Mike Myers
Mike Myers (1994)
Birth name	Michael John Myers
Born	May 25 1963 (1963--) (age 44) Scarborough, Ontario
Occupation	actor, comedian, writer, producer
Years active	1982 – present
Spouse(s)	Robin Ruzan (1993 – 2005)
Parents	Eric Myers Alice Myers
Awards Emmy Awards Writing In A Variety, Music Or Comedy Program 1989 Saturday Night Live

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

Personal life

Both of his parents, Eric and Alice, are from Liverpool, and Myers has British, as well as Canadian, citizenship. His ethnic heritage is English, Scottish, and Irish. He is a big Liverpool F.C. fan and watches them often. He quoted that skipper Steven Gerrard was the best in the world and will one day become a Sir. His autobiography states "Gerrard is quality, superb, brilliant and such an inspiration to the team".

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.

Career chronology

Early jobs

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. Myers also appeared as his Wayne Campbell character in the music video for Ward's Canadian hit "Boys and Girls". Later, Ward would appear as one of Austin Powers' band members in Ming Tea in Myers' popular movie series.

Breakthrough

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.

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. Myers has been said to give complete credit to his nephew, Jeff Myers, for the inspiration of all the characters in the Austin Powers series.

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 animated film Shrek (2001). He reprised this role in Shrek 4-D in 2003, Shrek 2 (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 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.

Catch-phrases

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

Films

2008

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
How to Survive a Robot Uprising
2008	Austin Powers 4	Austin Powers
2009		Keith Moon
2009	The Secret Life of Walter Mitty	Walter Mitty
2010	Shrek 4	Shrek (voice)
2013	Shrek 5	Shrek (voice)

Notable characters

The following characters were created by Myers:

• In 2008 Mike will be playing the character benjamin fish who falls deeply in love with the heroine of the film Harriet Louise Chester. Harriet will be played by winona ryder
• 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)
• 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.)
• The Cat in the Hat, created by Dr. Seuss in 1957.

External links

• Mike Myers at the Internet Movie Database
• Mike Myers at TV.com
• Food Bank For New York City public service announcement

Preceded by Janeane Garofalo and Ben Stiller	MTV Movie Awards host 1997	Succeeded by Samuel L. Jackson

References

Persondata
NAME	Myers, Mike
ALTERNATIVE NAMES	Myers, Michael
SHORT DESCRIPTION	Actor, comedian, screenwriter, producer
DATE OF BIRTH	May 25, 1963
PLACE OF BIRTH	Scarborough, Ontario, Canada
DATE OF DEATH
PLACE OF DEATH