Ben Stiller Biography

Ben Stiller was born to comedy duo parents Anne Meara and Jerry Stiller (Frank Costanza in 'Seinfeld') and has a sister Amy, also an actress.

Ben utilized his connections to land his first professional acting job in the 1985 Lincoln Center revival of the dark comedy, 'The House of Blue Leaves'.

During its run, he produced a short parody of 'The Colour of Money', entitled 'The Hustler of Money', which brought him to the attention of the 'Saturday Night Live' team, of which he has since been a constant member.

In 1987, Ben made his film acting debut, in Steven Spielberg's 'Empire of the Sun'. In 1989, he was given his own half-hour comedy show on MTV, entitled 'The Ben Stiller Show'.

1998 proved to be Ben's breakout year as a performer. He began with 'Zero Effect', and followed this with the Farrelly brothers' comedy, 'There's Something About Mary'.

In May 2001, Ben appeared in 'American Who Wants to Be A Millionaire' and walked away with £22,000 for charity.

Ben also returned to the big screen as a director and actor, helming and starring in 'Zoolander', a send-up of the modelling world.

In 2002, he re-teamed with his 'Zoolander' nemesis and frequent co-star, Owen Wilson ,in 'The Royal Tennenbaums', a story co-written by Wilson and director Wes Anderson, about a dysfunctional family and their three genius children.

Starring Gene Hackman, Anjelica Huston, Gwyneth Paltrow, and Luke Wilson the film was nominated for a Best Original Screenplay Oscar.

He is married to actress Christine Taylor, although was romantically linked to Jeanne Tripplehorn for a long time.