Russell Crowe Photos and Wallpapers

A galvanizing presence whose prodigious talents earned him Hollywood’s highest acting accolades but who was frequently in hot water over his mercurial–and occasionally violent–temperament, handsome New Zealander Russell Crowe ultimately built a reputation as a top-rank leading man whose electirc performances well overshadowed his “bad boy” qualities.

Seldom does a single actor change Hollywood’s perception of the perfect man, the kind of man men want to be and women just plain want. Yet Russell Crowe – a quiet, moody, hard-bitten New Zealander – appears to have done exactly that. With a mere four roles – in LA Confidential, The Insider, Gladiator, A Beautiful Mind, and Cinderella Man, he has knocked the pretty boys into a cocked hat, done away with smug, wisecracking shooters, and single-handedly forced rough-yet-sensitive masculinity back onto the agenda.

Russell Ira Crowe (born 7 April 1964) is an Academy Award-winning New Zealand-Australian actor. His acting career began in the early 1990s with roles in Australian TV series such as Police Rescue and films such as Romper Stomper. In the late 1990s, he began appearing in US films such as the 1997 movie L.A. Confidential. In the 2000s, he was nominated for three Oscars, and in 2001, he won the Academy Award as Best Actor for his starring role in the film Gladiator.

After initial success in Australia, Crowe began acting in American films. He first co-starred with Denzel Washington in Virtuosity in 1995. He went on to become a three-time Oscar nominee, winning the Academy Award as Best Actor in 2001 for Gladiator. Crowe wore his grandfather Stan Wemyss’s Member of the Order of the British Empire medal to the ceremony.

Crowe received three consecutive best actor Oscar nominations for The Insider, Gladiator and A Beautiful Mind. Crowe won the best actor award for A Beautiful Mind at the 2002 BAFTA award ceremony. However he failed to win the Oscar that year, losing to Denzel Washington. It has been suggested that his attack on television producer Malcolm Gerrie for cutting short his acceptance speech may have turned voters against him.

All three films were also nominated for best picture, and both Gladiator and A Beautiful Mind won the award. Within the six year stretch from 1997-2003, he also starred in two other best picture nominees, L.A. Confidential and Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World, though he was nominated for neither.

In 2005 he re-teamed with A Beautiful Mind director Ron Howard for Cinderella Man. In 2006 he re-teamed with Gladiator director Ridley Scott for A Good Year, the first of two consecutive collaborations (the second being American Gangster co-starring again with Denzel Washington, released in late 2007). While the light romantic comedy of A Good Year was not greatly received, Crowe seemed pleased with the film, telling STV in an interview that he thought it would be enjoyed by fans of his other films.

On 9 March 2005, Crowe revealed to GQ magazine that Federal Bureau of Investigation agents had approached him prior to the 73rd Academy Awards on 25 March 2001 and told him that the Islamist terrorist group al-Qaeda wanted to kidnap him. Crowe told the magazine that it was the first time he had ever heard of al-Qaeda (the September 11 attacks took place later that year) and was quoted as saying: “You get this late-night call from the FBI when you arrive in Los Angeles, and they’re, like, absolutely full-on. ‘We’ve got to talk to you now before you do anything.

We have to have a discussion with you, Mr Crowe.’” Crowe recalled that “it was something to do with some recording picked up by a French policewoman, I think, in either Libya or Algiers…it was about taking iconographic Americans out of the picture as a sort of cultural-destabilisation plan”. Crowe was guarded by Secret Service agents for the next few months, both while shooting films and at award ceremonies (Scotland Yard also guarded Crowe while he was promoting Proof of Life in London in February 2001). Crowe said that he “…never fully understood what the fuck was going on”.

On 7 April 2003, his 39th birthday, Crowe married Australian singer and actress Danielle Spencer. Crowe met Spencer while filming The Crossing (1990). Crowe and Spencer have two sons: Charles “Charlie” Spencer Crowe (born 21 December 2003) and Tennyson Spencer Crowe (born 7 July 2006).

Most of the year, Crowe resides in Australia. He has a home in Sydney at the end of the Finger Wharf in Woolloomooloo and also a 320-hectare rural property in Nana Glen near Coffs Harbour, New South Wales. It is believed Crowe is looking for an upmarket home in the Townsville or Thuringowa area for his niece to live in, so she can study at James Cook University.

