| Ben Stiller  AKA Benjamin Stiller
Born: 30-Nov-1965
Birthplace: New York City
Gender: Male
Religion: Jewish
Race or Ethnicity: White
Sexual orientation: Straight
Occupation: Actor, Comic
Party Affiliation: Democratic Nationality: United States
Executive summary: There's Something About Mary Ben Stiller is the son of Jerry Stiller and Anne Meara, a bickering comedy team famous from the 1960s, '70s, and '80s. In addition to their work as a duo, his father was also a regular on Seinfeld and King of Queens; and his mother was on All My Children and Archie Bunker's Place for years. Family friends included Francis Ford Coppola, Rodney Dangerfield, and Peter Max. Andy Kaufman once came over for Thanksgiving dinner, but wouldn't eat the turkey (he had peanut butter and jelly sandwiches instead). When Stiller was 10, he had a small role on his mother's CBS lawyer drama, Kate McShane, and when his parents played Vegas, they stayed in the same hotel as Gladys Knight -- and young Stiller played in the pool with the Pips. He was largely raised by the family's Jamaican housekeeper, Hazel, and her seven kids were almost like siblings to Stiller and his sister Amy. At school, though, he was teased and bullied by other kids, and he's said he was a total misfit throughout his adolescence.
As an adult, Stiller started in show business as a serious actor, appearing on stage in The House of Blue Leaves, but behind the scenes, Stiller was making parody short films. The films got him into the cast of Saturday Night Live in 1989, but it was frustrating for Stiller, as his short films rarely made it on the air. After leaving SNL, Stiller had two Ben Stiller Shows. The first was a weekly MTV show in 1990, a behind-the-scenes parody of a comedy show � la The Larry Sanders Show. It had a very short run, but is not to be confused with the next Ben Stiller Show, a sketch show on Fox in 1992, that also had a very short run. The cast of the latter show included Andy Dick, Janeane Garofalo, and Bob Odenkirk, but the ratings were dismal, and Fox cancelled it without even airing its 13th and final episode. The show subsequently won an Emmy for best writing, beating SNL and In Living Color.
Early reviews sometimes dismissed Stiller as "a well-connected Hollywood brat", but his directing and co-starring in Reality Bites reversed that. He has also directed The Cable Guy and Zoolander, and starred in There's Something About Mary, Mystery Men, Meet the Parents, and Dodgeball.
Stiller co-wrote Feel This Book with Garofalo. It's a parody of self-help books, with insights such as, "Being popular and well-liked is not in your best interest, taking into account the public's regrettable lack of taste; it is incumbent upon you not to fit in." Stiller says he has "bi-polar manic depression", and it runs in his family. He's said he dropped acid in high school, and immediately phoned his parents to let them know.
But in interviews, he usually has nothing to say about his private life. "You separate your own experience from what people think or write about," he says. "Because even if somebody writes about something that happened in your life, 95 percent of the time they get it wrong. I'm not leading a life people should care about. It's not like I've made a sex tape or anything. Not that I think anybody would want to watch a Ben Stiller sex tape."
