Everything about Mike Myers Actor totally explained
Michael John "Mike" Myers (born
May 25,
1963) is an
Emmy Award-winning
Canadian actor,
comedian,
screenwriter and
film producer. He was a long-time cast member on
Saturday Night Live in the early 1990s and starred as the title characters in the film series
Wayne's World,
Austin Powers and
Shrek.
Personal life
Myers was born in
Scarborough, Ontario, the son of Alice (
née Hind), an office supervisor who was formerly in the
RAF, and Eric Myers, who worked in the insurance business and previously was a cook for the
British Army. Both of his parents are from
Liverpool which is why Mike carries a British passport. His older brother
Paul is an
indie rock singer-songwriter, broadcaster and author. Myers is of
English,
Scottish, and
Irish ancestry, and was raised
Protestant. In 1993, Mike married Robin Ruzan. He met her at a bar after attending a hockey game. Myers and Ruzan divorced in 2005. Myers attended
Stephen Leacock Collegiate Institute in
Scarborough, Ontario.
Career
One of Myers' first acting jobs was in a TV commercial when he was nine years old. 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. In Chicago, he trained and performed at the
Improv Olympic. 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.
Saturday Night Live
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.
Film
In 1992, Myers and comedian 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' greatest successes and one of the few Saturday Night Live-based films to be considered worthwhile by both audiences and film critics. It was among the most successful movies of the year and the following year a sequel was released - Wayne's World 2. Myers also starred in So I Married an Axe Murderer that same year. The movie wasn't well accepted by critics or audiences. Some of the lines from the film are heavily quoted in other films and pop culture. In 1997, Myers introduced Austin Powers in the film . 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.
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 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 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.
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 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.
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 small and big screens alike.
Films
Awards
Mike Myers has won the following awards:
- Four Canadian Comedy Awards (Best Film Performance (Male) and Best Writing in 2003 and 2000, for Austin Powers in Goldmember and Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me, respectively)
The 2000 American Comedy Award for Best Lead Actor for The Spy Who Shagged Me.
An Emmy Award in 1989 for Outstanding Writing in a Variety or Music Program, for Saturday Night Live. He has also been nominated for two other Emmy Awards.
He has won seven MTV Movie Awards.
Nominated for the Worst Actor and Worst Screen Couple Razzie Awards in 2004, for The Cat in the Hat.
He was awarded a star on the Walk of Fame in 2002. It is located at 7046 Hollywood Blvd., near Sycamore.
Notable characters
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) - A goofy-looking man who helps young people with their problems.
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 . This film is based on the original story, The Cat In The Hat, which was written by Dr. Seuss in 1957. The movie was released in 2003. Michael starred as The Cat In The Hat.Further Information
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