Crowe stated in November 2007 that he would like to be baptized, and feels that he has put it off for too long. “I do believe there are more important things than what is in the mind of a man,” he says. “There is something much bigger that drives us all. I’m willing to take that leap of faith.”

Crowe has been involved in a number of altercations in recent years which have given him a reputation for having a bad temper. In 1999, Crowe was involved in a scuffle at the Plantation Hotel in Coffs Harbour, Australia, which was caught by a security video. Two men were acquitted of using the video in an attempt to blackmail Crowe.

When part of Crowe’s appearance at the 2002 BAFTA awards was cut out to fit into the BBC’s tape-delayed broadcast, Crowe used strong language during an argument with producer Malcolm Gerrie. The part cut was a poem in tribute to actor Richard Harris who was then terminally ill, and was cut for copyright reasons. Crowe later apologized, saying “What I said to him may have been a little bit more passionate than now, in the cold light of day, I would have liked it to have been.”Later that year, Crowe was alleged to have been involved in a “brawl” inside a trendy Japanese restaurant in London.

In June 2005, Crowe was arrested and charged with second degree assault by New York City police, after he threw a telephone at an employee of the Mercer Hotel who refused to help him place a call when the system did not work from his room, and was charged with fourth-degree criminal possession of a weapon (the telephone). The employee, a concierge, was treated for a facial laceration. Crowe described the incident as “possibly the most shameful situation that I’ve ever gotten myself in… and I’ve done some pretty dumb things in my life”. He was sentenced to conditional release, and paid US$100,000 to settle a civil lawsuit out of court.

Crowe’s temperament was parodied in an episode of the cartoon South Park titled “The New Terrance and Phillip Movie Trailer”. In this episode, Crowe is the star of his own, fictional TV series named Russell Crowe: Fightin’ Around the World, in which he travels the globe in his tug boat to instigate altercations with strangers of different nationalities. Crowe’s temperament was also parodied on the Australian Seven Network skit show Big Bite in 2003. The Network Ten show The Secret Life of Us was parodied on the show as The Secret Life of Russ. The “phone incident” was parodied in Scary Movie 4 when Brenda is dreaming, one of her lines is “Look out, Russell Crowe’s got a phone!”

• Russell Crowe Website: http://www.westlord.com/russellcrowe/

Will Smith Biography

Willard Christopher “Will” Smith, Jr. (born September 25, 1968) is a Golden Globe and a two time Academy Award-nominated American actor, and a multiple Grammy Award-winning hip hop artist.

He is one of a small group of people who have enjoyed success in three major entertainment media in the United States. Newsweek has called him the most powerful actor on the planet. Smith’s most notable television role was that of William “Will” Smith in The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air. In his film work, his notable roles include Agent J in Men in Black and Men in Black II, Muhammad Ali in Ali, as well as his role in the blockbuster Independence Day and more recently as Chris Gardner in The Pursuit of Happyness with his son Jaden Smith.

After The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air ended in 1996, Smith began a successful solo music career while simultaneously starring in a series of films. The first two films were hugely successful summer blockbusters: Independence Day (1996), in which he played a fearless and confident fighter pilot, and Men in Black (1997), where he played the comic and confident Agent J against Tommy Lee Jones’s deadpan Agent K. Smith’s acting in Men in Black won critical praise.

He originally rejected the lead role in Men in Black, but wife Jada Pinkett Smith coaxed him into acceptance. The two films established Smith’s commercial reputation as a bankable star whose appeal across age, race, and gender lines could “open” a film at the box office. Smith turned down the role of Neo in The Matrix in favor of Wild Wild West.

After the failure of Wild Wild West and watching Keanu Reeves’ performance, he suggests that he would not have been the appropriate actor for the role at the time, but still considers passing on The Matrix as a big mistake. He then gained lead roles in several box office successes including Men in Black II, Bad Boys II, Hitch, and I, Robot.

Smith is one of only two hip-hop artists to receive an Oscar nomination in an acting category (Best Actor, Ali, 2001), for his portrayal of the boxer Muhammad Ali, formerly known as Cassius Clay, in the biopic. He once more was nominated for Best Actor Oscar – this time for his role in another true-life movie, The Pursuit of Happyness, where he played Chris Gardner in his rags to riches story.

