Bill Hader | |
|---|---|
_(cropped).jpg) Hader in 2016 | |
| Born | William Thomas Hader Jr.[1] (1978-06-07)June 7, 1978 (age 47)[2] Tulsa, Oklahoma, U.S. |
| Education | Art Institute of Phoenix Scottsdale Community College |
| Occupations |
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| Years active | 1999–present |
| Works | Full list |
| Spouse | |
| Children | 3 |
| Awards | Full list |
William Thomas Hader Jr. (born June 7, 1978) is an American actor, comedian, screenwriter, producer, and director. He was a cast member on theNBCsketch comedy seriesSaturday Night Live from 2005 to 2013, for which he received fourPrimetime Emmy Award nominations and aPeabody Award. He became known for his impressions and especially for his work on theWeekend Update segments, where he playedStefon, a flamboyant New York City nightclub tour guide.
Hader co-created theHBOdark comedy seriesBarry (2018–2023) withAlec Berg, in addition to playing the title role ofBarry Berkman. He also served as producer, writer and director, for which his efforts garnered him eightEmmy Award nominations for the series. He won two, consecutively, forOutstanding Lead Actor in a Comedy Series.[3][4] He is a star and producer of theIFCmockumentary comedy seriesDocumentary Now! (2015–2022) along withFred Armisen andSeth Meyers. He was Emmy-nominated for his guest role inCurb Your Enthusiasm in 2022.
In film, he took supporting roles inHot Rod (2007),Superbad (2007),Forgetting Sarah Marshall (2008),Adventureland (2009) andThe BFG (2016), with leading roles inThe Skeleton Twins (2014),Trainwreck (2015), and as an adultRichie Tozier inIt Chapter Two (2019). He has done extensivevoice work working on thePixar filmsMonsters University (2013),Inside Out (2015),Finding Dory (2016),Toy Story 4 (2019), andLightyear (2022), as well as films such asCloudy with a Chance of Meatballs (2009),its 2013 sequel,The Angry Birds Movie (2016),its 2019 sequel,Sausage Party (2016) and the upcomingThe Cat in the Hat (2026).
Hader was born inTulsa, Oklahoma, on June 7, 1978,[2] the son of dance teacher Sherri Renee (née Patton; b. 1956)[5] andair cargo company owner, restaurant manager, truck driver, and occasional stand-up comedian William Thomas Hader (b. 1953).[6][7] He has two younger sisters, Katie and Kara.[6] His ancestry includesDanish, English, German and Irish.[1][8] He attended Patrick Henry Elementary School,Edison Junior High andCascia Hall Preparatory School.[9][10]
Hader grew up with writer Duffy Boudreau, with whom he later collaborated. He says he "had a hard time focusing in class" and "was always joking around". Feeling he did not fit in, Hader filled his time watching movies and reading. He appreciatedMonty Python,British comedy, and the films ofWoody Allen andMel Brooks, much of which his father showed him.[11] He made short films with friends and starred in a school production ofThe Glass Menagerie.[12] He was unable to gain admission to top film schools because of his "abysmal" grades, so he enrolled atThe Art Institute of Phoenix,[13] and laterScottsdale Community College.[11] Hader's first job was as a Christmas tree salesman. He was also an usher at aTempe cinema, where he could see films for free, but was fired for spoiling the ending ofTitanic (1997) for unruly viewers.[14][15] At Scottsdale Community College, he met Nicholas Jasenovec, who later directedPaper Heart (2009).[16] In May 2024, Hader gave the commencement speech forChapman University's graduating class and received anhonorary Doctor of Arts degree.[17]
