| Will Ferrell  AKA John William Ferrell
Born: 16-Jul-1967
Birthplace: Irvine, CA
Gender: Male
Race or Ethnicity: White
Sexual orientation: Straight
Occupation: Comic Nationality: United States
Executive summary: Saturday Night Live alumnus Will Ferrell was a class clown, but high school administrators harnessed his talent by having Ferrell read the morning announcements over the public address system, in assorted silly and disguised voices. In college, Ferrell was still causing trouble. "I would find out what classroom certain friends were in," Ferrell says, "and then dress up as a janitor and show up in the middle of class. There was a high level English class and the teacher actually encouraged me. He would see me on campus and say 'Come by in two weeks and just screw around.' So I would stand outside the door with a power drill and just pretend like I was working on stuff, so I'd do stuff like that. And I killed one person."
He worked as a sportscaster on a local cable station, where management wanted him to read scores and cover sports, but Ferrell found such facts instantly tedious and stifling. Ferrell started showing up at coffee houses on open mike nights, and appearing at comedy clubs. In 1991, he signed up for workshops with The Groundlings improv group. After a few months, he was invited to be a Groundling himself, and worked with Chris Kattan and Ana Gasteyer.
In 1995, he joined the cast of Saturday Night Live. In his first sketch, he played a suburban husband hosting the neighbors for a barbecue, interrupting the chit-chat to shout psychotic threats at his off-screen children. "Get off the shed! Get off the damn shed!... I will punch you in the face if you don't get off the shed!" Over the next seven seasons, he became an audience favorite, as George W. Bush, Cubs sportscaster Harry Caray, Craig the cheerleader, middle school teacher Marty Culp, Robert Goulet, nude model Terrence Maddox, Janet Reno, and Alex Trebek. In one of many one-time sketches, he provided "more cowbell" for Blue Oyster Cult, on Christopher Walken's command. SNL's skits with Ferrell were almost always at least semi-funny, and the show's writers worked Ferrell into more and more skits.
While on SNL, Ferrell and Kattan took a recurring skit about head-bopping losers and expanded it into a feature film, A Night at the Roxbury, which flopped disastrously. Ferrell also appeared in supporting roles and cameos in numerous other comedies, including amusing turns as henchmen in Zoolander and Austin Powers flicks, and as skulking journalist Bob Woodward in the Watergate comedy Dick. He has since blossomed as a funny leading man in Old School, Anchorman, and Stranger than Fiction. Father: Lee Farrell (keyboardist, The Righteous Brothers)
Mother: Kay Overman Farrell
Brother: Patrick Ferrell (b. 1970)
Wife: Viveca Paulson (art auctioneer, b. 1969, m. 2000, two sons)
Son: Magnus Paulin Ferrell (b. 7-Mar-2004 with Paulson)
Son: Matthias Ferrell (b. 30-Dec-2006 with Paulson)
High School: University High School, Irvine, CA (1986)
University: BA Sports Information, University of Southern California (1990)
Endorsement of Apple
Endorsement of Gap 2001
Endorsement of Miller Brewing Company 2001
Groundlings 1990s
Delta Tau Delta Fraternity
Boston Marathon 4:02:29 (2003)
TELEVISION
Saturday Night Live
FILMOGRAPHY AS ACTOR
Semi-Pro (19-Feb-2008)
Blades of Glory (30-Mar-2007)
Stranger Than Fiction (9-Sep-2006)
Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby (4-Aug-2006)
Curious George (10-Feb-2006) [VOICE]
The Producers (16-Dec-2005)
Winter Passing (10-Sep-2005)
Bewitched (24-Jun-2005)
Kicking & Screaming (13-May-2005)
The Wendell Baker Story (11-Mar-2005)
Wake Up, Ron Burgundy (28-Dec-2004)
Melinda and Melinda (17-Sep-2004)
Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy (09-Jul-2004)
Elf (7-Nov-2003)
Old School (13-Feb-2003)
Zoolander (28-Sep-2001)
Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back (24-Aug-2001)
The Ladies Man (10-Oct-2000)
The Thin Pink Line (7-Oct-2000)
Drowning Mona (2-Jan-2000)
Superstar (05-Oct-1999)
Dick (23-Jul-1999)
Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me (8-Jun-1999)
The Suburbans (25-Jan-1999)
A Night at the Roxbury (1-Oct-1998)
Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery (2-May-1997)
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