Smith and his wife Jada Pinkett Smith created the UPN (later CW) sitcom All of Us, which was loosely based on their lives. The show debuted on UPN in September 2003 and aired there for three seasons before moving to The CW in October 2006 for one more season. The CW cancelled All of Us in May 2007.

Smith married Sheree Zampino in 1992. They had a son, Willard Christopher III, also known as “Trey”, but divorced in 1995. Trey appeared in his father’s music video for the 1997 single, “Just The Two Of Us.” Smith married actress Jada Pinkett in 1997. Together they have had two children: Jaden Christopher Syre (born 1998), his co-star in The Pursuit of Happyness, and Willow Camille Reign (born 2000).

Along with his brother, Harry Smith, he owns Treyball Development Inc., a Beverly Hills-based company named after his first son. He has been consistently listed in Fortune Magazine’s “Richest 40″ list of the forty wealthiest Americans under the age of 40. Smith and his family reside on Star Island (Florida) in Miami, Florida, Los Angeles, Stockholm, Sweden and in Philadelphia. He helped the community by giving money to Katrina victims. Smith is politically liberal and has made several large donations to the presidential campaign of Senator Barack Obama.

On the month of July 2002, Smith and his wife Jada filled a restraining order over a fired caretaker named Mike Cooley who had been stalking the couple and their children for some time. It was mentioned that Cooley threatened the Smiths with “a lawsuit against plaintiffs and to go to the National Enquirer and other press with ‘embarrassing’ allegations”. Since the money was not paid, Cooley’s tactic was to stalking and harassing the family until Cooley receives the demanded money.

On July 2, 2005, Smith served as host for the Live 8 concert in his native Philadelphia in front of an enormous crowd, and later performed a set with DJ Jazzy Jeff. Smith also produced All of Us, a program loosely based on his love, life, and family in 2005. Smith is an enthusiast for the games of chess, bingo and rummoli. He is also quite fond of video games. Once every year Will takes his mother to Canyon Ranch spa in Tucson, Arizona for a week.

Smith remains good friends with Tatyana Ali, former co-star on Fresh Prince of Bel Air. Will was the one that mainly convinced her to enter the field of music, due to her singing shown on some episodes of the show. He also has taken credit for kick starting the career of Sam Phillips in the film business.

Will Smith and his wife Jada Pinkett Smith are good friends of Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes, which has led to rumors that Will Smith is a believer in Scientology. He has denied that he has joined the Church of Scientology but has said “I just think a lot of the ideas in Scientology are brilliant and revolutionary and non-religious.” In 2005, Will Smith was entered into the Guinness Book of World Records for attending a record breaking three premieres in a 24 hour time span.

Will Smith was immortalized on December 10, 2007 at Grauman’s Chinese Theater on Hollywood Blvd. Will Smith left an imprint of his hands and feet oustide the world renowned Grauman’s Chinese Theater in front of tons of screaming fans including actor Tom Cruise. He has donated $4,600 to the presidential campaign of Democrat Barack Obama.

• Will Smith Website: http://www.westlord.com/willsmith/

James McAvoy Biography

James Andrew McAvoy (21 April 1979) is a BAFTA-winning Scottish actor, best known for his roles as Steve McBride in Shameless, Mr. Tumnus, the Faun in The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, Dr Nicholas Garrigan in The Last King of Scotland and as Robbie Turner in Atonement.

McAvoy was born in Scotstoun, Glasgow, the son of Elizabeth (née Johnstone), a psychiatric nurse, and James McAvoy, a builder. His sister, Joy McAvoy, is a singer. McAvoy’s parents divorced when he was seven, and he subsequently lived with his maternal grandparents, Mary and James Johnstone.

He attended St. Thomas Aquinas Secondary in Jordanhill, Glasgow, a Catholic school, and considered becoming a priest. He was in the Pace Youth Theatre for over six years, trained by Mhari Gilbert, and graduated from the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama in 2000.

He once lived in a London houseshare with Jesse Spencer. He is married to his Shameless co-star, Anne-Marie Duff. In his spare time, McAvoy enjoys sci fi, and is a fan of Celtic Football Club.

