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Mike Myers (actor)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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| Mike Myers | ||||||
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 Mike Myers (1994) |
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| Birth name | Michael John Myers | |||||
| Born | May 25, 1963 Scarborough, Ontario, Canada |
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| Occupation | actor, comedian, writer, producer | |||||
| Years active | 1982 – present | |||||
| Spouse(s) | Robin Ruzan (1993 – 2005) | |||||
| Parents | Eric Myers Alice Myers |
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Michael John Myers (born May 25, 1963, in Scarborough, Ontario) is an Emmy Award-winning English-Canadian actor, comedian, screenwriter and film producer perhaps best known for his comedy work in Saturday Night Live and the films including the title characters of Wayne's World, the Austin Powers series, and Shrek.
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Both of his parents, Eric and Alice, are from Liverpool, and Myers has British, American, and Canadian citizenship. His ethnic heritage is English, Scottish, and Irish. He is a big Liverpool F.C. fan and watches them often. He quoted that skipper Steven Gerrard was the best in the world and will one day become a Sir. His autobiography states "Gerrard is quality, superb, brilliant and such an inspiration to the team". Mike Myers is also a huge fan of the Toronto Maple Leafs hockey team, so much in fact, that he is making a movie involving the team entitled The Love Guru.
The character of Linda Richman was based on Myers's mother-in-law, a woman of New York Jewish extraction who is actually named Linda Richman. In 1993, Myers married Linda Richman's daughter, Robin Ruzan. They filed for divorce in 2007.
One of Myers' first acting jobs was in a TV commercial when he was nine years old[1]. 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 Players, an improvisational group based at The Comedy Store in London. The next year, he starred in the British children's TV program Wide Awake Club, parodying the show's normal exuberance with his own "Sound Asleep Club", in partnership with Neil Mullarkey. He returned to Toronto and Second City in 1986 as a cast member in the Second City's Toronto main stage show. In 1988 he moved from Second City in Toronto to Chicago. He made numerous appearances, including as Wayne Campbell, on Toronto's Citytv in the early 1980s, on the alternative video show "City Limits" hosted by Christopher Ward. Myers also appeared as his Wayne Campbell character in the music video for Ward's Canadian hit "Boys and Girls". Later, Ward would appear as one of Austin Powers' band members in Ming Tea in Myers' popular movie series.
He was a member of the cast of NBC's Saturday Night Live television program from 1989 to 1995, where he performed characters such as Dieter, Linda Richman, and Wayne Campbell from Wayne's World.
In 1992, Myers and comedian Dana Carvey adapted Wayne's World into a full-length motion picture based on the SNL sketch. It was among the most successful movies of the year and the following year a sequel was released - Wayne's World 2.
In 1997, Myers introduced Austin Powers in the film Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery. Myers played both the title role and the villain in the film. In 1999, he played one of his rare non-comedic roles in the film 54 where he played Steve Rubell, proprietor of New York City's famous Studio 54 (a 1970s discoteque). The film was moderately successful, and Myers' performance was widely praised. Myers later parodied the club as "Studio 69" in 2002's Austin Powers in Goldmember. Myers has been said to give complete credit to his nephew, Jeff Myers, for the inspiration of all the characters in the Austin Powers series.
In June 2000, Myers was sued by Universal Pictures for $3.8 million for backing out of a contract to play Dieter, the SNL character, in a feature film. Myers said he refused to honor the $20 million contract because he didn't 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 4-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. 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 September 29, Myers has been signed on to play the lead role in the upcoming biopic of The Who drummer Keith Moon. The film will be produced by Roger Daltrey, Nigel Sinclair, and Paul Gerber.
Myers noted during a May 17, 2007, interview on CBS that it normally takes three years between films. He spends one year "living his life" and then writes multiple 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 noted that he is working on a fourth Austin Powers film that will focus on Dr. Evil and will be the beginning of another multi film sequence.
On June 3, 2007, Myers received the MTV Generation award, making him the 2nd Canadian to win the award (Jim Carrey was the first in 2006), for bringing his unique style of comedy to the small and big screens alike.
The following characters were created by Myers:
- Dieter (Saturday Night Live)
- Linda Richman (SNL)
- Simon (Saturday Night Live) - a little boy who does drawings in the bath and complains about having "prune hands" (the theme song for this segment was a slightly modified version of the theme song from "Simon in the Land of Chalk Drawings" by Edward MacLachlan)
- Wayne Campbell (SNL, the Wayne's World films)
- Pat Arnold (SNL, Bill Swerski's Superfans)
- Stuart Rankin (SNL, proprietor of "All Things Scottish")
- Stuart McKenzie (virtually the same character, So I Married an Axe Murderer)
- Charlie McKenzie (So I Married an Axe Murderer)
- Middle-Aged Man (Saturday Night Live)
- Austin Powers (the Austin Powers films)
- Dr. Evil (all three Austin Powers films)
- Fat Bastard (Austin Powers: The Spy who Shagged Me and Austin Powers in Goldmember)
- Goldmember (Austin Powers in Goldmember)
- Donald Q. Cashington, Jr. III - An eccentric billionaire that requests buying the rights to name autism after himself. (Featured in The Night of Too Many Stars: An Overbooked Event for Autism Education)
The following are notable characters who Myers has portrayed in film, but who were originally created by other writers:
- Shrek (Shrek, Shrek 2, Shrek the Third.)
- The Cat in the Hat, created by Dr. Seuss in 1957.
- Mike Myers at the Internet Movie Database
- Mike Myers at TV.com
- Food Bank For New York City public service announcement
| Preceded by Janeane Garofalo and Ben Stiller |
MTV Movie Awards host 1997 |
Succeeded by Samuel L. Jackson |
| 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 | |
| PLACE OF DEATH | |
Categories: Cleanup from July 2007 | All pages needing cleanup | Wikipedia proseline cleanup | 1963 births | Canadian comedians | Canadian expatriate actors in the United States | Canadian-born entertainers in the United States | Canadian film actors | Canadian television actors | Canadian voice actors | Canadians of Irish descent | Canadians of Scottish descent | Canada's Walk of Fame | English Canadians | Living people | Canadian actors | People from Scarborough, Toronto | Second City alumni