Hader's aspirations of becoming a filmmaker eventually led him to drop out of college and move to Los Angeles in 1999.[7][11] His parents supported his decision, and let him use the money they had saved for his education for his living expenses.[12] He found work as aproduction assistant (PA) while scouring the back pages ofThe Hollywood Reporter,[18] and hoped to become anassistant director.[18] He spent much of his life as a young man "lonely and underemployed" and large amounts of his time watching movies.[18] He regularly worked 18-hour days as a PA, leaving little time to pursue his creative ambitions.[12] He was a PA on the documentaryEmpire of Dreams: The Story of the Star Wars Trilogy (2004) and the feature filmsJames Dean (2001),Spider-Man (2002) andCollateral Damage (2002).[7][19] He was also a post-production assistant on theVH1 reality showThe Surreal Life (2003–2006).[20] He was briefly a PA and stage manager onPlayboy TV's sexual fantasy showNight Calls,[21][22][23] but soon quit as he feared it would disappoint his parents.[15] He eventually quit being a PA altogether after a bad experience while shootingThe Scorpion King (2002).[18]
Hader subsequently got a job as a night-time assistant editor at the post-production facility Triage Entertainment.[12][18] He invested money in his own short film, but was too embarrassed to release it. Shortly thereafter, he and his then-longtime girlfriend broke up.[24] Desperate for a change, he began attending comedy classes with friends atimprovisational comedy enterprisethe Second City in March 2003.[13] He quickly realized that comedy was the creative outlet he had been looking for,[12] and soon he, his new comedy compatriot Matt Offerman, and their two friends and fellow humor enthusiasts Eric Filipkowski and Mel Cowan formed a sketch comedy group,[25] which they called Animals From The Future, and performed frequently for small audiences at backyard shows in Van Nuys.[18] Matt's brother, actorNick Offerman, told his wife,Megan Mullally, about them.[26][27] After attending one of their backyard shows, Mullally told Hader she wanted to discuss him withLorne Michaels ofSaturday Night Live (SNL). After Mullally's recommendation, Hader was invited to fly to New York to audition forSNL producers. He had no material prepared when he was invited to audition, and was nervous and struggled to display his strengths during the audition. This resulted in his spontaneous imitation of an Italian man he had once overheard; the impression later become Vinny Vedecci, the first of his many recurring characters on the show.[18] As a result of the audition, Hader got an agent and manager.[11] Just before he was invited to work onSNL, he worked as an assistant editor onIron Chef America.[28]
Hader was hired as a featured player and made his debut on the show on October 1, 2005. His first role was as apsychologist giving his views about life and death during the emergency landing ofJetBlue Airways Flight 292. He felt he had gone from "preschool toHarvard."[24] He became the "impressions guy", hoping to fill a utility-player role "like his heroPhil Hartman."[18] Hader has said that he performed impersonations of teachers and friends when he was growing up but did not do impersonations of famous people until hisSaturday Night Live audition.[29] His list of impressions includesVincent Price in the Variety Vault sketches,Keith Morrison,Harvey Fierstein,Al Pacino,Rick Perry,John Malkovich,James Carville,Julian Assange,Eliot Spitzer,Alan Alda,Clint Eastwood, andCharlie Sheen. On July 19, 2012, Hader received his first nomination for aPrimetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series for his work onSNL.[30][31] He is the first maleSNL cast member to receive this nomination sinceEddie Murphy in 1986.