McAvoy’s first roles were in David Hayman’s The Near Room in 1995 and then as Anthony Balfour in Pat Barker’s Regeneration in 1997. McAvoy got his first big international break with a role in the Stephen Spielberg-produced miniseries Band of Brothers. His first international starring role was as Leto Atreides II in the Sci Fi Channel miniseries Children of Dune (adapted from Frank Herbert’s novels) which aired in 2003, and the same year he co-starred in Paul Abbott’s acclaimed thriller serial State of Play.

In 2004 he starred as Steve McBride in another Abbott-written drama series, Shameless on Channel 4, for which he was nominated for the British Comedy Award for Best TV Newcomer. In 2005, he played Ben in the Royal Court Theatre’s production Breathing Corpses, as well as the role of Mr. Tumnus, the Faun in Disney and Walden Media’s The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe. He also starred in Wimbledon as Carl Colt and as Macbeth in Shakespeare Retold.

In 2006, he starred alongside Forest Whitaker in an adaptation of Giles Foden’s novel The Last King of Scotland based on the (factual) events of the brutal Ugandan dictator Idi Amin’s regime as seen by his (fictional) personal physician during the 1970s. He took the lead, Brian Jackson, in Starter for Ten (the adaptation of the David Nicholls novel of the same name). McAvoy won the new Mary Selway/Orange Rising Star Award at the 2006 BAFTA Awards.

In 2007 he appeared in two critcally acclaimed films — Becoming Jane and Atonement, the latter of which is based on Ian McEwan’s 2001 novel. McAvoy was nominated for a Golden Globe for his role in Atonement. McAvoy recently finished work on the film adaptation of Wanted. He workshopped scenes for the movie Three Way Split for directors Neil Hunter and Tom Hunsinger, but will not take part in the actual film.

He is rumoured to be appearing in the movie Frost Flowers, Channel 4 mini series The Devil’s Whore and starring as Kurt Cobain in an upcoming biopic about the Nirvana singer.

• WestLord: http://www.westlord.com/

Steve Martin Biography and Photos

Stephen Glenn “Steve” Martin (born August 14, 1945) is an American comedian, actor, writer, playwright, producer, musician and composer.

In the mid-1970s, Martin made frequent appearances as a stand-up comedian on The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson. That exposure, together with appearances on HBO’s On Location and NBC’s Saturday Night Live (SNL) (on which, despite a common misconception, he was never a cast member) led to his first of three comedy albums, Let’s Get Small. The album was a huge success; one of its tracks, “Excuse Me”, helped establish a national catch phrase.

His next album, A Wild and Crazy Guy, was an even bigger success, reaching the #2 spot on the sales chart in the U.S. and featured another catch phrase (the album’s title), this time based on a Saturday Night Live sketch in which Martin and Dan Aykroyd played a couple of bumbling Czechoslovakian would-be playboys, the Festrunk Brothers. The album ended with a song “King Tut”, sung and written by Martin and released as a 45 RPM single during the King Tut craze that accompanied the extremely popular traveling exhibit of the Egyptian king’s tomb artifacts; the single reached #17 in 1978.

The song was backed by the “Toot Uncommons” (they were actually members of the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band). The album was a million seller. Both albums won Grammys for Best Comedy Recording in 1977 and 1978, respectively. In his comedy albums, Martin’s stand-up comedy was clearly self-referential and sometimes self-mocking. It mixes philosophical riffs with sudden spurts of “happy feet”, banjo playing with balloon depictions of concepts like venereal disease. His style is off-kilter and ironic, and sometimes pokes fun at stand-up comedy traditions.

By the end of the 1970s, Martin had acquired the kind of following normally reserved for rock stars, with his tour appearances typically occurring at sold-out arenas filled with tens of thousands of screaming fans. But unknown to his audience, stand-up comedy was “just an accident” for him. His real goal was to get into film. Martin’s first film was a short, The Absent-Minded Waiter (1977).

The seven-minute long film, also featuring Buck Henry and Teri Garr, was written by and starred Martin. The film was nominated for an Academy Award as Best Short Film, Live Action. His first feature film appearance was in the musical Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band, where he sang The Beatles’ “Maxwell’s Silver Hammer”.

