Ben Stiller Biography Quotes 31 Report mistakes

Early Life and Family
Benjamin Edward Stiller was born on November 30, 1965, in New York City, into a show-business household. His parents, Jerry Stiller and Anne Meara, were a beloved comedy team (Stiller & Meara) who also enjoyed long individual careers on stage and screen. Growing up on the Upper West Side of Manhattan, Ben and his older sister, actor-comedian Amy Stiller, were immersed in the rhythms of backstage life, rehearsals, and club gigs. The family's blend of Jewish and Irish Catholic heritage, and the warmth and wit of his parents, shaped his sensibility and comedic voice from an early age.

Education and Early Career
Stiller attended the Calhoun School in Manhattan and briefly studied film at UCLA before returning to New York to pursue acting and filmmaking. As a teenager and young adult he made short, satirical films, honing a style that mixed pop-culture parody with character-driven humor. After a turn in the 1986 Broadway revival of The House of Blue Leaves, he began producing short films that drew industry attention, most notably "The Hustler of Money", a parody starring his stage co-star John Mahoney. A brief stint as a featured performer on Saturday Night Live in 1989 introduced him to national audiences, but he left quickly to focus on creating his own filmed comedy pieces.

Television Breakthrough
In 1990, Stiller launched The Ben Stiller Show on MTV, a sketch-comedy series that showcased his knack for cinematic parody and ensemble work. A retooled version aired on Fox in 1992, 1993 and, despite a short run, won an Emmy Award for writing. The series helped launch or expand the careers of several collaborators, including Judd Apatow, Janeane Garofalo, Andy Dick, and Bob Odenkirk, and solidified Stiller's reputation as a creator as well as a performer.

Directing and Early Film Work
Stiller moved quickly into directing. He made his feature directing debut with Reality Bites (1994), a Generation X touchstone starring Winona Ryder and Ethan Hawke, in which he also co-starred. He followed with The Cable Guy (1996), a dark comedy led by Jim Carrey and Matthew Broderick that later earned a cult following for its stylized tone. As an actor, Stiller deepened his film résumé with roles in Flirting with Disaster (1996) and the breakout hit There's Something About Mary (1998), which pushed him firmly into the front rank of Hollywood comic leads.

Film Stardom
From the late 1990s through the 2010s, Stiller became one of the most bankable comedy stars in American film:
- Meet the Parents (2000), directed by Jay Roach, and its sequels (Meet the Fockers, Little Fockers) turned Stiller's anxious everyman persona into a global franchise alongside Robert De Niro.
- Zoolander (2001), which Stiller directed and co-wrote, introduced the dim but endearing male model Derek Zoolander (with Owen Wilson, Will Ferrell, and Christine Taylor). It later spawned Zoolander 2 (2016).
- Dodgeball: A True Underdog Story (2004) featured Stiller's gloriously over-the-top villain White Goodman opposite Vince Vaughn.
- The Night at the Museum trilogy (2006, 2009, 2014), directed by Shawn Levy, paired Stiller with a wide ensemble (including Robin Williams and Owen Wilson) and became a worldwide family hit.
- The Madagascar animated films (2005, 2008, 2012) cast him as the voice of Alex the Lion.
- Tropic Thunder (2008), which he directed, co-wrote, and starred in, was a sharp Hollywood satire with Robert Downey Jr., Jack Black, and Tom Cruise; it was praised for its audacity and precision.
- Dramatic turns and dramedies, including Greenberg (2010), The Secret Life of Walter Mitty (2013, which he directed), While We're Young (2014), The Meyerowitz Stories (New and Selected) (2017), and Brad's Status (2017), highlighted his range beyond broad comedy.

Producing, Red Hour, and Behind-the-Camera Work
In 1999, Stiller co-founded Red Hour Productions with producer Stuart Cornfeld, a key creative partner for two decades. Red Hour developed and produced films and television, including Tropic Thunder and, later, acclaimed television projects. As a director and executive producer, Stiller earned new critical acclaim with the limited series Escape at Dannemora (Showtime, 2018), starring Patricia Arquette, Benicio del Toro, and Paul Dano. He followed with Severance (Apple TV+, 2022, ), a genre-bending workplace thriller created by Dan Erickson and led by Adam Scott, on which Stiller served as executive producer and primary director; the series drew widespread praise and multiple award nominations.

