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 utilised 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.

Despite his A-list star status, Stiller is not shy about small roles in films as highlighted by his cameos in movies including 'Orange County', 'Nobody Knows Anything!', 'Pauly Shore Is Dead' and 'Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy', which was released in 2004.

The same year saw him team up with Vince Vaughn and Christine Taylor in the comedy 'Dodgeball: A True Underdog Story'. Sticking with the same genre, he went on to appear in 'Starsky & Hutch' and 'Along Came Polly', serving as executive producer on the former.

In 2006 Stiller released 'Night at the Museum', which went on to spawn a sequel in the form of 'Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian' (2009), both of which were box office successes. In between the films, he appeared in 'The Heartbreak Kid', 'Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa', a sequel to an earlier animation, and 'Tropic Thunder'. The latter was an action satire comedy featuring Jack Black and Robert Downey, Jr.

The 2010 comedy drama 'Greenberg' earned Stiller Independent Spirit and Comedy Film Award nominations for his outstanding performance in the lead role. The same year also saw the release of the animation 'Megamind' and another movie in his comedy franchise 'Meet the Parents: Little Fockers'.

A winner of a Primetime Emmy award and several other accolades, Stiller is married to actress Christine Taylor, although he was romantically linked to Jeanne Tripplehorn for a long time.