Benjamin Edward Meara Stiller (born November 30, 1965) is an American actor, filmmaker, and comedian. He is the son of the comedians and actors Jerry Stiller and Anne Meara.[1] Stiller was a member of a group of comedic actors colloquially known as the Frat Pack. His films have grossed more than $2.6 billion in Canada and the United States, with an average of $79 million per film.[2] Throughout his career, he has received various awards and honors, including an Emmy Award, a Directors Guild of America Award, a Britannia Award and a Teen Choice Award.
His parents frequently took him on the sets of their appearances, including The Mike Douglas Show when he was 6.[20] He considered his childhood unusual, stating: "In some ways, it was a show-business upbringing—a lot of traveling, a lot of late nights—not what you'd call traditional."[21] His older sister, Amy,[22] has appeared in many of his productions, including Reality Bites, DodgeBall: A True Underdog Story, and Zoolander.[23][24][25] Stiller displayed an early interest in filmmaking and made Super 8 movies with his sister and friends.[9]
At age 9, Stiller made his acting debut as a guest on his mother's short-lived television series, Kate McShane. In the late 1970s, he performed with the New York City troupe NYC's First All Children's Theater, playing several roles, including the title role in Clever Jack and the Magic Beanstalk.[26] After being inspired by the television show Second City Television while in high school, Stiller realized that he wanted to get involved with sketch comedy.[26] During his high school years, he was also the drummer of the post-punk band Capital Punishment, which released the studio album Roadkill in 1982. The band's bassist, Peter Swann, went on to become a judge on the Arizona Court of Appeals, serving from 2008 until 2022.[27][28] The band reunited in 2018 to release a new EP, titled This is Capital Punishment, for Record Store Day.[29] The current status of the band is unknown.
When he was approximately 15, Stiller obtained a small part with one line on the television soap opera Guiding Light, although in an interview he characterized his performance as poor.[32] He was later cast in a role in the 1986 Broadway revival of John Guare's The House of Blue Leaves, alongside John Mahoney; the production would garner four Tony Awards.[31]
During its run, Stiller produced a satirical mockumentary whose principal was fellow actor Mahoney. Stiller's comedic work was well received by the cast and crew of the play, and he followed up with a 10-minute short titled The Hustler of Money, a parody of the Martin Scorsese film The Color of Money. The film featured him in a send-up of Tom Cruise's 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 Stiller a spot as a writer.[31] In the meantime, he had a bit role in Steven Spielberg's Empire of the Sun.[33]
In 1989 Stiller wrote and appeared on Saturday Night Live as a featured performer. However, since the show did not want him to make more short films, he left after four episodes.[31] He then put together Elvis Stories, a short film about a fictitious tabloid focused on recent sightings of Elvis Presley.[34] The film starred friends and co-stars John Cusack, Jeremy Piven, Mike Myers, Andy Dick, and Jeff Kahn.[34] The film was considered a success, and led him to develop the short film Going Back to Brooklyn for MTV; it was a music video starring comedian Colin Quinn that parodied LL Cool J's recent hit "Going Back to Cali".[35]
Producers at MTV were so impressed with Back to Brooklyn that they offered Stiller a 13-episode show in the experimental "vid-com" format.[36] Titled The Ben Stiller Show, this series mixed comedy sketches with music videos and parodied various television shows, music stars, and films. It starred Stiller, along with main writer Jeff Khan and Harry O'Reilly, with his parents and sister making occasional appearances.[36]
In the early 1990s, Stiller had minor roles in films such as Stella and Highway to Hell as well as a cameo in The Nutt House. In 1992, Stiller was approached to direct Reality Bites, based on a script by Helen Childress. Stiller devoted the next year and a half to rewriting the script with Childress, fundraising, and recruiting cast members for the film. It was eventually released in early 1994, directed by Stiller and featuring him as a co-star.[31] The film was produced by Danny DeVito, who would later direct Stiller's 2003 film Duplex and produce his 2004 film Along Came Polly.[41]Reality Bites debuted as the fifth highest-grossing film over the President Day opening weekend and received mixed reviews.[42][43]
