1965-present

The son of comedians Jerry Stiller and Anne Meara, Ben Stiller grew up in New York City. Early in his career, he wrote forSaturday Night Live and created the short-livedThe Ben Stiller Show. After directing and starring in several movies, he earned widespread fame for the 1998 gross-out comedyThere's Something About Mary. Stiller has since starred inZoolander, as well as the successfulMeet the Parents andNight at the Museum films.

FULL NAME: Benjamin Edward Meara Stiller
BORN: November 30, 1965
BIRTHPLACE: New York, New York
SPOUSE: Christine Taylor (2000-present)
CHILDREN: Ella and Quinlin
ASTROLOGICAL SIGN: Sagittarius 

Benjamin Edward Meara Stiller was born on November 30, 1965, in New York City, the second child of famed comedians Jerry Stiller and Anne Meara. Raised on Manhattan’s Upper West Side, he attended the University of California at Los Angeles but left in 1984 after only nine months. He then made his acting debut in a Broadway revival ofThe House of Blue Leaves in 1985.

Two years later, Stiller made his big-screen debut inFresh Horses, starring alongside aging Brat Pack membersMolly Ringwald and Andrew McCarthy. The fact that the film was a disaster didn't faze Stiller, whose next gig, in 1989, was as a writer for the sketch comedy showSaturday Night Live (SNL). He described the backstage atmosphere there as "very negative" and, disillusioned, left for Los Angeles after just five weeks as anSNL writer.

The Ben Stiller Show

In Los Angeles, Stiller began work onThe Ben Stiller Show, a half-hour sketch comedy that aired on MTV before being picked up by FOX for a brief run. LikeSaturday Night Live during the 1970s and '80s,The Ben Stiller Show became a fertile breeding ground for young, hip comics, with Bob Odenkirk, Andy Dick and Janeane Garofalo among the talents who wrote or acted for the program. Despite positive critical reviews, the show was canceled after just 12 episodes, though Stiller and his co-writers did win an Emmy for outstanding writing in a variety or music program in 1993.

Reality Bites

Stiller's next project was directing and acting inReality Bites(1994), a film about the issues plaguing a group of college graduates. StarringWinona Ryder,Ethan Hawke and Garofalo, and often seen as a glorification of Generation X and the values commonly associated with it,Reality Bites was unpopular with critics but became a minor cult classic. Stiller then embarked on directingA Simple Plan, but six weeks into production he had a falling out with Savoy Pictures over budget issues and abandoned the picture.

Flirting with Disaster andThe Cable Guy

Stiller returned to the big screen in the David O. Russell comedyFlirting with Disaster (1996), playing a young father searching for his birth parents. He then directed and appeared in the offbeat comedyThe Cable Guy (1996), which starredJim Carrey and Matthew Broderick.

There's Something About Mary

It was Stiller's starring role in the gross-out comedyThere's Something about Mary(1998), alongsideCameron Diaz and Matt Dillon, that propelled him to widespread fame. The following year, the comedian co-wrote the mock self-help book,Feel This Book: An Essential Guide to Self-Empowerment, Spiritual Supremacy, and Sexual Satisfaction, with Garofalo.

Meet the Parents and Sequels

In 2000, Stiller appeared with Jenna Elfman andEdward Norton inKeeping the Faith and teamed with Hollywood veteransRobert De Niro and Blythe Danner for the sidesplitting comedyMeet the Parents. The film's success eventually led to the creation of two sequels,Meet the Fockers (2004) andLittle Fockers (2010).

Zoolander andThe Royal Tenenbaums

In 2001, Stiller appeared in distinctly contrasting roles on the big screen:Zoolander, a satirical look at the fashion industry, was more of his typical goofy effort. However, he also showed a serious side as a fiercely protective father in theWes Anderson comedy-dramaThe Royal Tenenbaums.

Starsky & Hutch,Dodgeball, andAlong Came Polly

In 2004, Stiller teamed withOwen Wilson for an update of the classic TV action comedyStarsky & Hutch, and played Vince Vaughn's nemesis in the comic spoofDodgeball. He also paired withJennifer Aniston for the romantic comedyAlong Came Polly.

Night at the Museum Franchise

In 2006, Stiller channeled his brand of neurotic humor toward younger audiences forNight at the Museum. A huge hit, it spawned the sequelsNight at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian (2009) andNight at the Museum: Secret of the Tomb (2014).

Tropic Thunder andThe Secret Life of Walter Mitty

Stiller directed and starred inTropic Thunder (2008) and the remake ofThe Secret Life of Walter Mitty (2013), drawing mixed reviews. During this period, he also appeared alongsideEddie Murphy in the comedy caperTower Heist (2011), and reunited with Vaughn forThe Watch (2012). The funnyman then reprised one of his most famous roles in 2016 withZoolander 2.

The Meyerowitz Stories andEscape at Dannemora

After starring in a pair of 2017 comedy-dramas,The Meyerowitz Stories andBrad's Status, Stiller resumed his focus on directing with the Emmy-nominatedEscape at Dannemora (2018), a seven-part series based on the true story of an infamous 2015 prison breakout that sparked a massive manhunt.

In May 2000, Stiller married the actress Christine Taylor, who was known for her role as Marcia Brady inThe Brady Bunch Movie (1995) and later starred inZoolander. The couple had two children, Ella and Quinlan, before announcing their split in 2017, though they continued to attend public events together, including the 2019 Emmy Awards. They got back together in 2022.

In October 2016, Stiller revealed onTheHoward Stern Show that he had been diagnosed with prostate cancer two years earlier, and that doctors were able to successfully treat the disease because of early detection. “It came out of the blue for me. I had no idea,” Stiller told Stern. “At first, I didn't know what was gonna happen. I was scared. It just stopped everything in your life because you can't plan for a movie because you don't know what's gonna happen.”

He said he went public with his diagnosis to raise awareness about early detection and the PSA or prostate-specific antigen test, which helps doctors screen for the disease. “I wanted to talk about it because of the [PSA] test. ... I feel like the test saved my life,” he said.

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