Steve Carell (born August 16, 1962,Concord,Massachusetts, U.S.) is an American comedian and actor known for both histelevision work—most notably onThe Daily Show andThe Office—and his numerous films. The latter includesThe 40-Year-Old Virgin (2005),Little Miss Sunshine (2006), andFoxcatcher (2014).

Education andThe Daily Show

After graduating fromDenison University in Granville,Ohio (1984), Carell moved toChicago, where he joined the improvisational troupeSecond City in 1989. Two years later he made hisfilmdebut inCurley Sue. Other film and television work followed, including various roles on the television sitcomTheDana Carvey Show (1996), for which he also wrote. Carell’s big break came in 1999, when he began appearing onThe Daily Show, a satiric news program hosted byJon Stewart. Cast as a clueless correspondent, he became popular for such segments as “Even Stephven,” in which he debated castmateStephen Colbert.

The Office,The 40-Year-Old Virgin, andLittle Miss Sunshine

In 2005 Carell leftThe Daily Show to star in the American version ofThe Office, a British sitcom cocreated byRicky Gervais. Filmed as a mock documentary, the series centres on the employees at a branch of the paper company Dunder Mifflin. For his portrayal of the delusional and socially challenged manager Michael Scott, Carell received numerousEmmy Awardnominations, and in 2006 he won aGolden Globe. Amid much fanfare, Carell departedThe Office in 2011.

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In addition to his television work, Carell garnered attention for his film roles. He appeared in the box-office hitsBruce Almighty (2003), acomedy starringJim Carrey, andAnchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy (2004), in which he portrayed Brick Tamland, a weatherman with an IQ of 48. His major film breakthrough came in 2005 withThe 40-Year-Old Virgin, which he cowrote and starred in as the title character. Directed byJudd Apatow, the comedy combined crude humour with touching moments and became a critical and commercial hit. Carell’s success continued with the dark comedyLittle Miss Sunshine (2006), in which he portrayed a suicidalMarcel Proust scholar.

Despicable Me,Minions, andFoxcatcher

After providing the voice of a squirrel in the animatedOver the Hedge (2006), Carell appeared in such films asEvan Almighty (2007), a sequel toBruce Almighty, andDan in Real Life (2007), a dramedy about a single father who unexpectedly falls in love. In 2008 he portrayed the bumbling agent Maxwell Smart in the filmadaptation of the television seriesGet Smart. In 2010 Carell starred oppositeTina Fey inDate Night, a comedy about mistaken identity, and he played a cheerfully oblivious misfit in the screwball comedyDinner for Schmucks. That year he also provided the voice of Gru, a super-villain who plots to steal the Moon, in the animatedDespicable Me; hereprised the role in three sequels (2013,2017, and 2024) and voiced a young Gru inMinions (2015) andMinions: The Rise of Gru (2022).

Carell portrayed a man coping with a recent divorce in the ensemble comedyCrazy, Stupid, Love. (2011) and starred inSeeking a Friend for the End of the World (2012), about lonely neighbors who find romance as an asteroid hurtles toward Earth. In the lightheartedHope Springs (2012), he appeared as a marriagecounselor to a couple played byMeryl Streep andTommy Lee Jones. In 2013 Carell starred as a glitzy Las Vegas magician facing competition from a rival performer inThe Incredible Burt Wonderstone and played an overbearing father figure in the coming-of-age taleThe Way Way Back. That year he also reprised the role of Brick Tamland inAnchorman 2: The Legend Continues.

Carell later played the father of a frustrated boy inAlexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day (2014), an adaptation of Judith Viorst’s classic children’s book (1972). In thedramaFoxcatcher (2014) Carell playedJohn du Pont, a member of the wealthydu Pont family who converted portions of hisPennsylvania estate, Foxcatcher Farm, into a training facility for wrestlers, one of whom he was later convicted of murdering. Hisominous turn as the mentally unstable du Pont was praised by critics as a welcome demonstration of his dramatic range. The performance earned Carell his firstAcademy Award nomination, for best actor.

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Battle of the Sexes andVice

Carell joined the ensemble ofFreeheld (2015) as a gay activist attempting to secure pension benefits for the partner (Ellen Page) of a dying police officer (Julianne Moore). He played a short-tempered hedge-fund manager inThe Big Short (2015), ablack comedy about the 2008 financial crisis, and a talent agent inWoody Allen’s period romanceCafé Society (2016). InBattle of the Sexes (2017), Carell costarred withEmma Stone portrayingBobby Riggs andBillie Jean King, respectively, during theirmuch-publicized tennis match of 1973. That year he also played aVietnam War veteran who asks his old war buddies to help him bury his son, a marine killed in theIraq War, inLast Flag Flying.

Carell’scredits from 2018 includedBeautiful Boy, in which he was cast as a father who tries to save his son from a consuming drugaddiction, andWelcome to Marwen, a drama based on a true story of an artist who finds a therapeutic outlet in building a miniature town populated by dolls who represent the individuals in his life. Carell also portrayed U.S. Secretary of DefenseDonald Rumsfeld inVice, a biopic ofDick Cheney, vice president in the administration of U.S. Pres.George W. Bush.

The Morning Show and Broadway debut

In 2019 Carell returned to series television withThe Morning Show, which aired on Apple TV+ and also starredJennifer Aniston andReese Witherspoon. Carell then cocreated and starred inSpace Force (2020–22), aNetflix sitcom about the creation of aninterstellar branch of the military. In 2020 he appeared inIrresistible, a political satire written and directed by Stewart; Carell played a consultant working on a mayoral race in a small Midwestern town. He later starred in the miniseriesThe Patient (2022), in which he portrayed a therapist who is held prisoner by a serial killer.

In 2023 Carell joined an all-star cast forWes Anderson’s dramedyAsteroid City. The following he made his Broadway debut, headlining a revival ofAnton Chekhov’sUncle Vanya. The production received positive reviews. Carell later lent his voice toIf (2024), an animated comedy about a young girl who can see people’s imaginary friends. The movie was directed and cowritten byJohn Krasinski, his costar fromThe Office.

Carell and his wife, Nancy, created the showAngie Tribeca (2016–18), a send-up of television police procedurals.