Canadian-born Mike Myers emerged in the 90s as one of Hollywood’s top comedians, first as a popular cast member of “Saturday Night Live” and later with some of the decade’s biggest comedy hits. Though Myers rarely headlines films when compared to more prolific comics like Will Ferrell, Adam Sandler, and Jim Carrey, he remains one of America’s most beloved and talented funnymen.
Myers was born on May 25, 1963 in Scarborough, Ontario, Canada to parents of British descent. He considers himself partly a Brit, and has humorously referred to the state of Canadian citizenship as “a subtle flavour – like celery.” Growing up Myers idolized Canadian comedy figures like “SNL” guru Lorne Michaels, and at nine years old he appeared in a TV commercial with comic legend Gilda Radner. In 1982, Myers finished high school and immediately began work with Toronto’s “Second City” improv troupe, for which he created the character of Wayne Campbell (of later “Wayne’s World” fame) for performances on Toronto’s Citytv. He spent most of the 80s honing his skills with his group The Comedy Store Players in London, and briefly starred in British television’s “Wide Awake Club.”
“SNL” made Myers an instant star when he joined the cast in 1989, as his recurring skits became the most popular of the program, especially “Wayne’s World,” “Coffee Talk with Linda Richman,” and “Sprockets.” “Wayne’s World” had an enormously successful movie spin-off in 1992, in which Myers and co-star Dana Carvey portray co-hosts of an Illinois cable access show celebrating the glory of heavy metal. A sequel to the film was released a year later, shortly after the release of Myers’s cult classic “So I Married An Axe Murderer.” After laying low and developing future projects for a few years, Myers returned with “Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery,” a hilarious spoof of spy films in which Myers played a cryogenically frozen 60s super-spy who is thawed to battle his arch nemesis in the 90s. Powers falls in love with a beguiling Elizabeth Hurley while he takes on the ridiculous villain Dr. Evil (also played by Myers) and hordes of gun-breasted Fembots. “Austin Powers” made respectable box office cash, but once on DVD it gained a massive following, making its 1999 sequel “Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me” a colossal blockbuster. The third film in the series, “Austin Powers in Goldmember,” became the most successful of the three and featured a surprisingly hilarious Beyonce Knowles.
Myers’s other work includes the 1998 disco drama “Studio 54,” the abysmal Gwyneth Paltrow vehicle “View from the Top,” the big-budget “Cat in the Hat” live-action feature, and a charming supporting role in the Russell Crowe dramedy “Mystery, Alaska.” The “Shrek” series has been a huge success for Myers as well – with him at the helm of the titular green ogre, the digitally animated franchise ranks with “Spider-Man” and “Pirates of the Caribbean” as the current decade’s most popular trilogies. The latest in the series is “Shrek the Third,” with Eddie Murphy, Cameron Diaz, and Antonio Banderas all reprising their roles. 2009 will finally see the release of Myers’s long-rumored Keith Moon biopic, “See Me Feel Me: Keith Moon Naked For Your Pleasure.”