Among the characters Hader played wasStefon,Weekend Update's flamboyant New York correspondent, whose recommendations consisted solely of bizarre nightclubs involving nightmarish characters, and was in love with and married toSeth Meyers.[32][33] Stefon was originally a one-shot character on a season-34 sketch where a screenwriter named David Zolesky (played byBen Affleck) invited his estranged brother Stefon over to pitch a family-friendly sports drama about a college student who bonded with his grandfather so he could try out for the college football team.[34] He was based on two people that fellowSNL writerJohn Mulaney and Hader met: a wannabe club owner who always invited Mulaney to weird underground clubs, and a barista Hader had met who looked, spoke, and dressed like Stefon.[35]
Hader made his film debut in the comedic filmYou, Me and Dupree (2006). The following year he took numerous roles including a supporting role as Officer Slater alongsideSeth Rogen's Officer Michaels in theGreg Mottola directedSuperbad (2007).[36] His role inSuperbad helped boost his public awareness and allowed him to appear on mainstream programs likeTotal Request Live,The Tonight Show, and MTV'sVideo Music Awards. Other roles that year included asKatherine Heigl's character's editor atE! in theJudd Apatow directed comedyKnocked Up,[37] the acid-taking mechanic Dave inHot Rod alongside SNL castmateAndy Samberg,[38] and a recumbent biker inThe Brothers Solomon starringWill Arnett andWill Forte.[39]
Hader worked as acreative consultant, producer, and voice actor onSouth Park, beginning in the series'12th season.[40][41] His involvement in the series stems from his friendship withMatt Stone; the two held a similar sense of humor and Hader began going on writers' retreats with the staff.[12] He began working on the program hoping to learn story structure.[24] Hader is among the series producers to win the 2009 Emmy Award for Best Animated Series.[20] He also appeared on the commentary recorded for the 2009 Blu-ray edition ofSouth Park: Bigger, Longer and Uncut, and theComedy Central special6 Days to Air, a documentary filmed during production of the 2011South Park episode "HumancentiPad". Hader rejoined the writing staff forSouth Park for its17th season.[42] Hader won a 2008 Peabody Award in Political Satire for his participation inSaturday Night Live.[20] He also appeared on the MTV prank seriesPunk'd and voiced an array of characters on the second season of theAdult Swim animated seriesXavier: Renegade Angel. He also made several short films, includingBack in the Day,Sounds Good to Me: Remastering the Sting, andThe Jeannie Tate Show, withSNL writer Liz Cackowski and then-wife Maggie Carey.
In 2008, Hader starred in, and cowrote withSimon Rich, the web seriesThe Line onCrackle.[43] Hader lent his voice to theaudiobook ofSarah Vowell'sThe Wordy Shipmates. Also in 2008, Hader appeared onTim and Eric Awesome Show impersonating the recurring character James Quall on the episode "Jazz". He appeared in two other Apatow projects:Forgetting Sarah Marshall andPineapple Express. He also starred alongsideBen Stiller,Robert Downey, Jr. andTom Cruise in the action comedyTropic Thunder. Hader re-teamed withSuperbad directorGreg Mottola in the comedy filmsAdventureland (2009) andPaul (2011). He lent his voice to his first video game role inGrand Theft Auto IV, which also featured his SNL castmates Jason Sudeikis andFred Armisen.
Hader andSNL castmateSeth Meyers penned a Spider-Man one-off entitledThe Short Halloween. It was illustrated byKevin Maguire and came out May 29, 2009. It was given three and a half out of five stars by Benjamin Birdie ofComic Book Resources.[44] He made a small appearance in the 2009 comedy filmYear One, withJack Black andMichael Cera. Hader lent his voice to theSony Pictures Animation filmCloudy with a Chance of Meatballs, as well as its2013 sequel, playing the lead role of Flint Lockwood as well as his invention in the films, the FLDSMDFR. He voiced a gazelle inIce Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs and appeared in the fantasy filmNight at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian in 2009 asMajor GeneralGeorge Armstrong Custer. In April 2009, Hader was a part ofVanity Fair's list of "Comedy's New Legends".[45]
Hader took on the voice role of Professor Impossible on the fourth season ofThe Venture Brothers (2010–2013), a part originated byStephen Colbert. He voiced the Pod in theAqua Teen Hunger Force episode "IAMAPOD", as well as Hitler in the episode "Der Inflatable Fuhrer". Hader played Kevin,Matt Damon's copilot, in the live episode of30 Rock, recorded October 14, 2010. He portrayed "The Voice" in the action-comedy filmScott Pilgrim vs. the World (2010), the disembodied voice that pops up during certain moments of the film's video game-inspired fight scenes. He also had a small cameo as the voice of the USSVengeance computer in the science fiction filmStar Trek Into Darkness (2013).