In 1979, Martin wrote and starred in his first full-length movie, The Jerk, directed by Carl Reiner. The movie was a huge success, grossing over $73 million on a budget of far less than that amount.

The success of The Jerk opened more doors for Martin. Stanley Kubrick met with him to discuss the possibility of Martin starring in a screwball comedy version of Traumnovelle (Kubrick later changed his approach to the material, the result of which was 1999’s Eyes Wide Shut). Martin was executive producer for Domestic Life, a prime-time television series starring Martin Mull, and a late-night series called Twilight Theater.

It emboldened Martin to try his hand at his first serious film, Pennies From Heaven, a movie he was anxious to do because of the desire to avoid being typecast. To prepare for that film, Martin took acting lessons from director Herbert Ross, and spent months learning how to tap dance.

The film was a financial failure; Martin’s comment at the time was “I don’t know what to blame, other than it’s me and not a comedy.”

Martin was in three more Reiner-directed comedies after The Jerk: Dead Men Don’t Wear Plaid in 1982, The Man with Two Brains in 1983 and All of Me in 1984. In 1986, Martin joined fellow Saturday Night Live veterans Martin Short and Chevy Chase in ¡Three Amigos!, directed by John Landis, and written by Martin, Lorne Michaels, and Randy Newman. It was originally entitled The Three Caballeros and Martin was to be teamed with Dan Aykroyd and John Belushi. In 1986, Martin was in the musical film version of the hit off-Broadway play Little Shop of Horrors (based on a famous B-movie), as a sadistic dentist, Orin Scrivello.

The film also marked the first of three films teaming Martin with actor Rick Moranis. In 1987, Martin joined comedian John Candy in the John Hughes movie Planes, Trains & Automobiles. That same year, the Cyrano de Bergerac adaptation Roxanne, a film Martin co-wrote, won him a Writers Guild of America award and more importantly, the recognition from Hollywood and the public that he was more than a comedian. In 1988, he performed in the Frank Oz comedy Dirty Rotten Scoundrels alongside Michael Caine.

Martin starred in the Ron Howard film Parenthood, with Moranis in 1989. He later met with Moranis to make the Mafia comedy My Blue Heaven in 1990. In 1991, Martin starred in and wrote L.A. Story and was a member of the ensemble existentialist tragedy Grand Canyon that were both about life in Los Angeles. In a serious role, Martin played a tightly wound Hollywood film producer trying to recover from a traumatic robbery that left him injured. In contrast to the serious tone of Grand Canyon, Martin also appeared in a remake of the comedy Father of the Bride in 1991 (followed by a sequel in 1995).

In David Mamet’s 1997 thriller, The Spanish Prisoner, Martin played a darker role as a wealthy stranger who takes a suspicious interest in the work of a young businessman (Campbell Scott). In 1999, Martin and Goldie Hawn starred in a remake of the 1970 Neil Simon comedy, The Out-of-Towners. By 2003, Martin ranked 4th on the box office stars list, after co-starring in Bringing Down The House and starring in Cheaper By The Dozen, each of which earned over $130 million at U.S. theaters. Both were family comedies.

In 2005, Martin wrote and starred in Shopgirl, based on his own novella. Martin played a wealthy businessman who strikes up a romance with a Saks Fifth Avenue counter girl (Claire Danes). He also starred in Cheaper by the Dozen 2 that year. Martin’s last work to date was the 2006 installment of The Pink Panther, attempting to stand in Peter Sellers’ shoes as the bumbling Inspector Clouseau. In 2007, he announced on his website that he would likely be starting work on the sequel later in the year.

Throughout the 1990s, after Tina Brown took over The New Yorker, Martin wrote various pieces for the magazine. They later appeared in the collection Pure Drivel. He appeared in a version of Waiting for Godot as Vladimir (with Robin Williams as Estragon and Bill Irwin as Lucky). In 1993, Martin wrote the play Picasso at the Lapin Agile, which had a successful run in several American cities. In 1998, Martin guest starred with U2 in the 200th episode of The Simpsons titled Trash of the Titans. Martin provided the voice for sanitation commissioner Ray Patterson.