Father: Jerry Stiller (actor, b. 8-Jun-1927)
Mother: Anne Meara (actress, b. 20-Sep-1929, d. 23-May-2015)
Sister: Amy Stiller (actress, b. 9-Aug-1961)
Girlfriend: Jeanne Tripplehorn (actress, ex-)
Girlfriend: Janeane Garofalo (actress, dated 1990)
Girlfriend: Claire Forlani (actress, dated 1998-99)
Girlfriend: Amanda Peet (actress, dated 1998)
Wife: Christine Taylor (actress, m. 13-May-2000, one daughter, one son)
Daughter: Ella Olivia Stiller (b. 10-Apr-2002)
Son: Quinlin Dempsey Stiller (b. 10-Jul-2005)
High School: The Calhoun School, New York, NY (1983)
University: Theater, UCLA School of Theatre, Film, and Television (dropped out)
Hillary Clinton for President
John Edwards for President
John Kerry for President
Obama for America
Obama Victory Fund 2012
UNICEF
Animal Bite bitten by ferret on Along Came Polly set (2003)
Rabies Shot (2003)
Endorsement of Capital One (2011-)
Irish Ancestry Maternal
Jewish Ancestry Paternal
Risk Factors: Bipolar Disorder, LSD, Prostate Cancer
TELEVISION
The Ben Stiller Show
Saturday Night Live 1989
FILMOGRAPHY AS DIRECTOR
Zoolander 2 (4-Feb-2016)
The Secret Life of Walter Mitty (5-Oct-2013)
Tropic Thunder (13-Aug-2008)
Zoolander (28-Sep-2001)
The Cable Guy (14-Jun-1996)
Reality Bites (18-Feb-1994)
FILMOGRAPHY AS ACTOR
Brad's Status (9-Sep-2017)
The Meyerowitz Stories (New and Selected) (21-May-2017)
Don't Think Twice (13-Mar-2016)
Zoolander 2 (4-Feb-2016)
Night at the Museum: Secret of the Tomb (17-Dec-2014)
While We're Young (6-Sep-2014)
Harmontown (8-Mar-2014) · Himself
The Secret Life of Walter Mitty (5-Oct-2013)
The Watch (27-Jul-2012) · Evan
Madagascar 3: Europe's Most Wanted (18-May-2012) · Alex [VOICE]
Tower Heist (2-Nov-2011) · Josh Kovaks
Little Fockers (22-Dec-2010) · Greg Focker
Megamind (30-Oct-2010) · Bernard [VOICE]
I'm Still Here (6-Sep-2010) · Himself
Greenberg (14-Feb-2010) · Roger Greenberg
The Marc Pease Experience (21-Aug-2009) · Jon Gribble
Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian (14-May-2009) · Larry Daley
The Boys: The Sherman Brothers' Story (24-Apr-2009) · Himself
Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa (30-Oct-2008) [VOICE]
Tropic Thunder (13-Aug-2008)
The Heartbreak Kid (4-Oct-2007)
Night at the Museum (21-Dec-2006)
Tenacious D: The Pick of Destiny (26-Oct-2006)
School for Scoundrels (29-Sep-2006)
Awesome; I Fuckin' Shot That! (Jan-2006) · Himself
Danny Roane: First Time Director (2006) · Himself
Madagascar (27-May-2005) [VOICE]
Meet the Fockers (16-Dec-2004) · Greg Focker
Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy (9-Jul-2004) · Arturo Mendes
Dodgeball: A True Underdog Story (18-Jun-2004)
Envy (30-Apr-2004) · Tim Dingman
Starsky & Hutch (26-Feb-2004) · David Starsky
Along Came Polly (12-Jan-2004) · Reuben Feffer
Duplex (26-Sep-2003) · Alex Rose
Run Ronnie Run! (16-Sep-2003) · Himself
The Royal Tenenbaums (5-Oct-2001)
Zoolander (28-Sep-2001)
America: A Tribute to Heroes (21-Sep-2001) · Himself
Meet the Parents (6-Oct-2000) · Greg Focker
Keeping the Faith (5-Apr-2000)
The Independent (12-Mar-2000)
Black and White (4-Sep-1999)
Mystery Men (22-Jul-1999) · Furious
The Suburbans (25-Jan-1999)
Permanent Midnight (12-Sep-1998) · Jerry Stahl
Your Friends & Neighbors (19-Aug-1998) · Jerry
There's Something About Mary (15-Jul-1998)
Zero Effect (30-Jan-1998) · Steve Arlo
The Cable Guy (14-Jun-1996) · Sam Sweet
Flirting with Disaster (22-Mar-1996) · Mel
If Lucy Fell (8-Mar-1996) · Bwick Elias
Heavyweights (17-Feb-1995) · Tony Perkins, Sr.
Reality Bites (18-Feb-1994) · Michael Grates
Highway to Hell (13-Mar-1992) · Pluto's Cook and Attila the Hun
Stella (2-Feb-1990)
Next of Kin (20-Oct-1989)
That's Adequate (Jan-1989)
Fresh Horses (18-Nov-1988)
Empire of the Sun (9-Dec-1987)
Hot Pursuit (8-May-1987)
Author of books:
Feel This Book: An Essential Guide To Self-Empowerment, Spiritual Supremacy and Sexual Satisfaction (1999, self-help)
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