Actors - Ben Stiller

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	Actors - Ben Stiller

Benjamin Stiller (born November 30, 1965 in New York City) is an American comedian, actor, and film director. Stiller is the son of Jerry Stiller and Anne Meara, both of whom are veteran comedians and actors.

Biography

Stiller is best known for his roles in the films There's Something About Mary
, Zoolander
, Meet the Parents
and its sequel Meet the Fockers
.

He grew up in Manhattan, the second child of his famous comedy parents, who frequently took him on the sets of their appearances. He displayed an early interest in film making, making Super 8 movies with his sister and friends. At ten years old, he made his acting debut as a guest on his mother's series Kate McShane.

In 1983, he enrolled as a film student at the University of California, Los Angeles. Stiller lasted nine months before dropping out to relocate back to New York City as he made his way through acting classes, auditioning and trying to find an agent.

He landed a role in the Broadway revival of John Guare's The House of Blue Leaves, alongside John Mahoney, a play which later garnered four Tonys. During its run, Stiller produced a satirical mockumentary whose principal was fellow actor Mahoney. His comedic work was so well received that he followed up with a 10 minute short called "The Hustler of Money," a parody of the Martin Scorsese film The Color of Money
featuring him in a send-up of Tom Cruise's Vince character and Mahoney in the Paul Newman role-- only this time as a bowling hustler instead of a pool shark. The short got the attention of Saturday Night Live, which aired it in 1987, and two years later offered him a spot as a writer.

In 1989, Stiller wrote and appeared on a season of Saturday Night Live as a featured performer. He was offered his own vehicle on MTV as host and performer in a self-titled comedy sketch show, which led to The Ben Stiller Show on the Fox Network in 1992. The show lasted 12 episodes on FOX-- with a thirteenth unaired episode broadcast by Comedy Central in a later revival. Throughout its short run, the Ben Stiller Show frequently appeared at the bottom of the ratings, even as it garnered critical acclaim, eventually winning the Emmy for "Outstanding Individual Achievement in Writing in a Variety or Music Program" after it was cancelled. The show also starred (and launched the careers of) his frequent collaborators Andy Dick, Janeane Garofalo, and Bob Odenkirk.

Stiller directed both Reality Bites
and The Cable Guy
, to generally mixed reviews. Stiller put aside his directing ambitions to star in There's Something About Mary
, which launched Stiller's career into the stratosphere. Another directorial effort, 2001's Zoolander
was well-received, showing he could be a bankable star both behind the camera as well as in front of it.

In the parody self-help book they co-authored, Feel This Book, he and frequent co-star Janeane Garofalo wrote about, as they put it, their "train wreck of a relationship", but it was done with a tongue-in-cheek style. During much of the 1990s, he was involved with actress Jeanne Tripplehorn.

[ Visit the complete Wikipedia entry for Ben Stiller ]

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