William "Bill" Hader (born June 7, 1978) is an American actor, voice actor, comedian, producer and writer. He is known for his work as a cast member on Saturday Night Live (2005â€"13), his lead role in The Skeleton Twins (2014), his lead voice role in Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs (2009), and his supporting roles in comedy films, such as Superbad (2007), Pineapple Express (2008), Tropic Thunder (2008), Forgetting Sarah Marshall (2008), Adventureland (2009), and Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian (2009), Paul (2011) and Men in Black 3 (2012).
Early life
Hader was born and raised in Tulsa, Oklahoma, the son of Sherri and Bill Hader. His father owned an air-freight company and worked as a restaurant manager, a truck driver and occasionally a stand-up comedian; his mother was a dance teacher. He has two younger sisters, Katie and Kara. Hader attended Patrick Henry Elementary School, Edison Junior High, and Cascia Hall Preparatory School, before attending The Art Institute of Phoenix and enrolling in the entertainment program at Scottsdale Community College. Hader worked as an usher at a movie theater while attending college in Scottsdale. At Scottsdale Community College, he met Nicholas Jasenovec, the director of Paper Heart.
Early career
Hader's aspirations of becoming a filmmaker eventually led him to drop out of college and move to Los Angeles in 1999. He worked as a production assistant on the DVD Empire of Dreams: The Story of the Star Wars Trilogy; the feature films James Dean, Spider-Man, The Scorpion King, and Collateral Damage; as well as a post-production assistant on VH1 television's The Surreal Life. Hader briefly worked as a PA and stage manager on Playboy TV's Night Calls.
Hader joined the Second City, a comedy troupe that has been a training ground for many SNL cast members since the 1970s. He performed at iO West in Los Angeles.
Just before he was discovered for SNL, Hader was working as an assistant editor on Iron Chef America.
Saturday Night Live
Hader was "discovered" by Megan Mullally of Will & Grace while working with the Los Angeles-based comedy troupe "Animals from the Future." Mullally brought him to the attention of SNL producer Lorne Michaels. Hader was hired as a featured player and made his debut on the show on October 1, 2005. His first role was as a psychologist giving his views about life and death during the emergency landing of JetBlue Airways Flight 292. Hader is known for his impressions of famous people, such as Vincent Price in the Variety Vault sketches, Harvey Fierstein, Charlie Rose, Al Pacino, Brian Grazer, Rick Perry, John Malkovich, Seth Rogen, James Carville, Julian Assange, Eliot Spitzer, Alan Alda, Clint Eastwood, and Charlie Sheen.
On July 19, 2012, Hader received his first nomination for a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series for his work on Saturday Night Live. He is the first male SNL cast member to receive this nomination since Eddie Murphy in 1984.
On May 14, 2013, he announced that his eighth season would be his last. "It was a hard decision, but it has to happen at some point," he told reporters. "It got to a point where I said, 'Maybe it's just time to go.'" On October 11, 2014, Hader returned as host with musical guest Hozier.
Characters
- Stefon: Weekend Update's flamboyant New York City correspondent, whose recommendations consist solely of bizarre nightclubs involving nightmarish characters (which, according to the Ben Affleck/Nelly episode, are real). He is in love with and married to Seth Meyers, and, according to the Bruno Mars episode from season 38, is homeless (he lives in a garbage can next to a Radio Shack on 23rd and 7th). He was originally a one-shot character on a season 34 sketch where a screenwriter named David Zolesky (played by Ben Affleck) invites his estranged brother Stefon over to pitch a family-friendly sports drama about a college student who bonds with his grandfather so he can try out for the college football team. He is based on two people SNL writer John Mulaney and Hader met: a wannabe club owner who always invited Mulaney to weird underground clubs and a barista Bill Hader met who looks, speaks, and dresses like Stefon.
- Vinny Vedecci: An Italian talk show host who chain-smokes and insults his crew. (played by Fred Armisen and Will Forte, who was later replaced by Paul Brittain). He has a son (played by Bobby Moynihan) and speaks little English, even though his guests (played by the guest hosts as themselves) are English speakers.
- Herb Welch: A bitter, elderly on-the-scene news reporter (who used to be a desk reporter but was fired for praying with a rosary on the air) who keeps hitting his interviewees in the face with his microphone. He will also say politically incorrect and outdated terms when speaking to interviewees. He often clashes with the Anchor (played by Jason Sudeikis, Nasim Pedrad and later Taran Killam) and openly insults him.
- Anthony Peter Coleman: A former war vet who disturbs the instructor and other students of a puppetry class that he's enrolled in with memories from his time in the service.
- Greg the Alien: The co-host of a sports talk show who appears to be an alien despite co-host Randy Duke's (Kenan Thompson's) constant claims that Greg is not an alien.
- Nitro: One of the main characters in the SNL Digital Short Laser Cats.
- One of the four guys (the others being Will Forte (later replaced by Andy Samberg), Jason Sudeikis and the host) who reveal crazy aspects about themselves while singing a song in the Song Memories sketches.
- Tony DiNato: One of the "Two Gay Guys from New Jersey" segment of Weekend Update. He is the only one whose real name was revealed.
- DJ Frontal Assault: Co-host on Deep House Dish.
- Danny: A guy who has the mutant "Kuato" (played by Andy Samberg) living in his stomach.
- Mr. Triggs: The father of an ugly, socially inept girl named Stacia. (played by Kristen Wiig)
- Jerry: A sleazy businessman who works with Carl (Will Forte). Both are often drunk and insulting to their co-workers.
