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'Michael John Myers' (born May 25, 1963, in Scarborough, Ontario) is an Emmy Award-winning British-Canadian comedian, actor, screenwriter, and film producer, best known for his comedy work in ''Saturday Night Live'' and the film roles including the title characters of ''Wayne's World'', the ''Austin Powers'' series, and ''Shrek''.

Contents

Biography

Personal life

Career

Hurricane Katrina controversy

Catch-phrases

Films

Notable characters

External links

References

Biography

Personal life

Both of Myers' parents, Eric and Alice, are from Liverpool, England, and Myers has British, as well as Canadian, citizenship. His ethnic heritage is English, Scottish, and Irish.

Career

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.
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.
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 2005.
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 ''. 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 film Shrek. He reprised this role in Shrek 4D IN 2003, Shrek 2 in 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 former 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.

Hurricane Katrina controversy

On September 2, 2005, Myers was paired with rapper Kanye West for a 90-second segment, part of a benefit concert for Hurricane Katrina relief, ''A Concert for Hurricane Relief'', on NBC. The event stirred controversy when West deviated from the script to criticize the media portrayal of black people in New Orleans and also commented, "George Bush doesn't care about black people" before the camera cut away to comedian Chris Tucker. Myers appeared with West again in the season premiere of ''Saturday Night Live'' on October 1 and jokingly stated that the US government had revoked his visa and that FBI agents were monitoring him.
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Catch-phrases

Myers has spawned many American catch-phrases from both his ''Saturday Night Live'' characters and subsequent films. Some lines from the ''Austin Powers'' films including "groovy baby", "Oh, behave!" and "Well, that's not right". His character Wayne from "Wayne's World" also popularized phrases such as "..that's what she said", "Shwing!", "asphinctersayswhat", "...and monkeys might fly out of my butt."

Films

{| class="wikitable"
! Year !! Title !! Role
|-
| 1985 || '' (''TV'') || Delivery Boy
|-
| 1989 || ''Elvis Stories'' || Cockney Man
|-
| 1992 || ''Wayne's World '' || Wayne Campbell
|-
| 1993 || ''So I Married an Axe Murderer'' || Charlie Mackenzie/Stuart Mackenzie
|-
| 1993 || ''Wayne's World 2'' || Wayne Campbell
|-
| 1997 || '' || Austin Powers/Dr. Evil
|-
| 1998 || ''The Thin Pink Line'' || Tim Broderick
|-
| 1998 || ''54'' || Steve Rubell
|-
| 1998 || ''Pete's Meteor'' || Pete
|-
| 1999 || '' || Austin Powers/Dr. Evil/Fat Bastard
|-
| 1999 || ''Mystery, Alaska'' || Donnie Shulzhoffer
|-
| 2001 || ''Shrek'' || Shrek (voice)
|-
| 2002 || ''Austin Powers in Goldmember'' || Austin Powers/Dr. Evil/Fat Bastard/Goldmember
|-
| 2003 || ''View from the Top'' || John Witney
|-
| 2003 || ''Shrek 4-D'' || Shrek (voice)
|-
| 2003 || ''Nobody Knows Anything!'' || 'Eye' Witness
|-
| 2003 || ''The Cat in the Hat'' ||The Cat
|-
| 2004 || ''Shrek 2'' || Shrek (voice)
|-
| 2006 || '' (''TV'') || Donald Q. Cashington
|-
| 2007 || ''Shrek the Third'' || Shrek (voice)
|-
| 2007 || ''Shrek the Halls'' (''TV'') || Shrek (voice)
|-
| 2008|| ''The Love Guru'' || Pitka
|-
|-2008|| ''How to Survive a Robot Uprising''
|-
| 2009 || '' || Keith Moon
|-
| 2009 || ''The Secret Life of Walter Mitty'' || Walter Mitty
|-
| 2010 || ''Shrek 4'' || Shrek (voice)
|-
|-
| 2013 || ''Shrek 5'' || Shrek (voice)
|-
| 2008 || ''Austin Powers 4'' || Austin Powers
|-

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)

★ 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'')

★ Austin Powers 4: For Your Thighs Only (Mike Myers, Seth Green, Michael York)

★ 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''.)

External links

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★ Food Bank For New York City public service announcement

References

1. http://www.tiscali.co.uk/entertainment/film/biographies/mike_myers_biog.html