Stiller joined his parents in the family film Heavyweights (1995), in which he played two roles. Following Heavyweights, he had a brief uncredited role in Adam Sandler's Happy Gilmore (1996) where he played Hal L., the sadistic orderly running the nursing home.[44][45] Next, he had lead roles in If Lucy Fell and Flirting with Disaster, before tackling his next directorial effort with The Cable Guy, which starred Jim Carrey. Stiller once again was featured in his own film, as twins. The film received mixed reviews, but was noted for paying the highest salary for an actor up to that point, as Carrey received $20 million for his work in the film.[46] The film also connected Stiller with future Frat Pack members Jack Black and Owen Wilson.[47]
Also in 1996, MTV invited Stiller to host the VH1 Fashion Awards. Along with SNL writer Drake Sather, Stiller developed a short film for the awards about a male model known as Derek Zoolander. It was so well received that he developed another short film about the character for the 1997 VH1 Fashion Awards and finally remade the skit into a film.[31]
In 2021, Stiller signed on to co-write and direct Bag Man, a Focus Features adaptation of the 2018 podcast about the kickback scandal that led to the resignation of Vice President Spiro Agnew.[48] As of October 2023, the movie remains in pre-production.[49]
Comedic work
In 1998, Stiller put aside his directing ambitions to star in the Farrelly Brothers' There's Something About Mary, alongside Cameron Diaz, which became a surprise hit with a long-lasting cult following. That year, he starred in several dramas, including Zero Effect, Your Friends & Neighbors, and Permanent Midnight. He 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.[50]
In 1999, he starred in three films, including Mystery Men, where he played a superhero wannabe called Mr. Furious. He appeared in a segment on the July 26 episode of WWFRAW is WAR to promote the then-upcoming movie and found himself on the wrong end of Intercontinental Champion Jeff Jarrett's Figure-4 Leg Lock.
He returned to directing with a new spoof television series for Fox titled 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.[51]
In 2000, Stiller starred in three more films, including one of his most recognizable roles, a male nurse named Gaylord "Greg" Focker in Meet the Parents, opposite Robert De Niro.[52] The film was well received by critics, grossed over $330 million worldwide, and spawned two sequels.[53][54] Also in 2000, MTV again invited Stiller to make another short film, and he developed Mission: Improbable, a spoof of Tom Cruise's role in Mission: Impossible II and other films.[55]
In 2001, Stiller directed his third feature film, Zoolander, in which he also starred as Derek Zoolander. 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),[56] while shots of the World Trade Center were digitally removed and hidden for the film's release after the September 11 terrorist attacks.[57]
Over the next two years, Stiller continued with the lackluster box office film Duplex, and cameos in Orange County and Nobody Knows Anything![59][60][61] He has guest-starred on several television shows, including an appearance in an episode of the television series The King of Queens, in a flashback as the father of the character Arthur (played by Jerry Stiller).[62] He also made a guest appearance on World Wrestling Entertainment's WWE Raw.[63]
In 2007, Stiller starred alongside Malin Åkerman in the romantic comedy The Heartbreak Kid. The film earned over $100 million worldwide despite receiving mostly negative reviews.[68][69]
In 2008, Stiller directed, co-wrote, co-produced, and starred in the film Tropic Thunder, with Robert Downey Jr. and Jack Black; Stiller had originally conceived of the film's premise while filming Empire of the Sun in 1987.[70]
