Mike Myers

Actor, comedian and writer Mike Myers is renown for creating memorable characters and adding pop culture phrases such as “Way!” "Babeacilious!" “Yeah, baby!” “Verklempt,”  “Oh, behave!” and the term “to hurl” to our language.
                Michael John Myers was born May 25, 1963, in Toronto, Ontario, the youngest of three brothers. He has always considered himself a Brit because his parents emigrated from Liverpool, England. Little Mike began appearing in TV commercials at age eight. Later, he invented dorkie “Wayne” to entertain girls at parties. In 1981, Myers took his final senior exam at 9:00 a.m., auditioned for Toronto’s Second City comedy revue at noon, and was accepted at 3:00 p.m. After two years performing and creating characters, he moved to England where he toured with a comedy act. He also played second banana and wrote for the children’s TV show “The Wide Awake Club.”
Returning to America, the 5’7” comedian joined Chicago’s Second City troupe in 1988. SNL’s Martin Short saw him and recommended him to producer Lorne Michaels. In 1989, Myers joined “Saturday Night Live” as a writer and a Not Ready for Prime Time Player. He left the show in 1995.WAYNE’S WORLD (1992) was based on his SNL character who produces a public access TV rock program in his basement. The movie was the international sleeper hit of the year. The sequel WAYNE’S WORLD 2 (1993) also did well. Between films Myers wrote SO I MARRIED AN AXE MURDERER (1993) and played a father and his son. Junior is a shy poet who falls for a woman (Nancy Travis) with a sinister past.
                Inspired by his father’s love of British humor and James Bond movies, Myers wrote AUSTIN POWERS: INTERNATIONAL MAN OF MYSTERY (1997). Again he played two roles, the freeze-dried 60’s secret agent thawed out in the 90’s and his nemesis Dr. Evil. This led to time traveling to 1969 as AUSTIN POWERS: THE SPY WHO SHAGGED ME (1999), and rescuing his father (Michael Caine) in AUSTIN POWERS IN GOLDMEMBER (2002). In between he appeared in the comic “documentary” about gays THE THIN PINK LINE, as the owner of famed New York disco Studio 54, and a fantasy filmed in Ireland about a child who finds PETE’S METEOR (all 1998) in his back yard. He had a small role in the Artic hockey movie MYSTERY, ALASKA (1999).
                When his friend Chris Farley died, Myers replaced him as the self-conscious ogre SHREK (2001) who rescues a Princess (voice of Cameron Diaz). Another SNL alum (Eddie Murphy) voiced the smart-“ass” donkey. The franchise now includes SHREK 2 (2004) after the wedding, and SHREK THE THIRD (2007) with the ogre as king. Myers has voiced several direct to video SHREKS and has plans for SHREK GOES FOURTH (2010). His other recent movies include the satire VIEW FROM THE TOP (2003) playing a flight attendant instructor and a small role in Ben Stiller’s satire of Hollywood NOBODY KNOWS ANYTHING! (2003).
                In 2000, Myers contracted to write a screenplay based on his SNL character Dieter. When he withdrew because he was dissatisfied with his script, Universal Pictures sued him for breach of contract. To settle Myers agreed to make the live-action THE CAT IN THE HAT (2003). The megahit depicts the afternoon an outrageously dressed human-sized cat brings chaos to a suburban home when he arrives to baby-sit. This month Myers opens in theaters as THE LOVE GURU (2008) about a spiritual romance therapist.
            IN 1992, Myers met his future wife Robin Ruzan in a bar after a Blackhawks hockey game in Chicago. They married May 23, 1993, and divorced in 2007. In recent years after each movie, he spent about a year “just living.” Then he writes screenplays and tries out new characters on live audiences before choosing one to make into a movie.        

Odds and Ends

When Myers was nine, future “Saturday Night Live” star Gilda Radner played his mother in a commercial.

In eighth grade Myers wrote a term paper on fellow Canadian Lorne Michaels.

Myers earned a $1 million salary for his first movie WAYNE’S WORLD.

"Wayne's World Drive" is a street in Draper, Utah.

In 1993, Barbra Streisand asked Myers to open her Las Vegas concert playing Linda Richman, his SNL “Coffee Talk” character who adores Streisand.

Just before his death in 2002, Beatle George Harrison wrote his last letter to Myers, praising his Austin Powers movies and asking for a Mini-Me doll.

Besides the theatrical movies, he has voiced Shrek in direct to video SHREK IN THE SWAMP KARAOKE DANCE PARTY (2001) and FAR FAR AWAY IDOL (2004), the Universal Studio ride SHREK 4-D (2003), the video game SHREK: SMASH N’ CRASH RACING (2006) and the TV Christmas special SHREK THE HALLS (2007).

In most of his movies, Myers has at least one scene wearing only his underpants.

He collects, builds and paints model soldiers.