In 2001, Martin hosted the 73rd Annual Academy Awards. Also in 2001, he played banjo on Earl Scruggs’ remake of “Foggy Mountain Breakdown”. Martin called fellow comedian and banjo player Billy Connolly to tell him, prompting the cry of “you lucky bugger!” Connolly’s wife thought he was referring to Martin being chosen as the Oscar’s host. The recording was the winner of the Best Country Instrumental Performance category at the following year’s Grammys. In 2002, Martin adapted the Carl Sternheim play The Underpants, which ran Off-Broadway at Classic Stage Company. In 2003, Martin hosted the Academy Awards for the second time.

In 2005, Martin hosted a film along with Donald Duck, Disneyland: The First 50 Magical Years, which was intended to show at Disneyland until the end of Disneyland’s 50th anniversary celebration in September 2006, but it is continuing to run indefinitely. Martin was also honored in 2005 with a Disney Legend award, acknowledging Martin’s early career at Disneyland and connections with The Walt Disney Company throughout his career.

Martin has guest-hosted Saturday Night Live 14 times, as of his February 2006 hosting (musical guest: Prince featuring Tamar), breaking his previous record of 13 (now held by fellow frequent host Alec Baldwin) and retaining his title as SNL’s most frequent host. Coincidentally, Steve Martin was supposed to host with Prince as the musical guest on the first episode of SNL’s 30th season, but both he and Prince backed out at the last minute and were replaced by Ben Affleck and Nelly.

Martin has also written two novellas, Shopgirl and The Pleasure of My Company. Shopgirl was later turned into a film. In a 2005 poll to find The Comedian’s Comedian, Martin was voted one of the top 15 greatest comedy acts ever by fellow comedians and comedy insiders. On October 23, 2005, Martin was presented with the Mark Twain Prize for American Humor.

Martin is an avid art collector, particularly modern American art, and a trustee of the Los Angeles County Museum of Art. Martin’s personal collection has at one time included the art of Georgia O’Keeffe, John Henry Twachtman, Richard Diebenkorn, Po Shun Leong, Willem de Kooning, Franz Kline, Cy Twombly, Helen Frankenthaler, Edward Hopper, David Hockney, Roy Lichtenstein and Pablo Picasso. In 2005, The Huntington Library in San Marino, California, announced that Martin had pledged US$1 million over five years for the museum’s American art collection.

Three-quarters of the gift will be used for exhibitions, with the remainder being used for acquisitions. Before he made his pledge, Martin loaned paintings to the museum, helped it acquire a sculpture by John Gregory, and sponsored an exhibition of “sugar paintings” by 19th century American artist Eastman Johnson. Jessica Todd Smith, the museum’s American art curator, said Martin became an “enthusiastic” supporter of The Huntington after he visited the museum in 2002 while filming a movie nearby.

On July 28, 2007, Martin married Anne Stringfield (born 1973) at his Los Angeles home. Former Nebraska Senator Bob Kerrey presided over the ceremony. Lorne Michaels, creator of Saturday Night Live, was his best man. Several of the guests, including close friends Tom Hanks, Eugene Levy, comedian Carl Reiner, and magician/actor Ricky Jay were not informed that a wedding ceremony would take place.

Instead, they were told they were invited to a party. Robin Williams was invited, but he felt he was too busy at the time to go to just a regular party. Martin has previously been involved with artists Allyson Hollingsworth and Cindy Sherman, and the actresses Anne Heche and Bernadette Peters. He was married to actress Victoria Tennant from 1986 to 1994.

Along with the other writers for The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour, Steve won an Emmy Award in 1969.In 1978 Steve won a Grammy Award for Best Comedy Album for Let’s Get Small, and in 1979 for A Wild and Crazy Guy. He shared a 2001 Grammy award for Best Country Instrumental Performance with Earl Scruggs (and others) for his banjo performance of Foggy Mountain Breakdown. On October 23, 2005, Martin was presented with the Mark Twain Prize for American Humor. Martin was honored at the 30th Annual Kennedy Center Honors on December 1, 2007.

• Steve Martin Website: http://www.westlord.com/steve-martin/

Will Ferrell Biography and Photos

John William “Will” Ferrell (born July 16, 1967) is an Emmy- and Golden Globe-nominated American comedian, actor and writer who first established himself as a cast member of Saturday Night Live, and has since gone on to a successful film career.

