Myers began performing in commercials at two years old. At the age of 10, he made a commercial forBritish Columbia Hydro, withGilda Radner playing his mother.[6] At 12, he made a guest appearance as Ari on the TV seriesKing of Kensington. At 16, he had a small role in the season 1 episode "Boy on Wheels" of the TV seriesThe Littlest Hobo, as a friend of the episode's protagonist.
After graduating from high school, Myers was accepted intoThe Second City Canadian touring company. He moved to the United Kingdom, and in 1985 he was one of the founding members ofThe Comedy Store Players, an improvisational group based atThe Comedy Store in London.
The next year, he starred in the British children's TV programWide Awake Club, parodying the show's normal exuberance with his own "Sound Asleep Club", in partnership withNeil Mullarkey.
He returned to Toronto andThe Second City in 1986 as a cast member in The Second City's Toronto main stage show,Second City Theatre.[11] In 1988, he moved from Second City in Toronto to Chicago. There, he trained, performed and taught at theImprov Olympic.
Myers made many appearances, including as Wayne Campbell, on Toronto'sCitytv in the early 1980s, on the alternative video showCity Limits hosted byChristopher Ward; Myers also made several appearances after the launch ofMuchMusic, for whichCity Limits was essentially the prototype. Myers also appeared as Wayne Campbell in the music video for Ward's Canadian hit "Boys and Girls".
The Wayne Campbell character was featured extensively in the 1986 summer seriesIt's Only Rock & Roll, produced by Toronto's Insight Production Company forCBC Television. Wayne appeared both in-studio and in a series of location sketches directed and edited byAllan Novak. Myers wrote another sketch, "Kurt and Dieter", co-starring with Second City'sDana Andersen and also directed by Novak, which later became the popular "Sprockets" sketch onSaturday Night Live.
Simon – a young British boy who makes drawings in his bath tub and complains about having "prune hands" (the theme song for this segment was a slightly modified version of the theme song fromSimon in the Land of Chalk Drawings by Edward MacLachlan)
One of Myers's rare non-comedic roles came in the film54 (1998), in which he portrayedSteve Rubell, proprietor of New York City's famous 1970s disco nightclubStudio 54. The film was not critically or commercially successful, though Myers received some positive notice.[15][16]
In June 2000, Myers was sued byUniversal Pictures forUS$3.8 million for backing out of a contract to make a feature film based on hisSNL character Dieter. Myers said he refused to honour theUS$20 million contract because he felt his script was not ready. Myers countersued and a settlement was reached after several months where Myers agreed to make another film with Universal. That film,The Cat in the Hat, was released in November 2003 and starred Myers as the title character.[17][18][19] It received negative reviews and was unsuccessful at the box office.
In 2018, after an eight-year hiatus from feature films, Myers appeared in supporting roles inTerminal (2018)[21] andBohemian Rhapsody (2018).[22]
As of May 2022, Myers would neither confirm nor deny plans forAustin Powers 4.[23][24] In July 2024, Myers was announced to reprise the voice of the title character inShrek 5, scheduled for release on June 30, 2027.[25]
Myers had a cameo appearance inBritney Spears' music video "Boys" asAustin Powers.[26] Britney Spears, in turn, made a cameo inAustin Powers in Goldmember, performing "Boys". In a 2005 poll to find The Comedian's Comedian, he was voted among the top 50 comedy acts by fellow comedians and comedy insiders.[27]
Myers is a member of the bandMing Tea along withThe Bangles' guitarist and vocalistSusanna Hoffs and musicianMatthew Sweet. They performed the songs "BBC" and "Daddy Wasn't There" from theAustin Powers films.[28] In 2011, Myers returned toThe Comedy Store in London to perform a one-night-only comeback of his role withThe Comedy Store Players. The UK comedy websiteChortle praised his performance.[29]
From 2017 to 2018, Myers hosted a re-boot ofThe Gong Show in heavy makeup as a fictional British host known as Tommy Maitland,[31] though his identity was not confirmed until the second season.[32]
In April 2019,Variety reported that Myers will be starring in and executive producing a comedy series forNetflix, which will last for six episodes and involve him playing multiple characters.[34] In June 2021, the series title was announced asThe Pentaverate, which serves as a spin-off ofSo I Married an Axe Murderer.
In March 2022, author and security specialistGavin de Becker shared that segments ofThe Gift of Fear Master Class had been directed by Myers.[35]
Myers began dating actress and comedy writer Robin Ruzan in the late 1980s after meeting at anice hockey game in Chicago, during which Myers caught apuck and used the incident as an icebreaker to strike up a conversation with Ruzan. The couple married on May 22, 1993, and Myers later referred to Ruzan as "his muse".[36] The couple filed for divorce in December 2005.[37]
In 2006, Kelly Tisdale confirmed reports that she and Myers were dating. Myers and Tisdale married inNew York City in a private ceremony in late 2010. Tisdale is a scenic artist who works in the entertainment industry and a former cafe owner.[38][39] They have a son[40] and two daughters.[41] They reside in theTribeca neighbourhood of New York City.[42]
Myers has played forHollywood United FC, a celebrity soccer team.[48] He played in the 2010Soccer Aid forUNICEF UK football match, England vs. R.O.W (Rest of the World) and scored his penalty during a sudden-death shootout after the game ended 2–2 (June 6, 2010). The Rest of the World team beat England for the first time since the tournament started. In June 2018, during a guest appearance onLate Night with Seth Meyers, Myers stated that Britain is a "rooting interest" for him during soccer games in part because of his parents and because he is also a citizen of the country.[49]
In 2014, Myers starred in a commercial with his brother Peter forSears Canada, using "humorous banter to spread the message that, despite rumours, Sears wasn't shutting down". Peter at the time was senior director of planning at Sears' head office in Toronto, and he was laid off in 2017 after Sears Canada filed for bankruptcy.[8]
In 2016, Myers published a book,Canada, a memoir interwoven with reflections on his native country's history and popular culture and Prime MinisterJustin Trudeau.[11]Myers makes mention of his favourite Canadian bandMax Webster among others such asLed Zeppelin.
In 2005, Myers was unwittingly drawn into political controversy when he appeared with co-presenterKanye West at theHurricane Katrina televised relief fund-raiser. Before a visibly stunned Myers, West went off-script and -- among other things -- proclaimed that "George Bush doesn't care about black people."[50] The moment has become an oft-quoted internet meme. Myers later reimagined the situation on a 2025 episode ofSNL:50 withKenan Thompson playing Kanye.[51]
During the2025 trade war between Canada and the United States, which was marked by US PresidentDonald Trump's calls forthe annexation of Canada as America's 51st state, Myers appeared onSaturday Night Live on March 1 and attracted attention for wearing a T-shirt with the slogan "Canada is not for sale".[53][54] In a subsequent appearance on March 8, he made an "elbows up" gesture, a hockey-related phrase that had been used to express willingness to confront Trump.[55] Myers was credited with amplifying "elbows up" as part of Canadian nationalist sentiment.[56] He then appeared in a campaign ad for theLiberal Party of Canada alongside Prime MinisterMark Carney in advance of the2025 federal election.[57]
Steve Baker,Ricky Blitt, Will Carlough, Tobias Carlson, Jacob Fleisher, Patrik Forsberg, Will Graham,James Gunn, Claes Kjellstrom, Jack Kukoda,Bob Odenkirk, Bill O'Malley, Matthew Alec Portenoy,Greg Pritikin, Rocky Russo,Olle Sarri, Elizabeth Wright Shapiro,Jeremy Sosenko, Jonathan van Tulleken, and Jonas Wittenmark (2013)
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