In 2010, Stiller made a brief cameo in Joaquin Phoenix's mockumentary I'm Still Here and played the lead role in the comedy-drama Greenberg. He again portrayed Greg Focker in the critically panned but financially successful Little Fockers, the second sequel to Meet the Parents. He originally had planned to voice the titular protagonist of Megamind along with Robert Downey Jr., but later dropped out and was replaced by Will Ferrell while still remaining an executive producer and voicing a minor character in the film, a museum curator named Bernard.[72]
Stiller has been described as the "acknowledged leader" of the Frat Pack, a core group of actors who have worked together in multiple films. The group includes Jack Black, Will Ferrell, Vince Vaughn, Owen Wilson, Luke Wilson, Steve Carell and Paul Rudd.[76][77] Stiller has been acknowledged as the leader of the group because of his multiple cameos and for his consistent use of the other members in roles in films which he produces and directs. He has appeared the most with Owen Wilson (in 12 films).[76][78] Of the 35 primary films that are considered Frat Pack films, Stiller has been involved with 20, in some capacity.[76]
Stiller is also the only member of this group to have appeared in a Brat Pack film (Fresh Horses).[33] He rejects the "Frat Pack" label, saying in a 2008 interview that the concept was "completely fabricated".[79]
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.[90]
Stiller considers Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy to be his "hero", and he visited him in Kyiv in June 2022; on the same trip Stiller visited Lviv, Irpin and Makariv to bring attention to the humanitarian need of refugees in Poland and Ukraine.[96] Russia sanctioned Ben Stiller over his Ukraine support.[97]
Politics
Stiller is a supporter of the Democratic Party and donated money to John Kerry's 2004 U.S. presidential campaign.[98] 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.[99]
Stiller was diagnosed with prostate cancer in June 2014 and was declared cancer-free in September 2014 following the surgical removal of his prostate.[102][103][104]
Stiller was awarded an Emmy Award for "Outstanding Writing for a Variety, Music or Comedy Program" for his work on The Ben Stiller Show.[40] He has been nominated twelve times for the Teen Choice Awards, and won once, for "Choice Hissy Fit" for his work in Zoolander. He has been nominated for the MTV Movie Awards thirteen times, and has won three times: for "Best Fight" in There's Something About Mary, "Best Comedic Performance" in Meet the Parents, and "Best Villain" in DodgeBall: A True Underdog Story.[106] He received the MTV Movie Awards' MTV Generation Award, the ceremony's top honor, in 2009.[107] On March 31, 2007, Stiller received the "Wannabe Award" (given to a celebrity whom children "want to be" like) at the Kids' Choice Awards.[108]
Princeton University's Class of 2005 inducted Stiller as an honorary member of the class during its "Senior Week" in April 2005.[109] On February 23, 2007, Stiller received the Hasty Pudding Man of the Year award from Harvard's Hasty Pudding Theatricals. According to the organization, the award is given to performers who give a lasting and impressive contribution to the world of entertainment.[110] In 2011 he was awarded the BAFTA Britannia – Charlie Chaplin Britannia Award for Excellence in Comedy by BAFTA Los Angeles.[111] In 2014, Stiller was nominated for Best Actor at the 40th Saturn Awards for The Secret Life of Walter Mitty.[112] On February 2, 2019, Stiller won the Directors Guild of America Award for Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Movies for Television and Limited Series for his miniseries, Escape at Dannemora.[113]
On February 6, 2016, Stiller set the Guinness World Record for longest selfie stick (8.56 meters) at the World Premiere of Zoolander 2.[114]
^Wallace, Debra (November 19, 1999). "Stiller 'softy' in real life". Jewish News of Greater Phoenix. Archived from the original on December 11, 2008. Retrieved March 29, 2009.
^ abRead, Kimberly; Purse, Marsia (August 4, 2007). "Ben Stiller – Actor/Comedian". About.com. Archived from the original on February 14, 2009. Retrieved March 29, 2009.
^Lawrence, Will (September 28, 2007). "Ben Stiller behaving badly". The Guardian. London, UK. Archived from the original on January 10, 2022. Retrieved January 11, 2010.
^Turan, Kenneth (October 6, 2000). "Meet the Parents". Los Angeles Times. Archived from the original on October 27, 2007. Retrieved January 11, 2010.