Michael John "Mike" Myers (born May 25, 1963) is a Canadian actor (of British parentage), comedian, screenwriter and film producer. He was a long-time cast member on the NBC sketch show Saturday Night Live in the late 1980s and the early 1990s and starred as the title characters in the films Wayne's World, Austin Powers, and Shrek.
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Career
Early career
One of Myers's first acting jobs was in a TV commercial when he was ten years old.1 Gilda Radner played his mother. A few months later, according to Myers, his brother was teasing him about his "girlfriend (Radner) being on some stupid show on Saturday." Myers swore that one day, he too would be on that show.
Myers graduated from high school in 1982 and was immediately accepted into the Second City Canadian Touring Company, after which he moved to the UK where in 1985 he was one of the founding members of [[The Comedy Store Pla[Sprockets (television)|Dieter]], Linda Richman, and Wayne Campbell from Wayne's World.
Film
In 1992, Myers and Dana Carvey adapted Wayne's World into a full-length motion picture based on the SNL sketch. The movie turned out to be one of Myers's greatest successes and one of the few Saturday Night Live-based films to be considered contract to play Dieter, the SNL character, in a feature film. Myers said he refused to honor the $20 million contract because he did not want to cheat moviegoers with an unacceptable script - one that he himself had written. Myers countersued, and a settlement was reached after several months where Myers agreed to make another film with Universal. That film would be The Cat in the Hat, released in November 2003 and starring Myers as the title character. In 2001, Myers played the title character in the DreamWorks animated film Shrek (2001). He reprised this role in Shrek 3-D in 2003, Shrek 2 (2004), Shrek The Third, and the Christmas special Shrek The Halls, both in 2007.
Myers is a member of the band Ming Tea along with Bangles guitarist and vocalist Susanna Hoffs and musician Matthew Sweet. They performed the songs BBC and Daddy Wasn't There for the Austin Powers movies.
In a 2005 poll to find The Comedian's Comedian, he was voted among the top 50 comedy acts ever by fellow comedians and comedy insiders. As of 2005, Myers was signed on to play the lead role in the upcoming biopic of The Who drummer Keith Moon.2 The film would be produced by Roger Daltrey and Nigel Sinclair.
During a CBS interview in 2007, Myers noted that he normally takes three years between films. He spends one year "living his life" and then writes various screenplays, develops characters, practices them in front of live audiences, and then selects one of the screenplays to film. Myers noted that this was the Marx Brothers' procedure for developing their film material.
Myers received the MTV Generation award in June 2007, making him the 2nd Canadian to win the award (Jim Carrey was the first in 2006), for bringing his unique style of comedy to small and big screens alike.
In June 2008, Myers's film The Love Guru met with negative reviews, prompting cable news network MSNBC to brand Myers "The Antifunny" in its June 24, 2008 online news edition.
In August 2008, it was announced that Myers had been cast as Gen. Ed Fenech in Quentin Tarantino's World War II revenge film Inglourious Basterds.3
Filmography
Awards
Myers has won the following awards:
Notable characters
The following characters were created and played by Myers:
References
External links
| Persondata |
| NAME |
Myers, Mike |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES |
Myers, Michael |
| SHORT DESCRIPTION |
Actor, comedian, screenwriter, producer |
| DATE OF BIRTH |
May 25, 1963 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH |
Scarborough, Ontario, Canada |
| DATE OF DEATH |
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| PLACE OF DEATH |
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