From 2011 to 2014, Hader hostedEssentials, Jr. onTurner Classic Movies.[46] Hader received the gig after he was a guest programmer with hostRobert Osborne who was impressed by Hader's eclectic choices, such asBilly Wilder's 1943Five Graves to Cairo (1943),Robert Altman's 1970Brewster McCloud (1970), andAkira Kurosawa'sRashomon (1950).[47] TCM asked him if he would like to host its summerEssentials Jr. showcase that introduces younger audiences to seminal movies from the golden age of Hollywood and international cinema. He was chosen because Hader has a "certain energy and appeal to younger people. He is very passionate about the subject. He isn't just reading a teleprompter. He really cares and knows the movies."[47] During theEssentials, Jr. program, Hader handpicked 13 films (one a week) to screen for the whole family each of those four years. The films he chose includedSingin' in the Rain (1952),Bringing Up Baby (1938),The Band Wagon (1953), andThe Lavender Hill Mob (1951) andKing Kong (1933).[48]
Hader was the guest star in the series premiere of the comedy seriesThe Mindy Project, where he played as Mindy's ex-boyfriend Tom McDougall. His character returned later in the first season. Hader voiced Dr. Malocchio in theHulu animated comedy seriesThe Awesomes. In 2013, Hader replacedRobert Downey, Jr., as the voice ofMr. Peanut.[49] Hader decided to leaveSNL after eight seasons, informing cast and crew of his decision in February 2013. He came to the conclusion that he needed to leave when his then-wife and he were constantly having to travel to Los Angeles for work, which made it difficult for their children.[11][12] His final episode was on May 18, 2013.[50] "It was a hard decision, but it has to happen at some point," he told reporters. "It got to a point where I said, 'Maybe it's just time to go.'"[51] On October 11, 2014, Hader returned as host with musical guestHozier[52] and on March 17, 2018, with musical guestArcade Fire.
Hader starred in a dramatic role in the 2014 filmThe Skeleton Twins, oppositeKristen Wiig, with whom he worked onSaturday Night Live. The film won for 'Best Screenplay' at theSundance Film Festival. In 2015, Hader voiced the character of Fear in the Disney/Pixar filmInside Out, and was attached to voice a dinosaur in the Pixar filmThe Good Dinosaur. However, Hader, alongsideJohn Lithgow,Lucas Neff,Neil Patrick Harris, andJudy Greer, left the project after their characters were redesigned.[53] In 2015, Hader appeared inBrooklyn Nine-Nine as Captain Seth Dozerman of the 99th Precinct.[54] Also in 2015, Hader reunited with fellowSNL alumni Fred Armisen and Seth Meyers for theIFC mockumentary seriesDocumentary Now!, wherein he was an actor and a writer.
