Will Ferrell Biography

John "Will" William Ferrell (born July 16, 1967) is a comedian, impressionist, and actor who first established himself as a cast member of Saturday Night Live.

Ferrell was born in Irvine, California to Lee Ferrell (a keyboardist for The Righteous Brothers) and Kay Overman. He attended Rancho San Joaquin Middle School and University High School in Irvine and became interested in performing while making his school's daily morning announcements over the public address system in disguised voices.
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He then enrolled at the University of Southern California, where he studied Sports Broadcasting and was a member of Delta Tau Delta Fraternity. After graduating in 1989, Ferrell developed his improvisation skills as a member of the comedy group The Groundlings.

His original characters included "Morning Latte" co-host Tom Wilkins, music teacher Marty Culp, Spartan cheerleader Craig Buchanan, Dale Sturtevant "Dissing Your Dog", and night clubber Steve Butabi in a sketch that became the 1998 film A Night at the Roxbury.

His final performance as a regular on Saturday Night Live was May 18, 2002, in which the real Alex Trebek made an appearance at the end of the last Celebrity Jeopardy! sketch. Ferrell then followed in the footsteps of fellow SNL alumni by switching to a career focused on movies.

Ferrell in the famous "cowbell" sketchFerrell returned to Saturday Night Live as a guest host on May 14, 2005. In one sketch, he reprised his role as Robert Goulet, advertising a series of crooned ringtones. Also on 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: this was in reference to a famous 2000 sketch in which he portrayed Gene Frenkle, a (fictitious) member of Blue Öyster Cult, who played cowbell in a maniacal manner during the band's recording of (Don't Fear) The Reaper. (Eric Bloom said that he was the person who did the cowbell in the actual recording.) He also reprised his famous role as Alex Trebek in Celebrity Jeopardy! with Darrell Hammond also reprising his role as Sean Connery, Kenan Thompson as Bill Cosby, and Amy Poehler as Sharon Osbourne.

He hosted the USC School of Cinema-Television’s 75th Anniversary Gala [1], where his alma mater was recognized as the first educational institution of its kind in the country.

Ferrell is part of the unofficial Frat Pack group that also includes Ben Stiller, Owen Wilson, Luke Wilson, Vince Vaughn and Jack Black. This group of actors has worked with one another numerous times in several collaborations from movies to show appearances to award shows. Ferrell's first official connection to the frat pack could be considered the 2001 release Zoolander which Ben Stiller starred in and directed alongside Owen Wilson with Vince Vaughn in a cameo appearance.

Ferrell's frat pack filmography includes Old School, Starsky & Hutch and Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy to name just a few.

Personal life

He married Swedish actress Viveca Paulin in August 2000 and became father to Magnus Paulin Ferrell in 2004. Since meeting his wife, he has learned to speak some Swedish. He also became an avid runner during this period of time, training for and running in some marathons with his wife. Ferrell has supported liberal causes, including filming an internet ad for the anti-Bush group America Coming Together in which he did his famous impersonation of Bush.

WILL FERRELL PICTURES

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WILL FERRELL BIOGRAPHY