His original characters included “Morning Latte” co-host Tom Wilkins, Ed the Horse’s twin brother Ned, fictional Blue Öyster Cult member Gene Frenkle, music teacher Marty Culp, Spartan cheerleader Craig Buchanan, Dale Sturtevant from “Dissing Your Dog”, Ted of the Bill Brasky Buddies, David Leary from “Dog Show”, and night clubber Steve Butabi in a sketch that went to the big screen in 1998’s A Night at the Roxbury.

Ferrell returned to Saturday Night Live as a guest host on May 14, 2005. During this guest stint, he reprised his role as Alex Trebek in the popular “Celebrity Jeopardy” sketches and Robert Goulet, advertising a series of crooned ringtones. In the same episode, during the performance of the song “Little Sister” by musical guests Queens of the Stone Age, Ferrell came onstage playing the cowbell. Ferrell became the highest paid cast member of Saturday Night Live in 2001 with a season salary of $350,000.
During his time on Saturday Night Live, Ferrell appeared in several movies: Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery, A Night at the Roxbury, Superstar, The Ladies Man, Dick, Drowning Mona, Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me, Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back, and Zoolander.

His first starring role came after his departure from SNL with Frank “The Tank” Ricard in Old School (2003). The movie “belongs to Mr. Ferrell,” declared the New York Times, which described how he “uses his hilarious, anxious zealotry to sell the part.” Old School was a major success and Ferrell received an MTV Movie Awards nomination for Best Comedic Performance.

The title role in Elf (2003) followed, as did another MTV Movie Awards nomination. Ferrell continued to land comedy roles in 2004 and 2005 in films such as Melinda and Melinda, Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy, Starsky & Hutch, and Wedding Crashers, earning himself a place among Hollywood’s Frat Pack.
In 2005, Ferrell earned $40 million. In 2006, Ferrell starred in Stranger Than Fiction and Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby; both received critical and box office success. Ferrell’s performance in Stranger Than Fiction introduced audiences to the dramatic potential of Ferrell’s acting talents. On December 27, 2006, ‘The Magazine’ named Ferrell as one of its three actors of the year in their 2006 year in review issue.

In March of 2007, Ferrell, along with Jon Heder, co-starred in Blades of Glory. During an interview in support of the ice skating comedy, Ferrell denied relying on performance enhancing drugs to assist with his work in the film, but did admit to using “a lot of human growth hormone and a little bit of Robitussin” for his work in Stranger Than Fiction. In 2005, Ferrell was invited to join the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.

Ferrell appeared as part of a pre-game video package for the Rose Bowl along with Texas alum Matthew McConaughey. Ferrell also sang a song at the ESPY Awards in 2006 about Lance Armstrong and Neil Armstrong, and is often noted as looking very similar to Red Hot Chili Peppers drummer Chad Smith.

Ferrell participated in a 79th Academy Awards musical-comedy performance with John C. Reilly and Jack Black, where they sang a song about comedies being snubbed by the voters in favor of dramas.

Ferrell has worked as a voice actor in several animated television programs, including his portrayal of a 1950s-style father in the animated television series The Oblongs. He has had several guest appearances on Family Guy, where he played the Black Knight in Mr. Saturday Knight, as well as Fat Greek Guy and Miles “Chatterbox” Musket in Fifteen Minutes of Shame. Ferrell also starred as Ted (a.k.a. The Man in the Yellow Hat) in the movie Curious George.
In August 2000, Ferrell married Swedish actress Viveca Paulin, whom he met in 1995 at an acting class. On March 7, 2004, their son Magnus Paulin Ferrell was born. On December 30, 2006, Viveca gave birth to another son, Mattias Ferrell.

In 2006, I-Newswire.com, a site which accepts press releases from users for publication, reported that Ferrell had died in a paragliding accident. The hoax was published before its factual inaccuracy was noticed. The story was further propagated when it appeared on Google News. It has been suggested that the hoax was inspired by the way that Ferrell’s character in Wedding Crashers ridicules paragliding deaths. Ferrell is a fan of USC Trojan football, and has worked with head coach Pete Carroll to do motivational stunts for the players during the season.

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