Collaborators and Creative Circle
Stiller has sustained long-running creative relationships with:
- Owen Wilson (Zoolander, Night at the Museum, Starsky & Hutch)
- Will Ferrell (Zoolander and other comedy collaborations)
- Vince Vaughn (Dodgeball, Anchorman universe cameos, The Watch)
- Jack Black (Tropic Thunder, The Cable Guy)
- Robert De Niro (Meet the Parents trilogy)
- Directors and writers such as Judd Apatow (The Ben Stiller Show), Jay Roach (Meet the Parents), Noah Baumbach (Greenberg, While We're Young, Meyerowitz Stories), Shawn Levy (Night at the Museum), and David O. Russell (Flirting with Disaster)
- Producer Stuart Cornfeld (Red Hour Productions), a pivotal behind-the-scenes partner

Stage Work
Stiller's stage career bookends his on-screen success. He first appeared on Broadway in The House of Blue Leaves (1986) and returned to star in its 2011 Broadway revival alongside Edie Falco and Jennifer Jason Leigh, underlining his ongoing ties to theater.

Philanthropy and Advocacy
Motivated by the 2010 Haiti earthquake, Stiller founded the Stiller Foundation, focused on education initiatives, especially school construction and support in Haiti. He has also been active with the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), becoming a Goodwill Ambassador in 2018. In that role he has visited refugee communities in places such as Jordan, Guatemala, and Ukraine, using his platform to raise awareness of displacement and humanitarian needs.

Personal Life
Stiller married actor Christine Taylor in 2000; the couple, who have frequently worked together on screen, have two children. After a period of separation, they publicly reconciled in the early 2020s. Stiller has spoken candidly about balancing family, work, and the legacy of growing up in a show-business family. His parents remained central influences; Jerry Stiller's celebrated late-career turns (notably on Seinfeld and The King of Queens) and Anne Meara's prolific work as an actor and writer were touchstones for Ben's artistic identity.

Honors and Legacy
Stiller has received multiple awards and nominations across film and television, including an Emmy for The Ben Stiller Show and later honors for his directing and producing work. He has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame and has been recognized for achievements in screen comedy as well as for his evolution into a filmmaker of dramatic and genre-bending television. His comedic signature, combining physicality, precision timing, and an empathetic, often self-effacing everyman, helped define American studio comedy from the late 1990s onward, while his work behind the camera has broadened his impact on contemporary storytelling.

Selected Credits (Actor/Director/Producer)
- Television: The Ben Stiller Show (1990; 1992, 1993), Escape at Dannemora (director/executive producer), Severance (director/executive producer)
- Director: Reality Bites (1994), The Cable Guy (1996), Zoolander (2001), Tropic Thunder (2008), The Secret Life of Walter Mitty (2013), Zoolander 2 (2016)
- Actor (highlights): Flirting with Disaster (1996), There's Something About Mary (1998), Meet the Parents (2000) and sequels, Zoolander (2001), Dodgeball (2004), Starsky & Hutch (2004), Madagascar series (voice of Alex), Night at the Museum trilogy (2006, 2014), Greenberg (2010), While We're Young (2014), The Meyerowitz Stories (2017), Brad's Status (2017)

Influence
Across decades, Ben Stiller has bridged sketch comedy, mainstream box-office hits, and prestige television, often bringing the same sharp observational humor to each. Surrounded by a circle of collaborators, family, friends, writers, actors, and producers, he has sustained a career that spans genres and generations, leaving a lasting mark on American comedy and on the evolving landscape of film and television production.

Our collection contains 31 quotes who is written by Ben, under the main topics: Witty One-Liners - Funny - Sarcastic - Movie - Work.

Other people realated to Ben: Robin Williams (Comedian), Robert De Niro (Actor), Jim Carrey (Actor), Winona Ryder (Actress), Jerry Stiller (Comedian), David O. Russell (Director), John Mahoney (Actor), Jay Roach (Director), Bob Odenkirk (Actor), Malin Akerman (Actress)

• Ben Stiller young: Early career: made short films, brief SNL stint, breakout with The Ben Stiller Show (early ’90s).
• What is Ben Stiller net worth? Estimated around $200 million.
• Ben Stiller Severance: Executive producer and director (including the pilot) of the Apple TV+ series Severance.
• Ben Stiller wife: Christine Taylor (married 2000; reconciled in 2022).
• Ben Stiller height: About 5 ft 7 in (170 cm).
• Jerry Stiller: Ben Stiller’s father, the late actor-comedian known for Seinfeld and The King of Queens.
• How old is Ben Stiller? He is 60 years old

• Wikipedia