Ferrell had roles in five films: Kicking & Screaming, Melinda and Melinda, The Producers, Bewitched, and Wedding Crashers.

In 2006, Ferrell starred in Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby and Stranger Than Fiction; both received critical and box office success.

On December 27, 2006 TheMagazine named Ferrell as one of its three actors of the year in their 2006 year in review issue.

Death hoax

An announcement on I-Newswire.com reported that Ferrell had died in a paragliding accident. The site accepts press releases from users for publication on its website. A user submitted the aforementioned hoax, which was published before its factual inaccuracy was noticed. The story was further propagated when it appeared on Google News. This may perhaps be related to his role in the movie Wedding Crashers where he crashes the funeral of a man who died in a hang gliding accident, and then remarks on the stupidity of someone dying in a hang gliding accident.

Awards and nominations

Ferrell in Old School Ferrell with Paul Rudd, David Koechner, and Steve Carell in Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy

Golden Globe Awards

Nomination:

2006:Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role in a Motion Picture (for The Producers)

2007:Best Performance by an Actor in a Motion Picture - Musical or Comedy (for Stranger Than Fiction)

Emmy Awards

Nomination:

2001:Outstanding Individual Performance In A Variety Or Music Program (for Saturday Night Live)

Golden Raspberry Awards

One win:

2005:Worst Screen Couple (with Nicole Kidman, for Bewitched)

American Comedy Awards

One win:

2001:Funniest Male Performer in a TV Special (Leading or Supporting) Network, Cable or Syndication(for Saturday Night Live Presidential Bash 2000)

Nominated

2001:Funniest Supporting Male Performer in a TV Series (for Saturday Night Live)

MTV Movie Awards

Nominated:

2005:Best Comedic Performance (for Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy)

2005:Best On-Screen Team (with Paul Rudd, Steve Carell and David Koechner for Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy)

2005:Best Musical Performance (with Paul Rudd, David Koechner and Steve Carell for Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy)

Nominated:

2004:Best Comedic Performance (for Elf)

Nominated:

2004:Best Comedic Performance (for Old School)

2004:Best On-Screen Team (with Luke Wilson and Vince Vaughn for Old School)

Satellite Awards

Nominated:

2006:Best Actor in a Motion Picture, Comedy or Musical (for Stranger Than Fiction)

Filmography

Will Ferrell as Ricky Bobby in the poster from Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby Ferrell as Ron Burgundy in the poster from Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy Ferrell as Harold Crick in the Stranger Than Fiction poster

Year	Title	Role	Notes
	2008	Land of the Lost	Rick Marshall	(status unclear)
	Step Brothers	Unknown	(announced, also writer)
	Semi-Pro	Jackie Moon	(pre-production)
2007	Blades of Glory	Chazz	(post-production)
	2006	Stranger Than Fiction	Harold Crick
	Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby	Ricky Bobby	(also writer)
	Curious George	Ted/The Man in the Yellow Hat	(voice only)
2005	The Producers	Franz Liebkind
Winter Passing	Corbit
Wedding Crashers	Chazz Reinhold	(uncredited)
Bewitched	Jack Wyatt/Darrin
Kicking & Screaming	Phil Weston
The Wendell Baker Story	Dave Bix
	2004	Melinda and Melinda	Hobie
	Wake Up, Ron Burgundy: The Lost Movie	Ron Burgundy	(also writer)
	Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy	Ron Burgundy	(also writer)
	Starsky & Hutch	Big Earl	(uncredited)
	Oh, What a Lovely Tea Party	Himself	(documentary)
	2003	Elf	Buddy
	Old School	Frank Ricard
2002	Boat Trip	Brian's Boyfriend	(uncredited)
	2001	Zoolander	Mugatu
	Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back	Federal Wildlife Marshal Willenholly
	2000	The Ladies Man	Lance DeLune
	Drowning Mona	Cubby the Funeral Director
	1999	Superstar	Sky Corrigan/God
	Dick	Bob Woodward
	Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me	Mustafa
	The Suburbans	Gil
	1998	A Night at the Roxbury	Steve Butabi	(also writer)
	The Thin Pink Line	Darren Clark
	1997	Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery	Mustafa
	Men Seeking Women	Al
	1995	Bucket of Blood	Young Man
	Criminal Hearts	Newscaster

Television work

Saturday Night Live (cast member from 1995-2002)

Cow and Chicken (1997-2001) (voice in various episodes)

Saturday Night Live: Presidential Bash 2000 (2000)

Undeclared (Guest star)

The Oblongs (2001-2002) (voice)

Family Guy (2000-2001) (voice in various episodes)

MTV Movie Awards Matrix Reloaded parody as the Architect

Strangers with Candy (Guest star)

King of the Hill (voice)

The Tom Green Show (Guest star)

Salary

Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby (2006) $20,000,000

Bewitched (2005) $20,000,000

Kicking & Screaming (2005) $20,000,000

Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy (2004) $12,000,000

Trivia

He was, according to Forbes, the best-paid actor of 2005, with a salary of $40 million .

He once called Jim Carrey the funniest man alive.

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Source: Wikipedia. All text is available under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License