In December 2015, Drew McWeeny ofHitFix reported that the voice ofBB-8 inStar Wars: The Force Awakens was supplied by Hader andBen Schwartz, both credited as "BB-8 vocal consultants" in the film. The voice was created by Abrams manipulating their voices through atalkbox, attached to aniPad running a sound-effects app.[55] Hader also voiced multiple characters in YouTube channelBad Lip Reading's parodies of theStar Wars original trilogy. Hader also played a minor supporting role in The Lonely Island's 2016 filmPopstar: Never Stop Never Stopping, produced by Judd Apatow.[56] Hader had his first leading man role in the romantic-comedy oppositeAmy Schumer inTrainwreck (2015) and continued in these romantic roles as a former college boyfriend to best friend ofGreta Gerwig's title character inMaggie's Plan (2015). Hader voiced Alpha 5 in the 2017 film version ofPower Rangers.[57]
In 2018, Hader co-created (withAlec Berg) and began starring in theHBO dark comedy seriesBarry, for which he received eightPrimetime Emmy Award nominations as producer, writer, director, and actor. He won Emmys forOutstanding Lead Actor in a Comedy Series in both 2018 and 2019 and received consecutive nominations forOutstanding Comedy Series,Outstanding Directing for a Comedy Series andOutstanding Writing for a Comedy Series for its first two seasons.[58] In 2019, Hader starred in the supernatural horror filmIt Chapter Two asRichie Tozier (sharing the role withFinn Wolfhard), alongsideJessica Chastain,Bill Skarsgård,Isaiah Mustafa,Jay Ryan,James Ransone, andJames McAvoy. Hader received acclaim for his performance.[59] In 2019, he voiced Leonard inThe Angry Birds Movie 2, Axel the Carnie inToy Story 4, The Wanderer in 4 episodes ofThe Dark Crystal: Age of Resistance, and played Nick Kringle inNoelle.[60]
In June 2023, Hader was invited to become a member ofThe Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.[61] That same year he had a cameo role as aUPS driver in theAri Aster directedsurrealisttragicomedyBeau is Afraid (2023) starringJoaquin Phoenix. Aster said of his casting, "We're friends. I was looking for a place to put him and [that] felt like the funniest, the most effective possible place. I love his performance in the film. It's a covert performance. A lot of people don't know that's him on the phone when they first see it. But it's a great performance."[62] In March 2024, it was announced that Hader will star in the upcoming animated remake of theDr. Seuss children's bookThe Cat in the Hat, in which he will voice the titular character and serve as an executive producer. The film will also starQuinta Brunson,Xochitl Gomez, andBowen Yang.[63] Hader andMindy Kaling did not return to voice their roles as Fear and Disgust inInside Out 2 reportedly due to pay disputes.Tony Hale andLiza Lapira replaced Hader and Kaling in taking over their respective roles.[64]
On February 14, 2025, Hader declined an invitation to appear on theSaturday Night Live 50th Anniversary Special due to scheduling conflicts.[65]
Hader has said that his comedy influences includedWoody Allen,[66][67][68]Monty Python,Alan Alda,Mel Brooks andEddie Murphy.[14]
Hader married writer and directorMaggie Carey in 2006;[69] they have three daughters.[70][71] They divorced in 2018.[72] Hader later dated actressRachel Bilson, with whom he had co-starred inThe To Do List, written and directed by Carey,[73][74] and actressAnna Kendrick.[75][76] Since late 2022, he has been in anon-and-off relationship with comedian and actressAli Wong.[77] In April 2025, Hader discussed how Wong comforted him and helped him buy new jeans after theJanuary 2025 Southern California wildfires made his home "unlivable."[78]
Hader is an avid reader who has said that he "didn't really go to college, which is probably why [he] enjoy[s] reading the classics." He named works byTobias Wolff,Fyodor Dostoevsky,William Faulkner,Richard Ford,George Saunders, andJun'ichirō Tanizaki as influences.[79] He is a fan of theChicago Cubs. He is also an avidcinephile, enjoying films of theGolden Age of Hollywood as well as films directed by theCoen Brothers,Stanley Kubrick, andAkira Kurosawa.[80]
Hader has ananxiety disorder.[81] During his tenure onSaturday Night Live, he had anxiety and sleep problems.[11] He never felt "truly comfortable" during his first four seasons.[18] He worried that he had less comedy experience than his peers, would oftennot sleep on Fridays before the show, and felt lightheaded before broadcasts.[11] He was neurotic about his performances, and he called his early appearances "rigid."[18] During the final show of 2010, he began having apanic attack, live on air, while impersonatingJulian Assange. He recalled: "It felt like someone was sitting on my chest. I couldn't breathe, I started sweating. I thought,This is not good—abort! abort!"[18] Lorne Michaels tried to put him at ease after the incident by telling him, "You can work here as long as you want."[18] Hader is prone tomigraines.[81][82] He also has a severe peanut allergy.[83]
