Ben Stiller was born to the legendary comedians Jerry Stiller and Anne Meara on November 30, 1965 as Benjamin Edward "Ben" Stiller. He is America's well known comedian, actor, writer, film director and producer. He has written several mockumentaries, made several cameo appearances in music videos, television shows and films.

He attended the Cathedral School and later graduated from Calhoun School in New York in 1983. He picked up the interest behind the camera at the age of 10. He used to shoot films with his Super 8 camera, the plots of which were how he got his revenge on people who used to pick up on him. He enrolled as a film student at the University of California, Los Angeles but he quit moving to New York.

Before entering Hollywood he put in lot of effort in the theaters. He performed in the play "The House of Blue Leaves" after dropping from UCLA. It was during this period he came up with a spoof of "The Color of Money" starring his The House of Blue Leaves co-star John Mahoney and himself. It caught the interest of Lorne Michaels, who purchased and aired it on "Saturday Night Live" a late night American sketch comedy and variety show.

Ben made his debut on big screen with Steven Spielberg's "Empire of the Sun" in 1987. He soon was interested to work behind the camera and directed "Back to Brooklyn" for MTV. In 1992 MTV gave Stiller his own show "The Ben Stiller Show" which was later took up by Fox. But the show failed to pick up on the ratings and was eventually canceled. However, the show won the Emmy for Outstanding Individual Achievement in Writing in a Variety or Music Program.

Stiller went on to direct and act in "Realty Bites" which turned out to be the highest grossing film in its opening weekend. It is now considered as a cult classic. In 1998 he starred along with Cameron Diaz in "There's Something About Mary" which boosted his acting career. After two years came his next biggest venture "Meet the Parents", which became one of his most recognizable roles. The film grossed over $330 million worldwide. He also lends his voice to the famous animation series Madagascar in 2005.

Stiller's movies have grossed more than $2.1 billion domestically. He was awarded several honors including an Emmy Award, several MTV Movie Awards, and a Teen Choice Award. Stiller is also the member of the comedic acting brotherhood nicknamed "Frat Pack". Frat Pack is a group of male Hollywood comedy actors since the 90s who have appeared together in many of the highest grossing comedy movies.



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