- Dwayne Vogelcheck: The brother in Kissing Family, (his parents are played by Kristen Wiig and Fred Armisen) where another sibling, usually played by the celebrity host, brings a friend or girlfriend home to their overly affectionate family.
- Brady Trunk: The co-host of "Hollywood Dish", with Kristen Wiig.
- One of The Three Merryville Brothers robots, along with Taran Killam. The third member has been played by Jim Carrey, Justin Timberlake, and Bruno Mars with Tom Hanks).
- Leonard: The production assistant on advice shows produced by Roger Brush (Fred Armisen).
- Lyle Round: The host of the 1960s game show, "Secret Word." He often gets annoyed with his celebrity contestants, particularly Mindy Gracin (Kristen Wiig).
- Vince Blight: The host for the game show "What's That Name?" On the Alec Baldwin/Radiohead episode, Blight was the host of a game show called "Who's On Top?" and on the episode hosted by Anna Faris/Drake. Blight hosted a Lifetime-based game show called "What's Wrong With Tanya?"
- Derek Gash: A member of the British punk band, Ian Rubbish and the Bizarros.
- Devon: One of the Californians, along with Kristen Wiig, Fred Armisen and Vanessa Bayer among others.
- Mike Underballs: An advertisement director who must deal with an easily offended crew member (Jason Sudeikis) who attempts to disrupt the advertisement due to disliking the celebrity host.
Celebrity impersonations
Hader has said that he performed impersonations of teachers and friends when he was growing up but did not do impersonations of famous people until his Saturday Night Live audition. He developed his Al Pacino impersonation after watching the actor's Emmy acceptance speech for Angels in America. Hader's Vincent Price impersonation came from his love of Price's Edgar Allan Poe films, such as The Fall of the House of Usher. His Peter O'Toole impersonation came partly from O'Toole in My Favorite Year, and Jack Lemmon's drunken Prince Hapnick from The Great Race and Cher from Burlesque.
Another one of Hader's impersonations from Saturday Night Live is of former governor Eliot Spitzer. Hader has also impersonated Adam Levine, Fox News Channel host Shepard Smith, Fleetwood Mac guitarist Lindsey Buckingham, Michael "The Situation" Sorrentino from MTV's Jersey Shore, Pearl Jam's frontman Eddie Vedder, Dave Matthews, Rod Serling, John Boehner, Ben Mankiewicz, John Mayer, Conan O'Brien, Alan Alda, Dr. Oz, Rick Perry, Charlie Sheen, political strategist James Carville, Clint Eastwood, Harvey Fierstein, Tim Burton, and â€" in a guest appearance â€" Tim & Eric Awesome Show, Great Job! mainstay James Quall (requiring Hader to impersonate Quall's own tenuous celebrity impersonations).
Bill played Garrison Keillor as one of the many people who were suggested to replace Regis Philbin, after he left the Regis and Kelly Show.
Hader also does an impression of Dateline NBC 's Keith Morrison, parodying his reporting style of being overly interested in horrific tales of tragedy or murder and asking inane questions. After discovering that Morrison works at 30 Rockefeller Plaza, where both Dateline and Saturday Night Live are filmed, Hader half-jestingly said on the March 30, 2009, episode of Late Night with Jimmy Fallon that he lived in fear of getting into the same elevator as Morrison at 30 Rock.
In December 2010, he portrayed Julian Assange, the founder of WikiLeaks, who interrupts the broadcast from a British prison. In this sketch he hacks commercials for companies that are apologizing about WikiLeaks (such as MasterCard) and informs America about his status. He also performed a parody of TMZ with Assange playing the role of Harvey Levin.
On February 18, 2012, he briefly impersonated author Stephen King, as part of a sketch in which Maya Rudolph impersonated a Maya Angelou who creates pranks. Maya tells King, who is autographing books, that his car has been towed. He leaps up in horror, then recognizes her and says, in a Maine accent, "It's an 'awnuh' [honor]."
Film roles
After his film debut You, Me and Dupree, Hader had a wide range of roles such as Katherine Heigl's character's editor at E! in Knocked Up, the acid-taking mechanic Dave in Hot Rod (alongside SNL castmate Andy Samberg), a recumbent biker in The Brothers Solomon (which featured SNL castmate Will Forte in one of the film's co-leading roles) and, most famously, as Officer Slater in the Judd Apatow produced Superbad. His role in Superbad helped boost his public awareness and allowed him to appear on mainstream programs like Total Request Live, The Tonight Show, and MTV's Video Music Awards.
Hader appeared in two other Apatow projects: Forgetting Sarah Marshall (with Jason Segel) and Pineapple Express (with Seth Rogen). He appeared alongside Ben Stiller, Brandon T. Jackson, Jack Black, Robert Downey, Jr., Matthew McConaughey, Steve Coogan, Jay Baruchel, Tom Cruise, and Nick Nolte in Tropic Thunder.
He also teamed up with director Greg Mottola for three feature films Superbad, Adventureland and Paul.
In addition to these films, Hader has made several short films, including Back in the Day, Sounds Good to Me: Remastering the Sting, and The Jeannie Tate Show with SNL writer Liz Cackowski and wife Maggie Carey.
He made a small appearance in the 2009 film Year one with Jack Black and Michael Cera.
Hader lent his voice to the critically acclaimed 2009 Sony Pictures Animation film Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs, as well as its sequel, playing the lead role of Flint Lockwood as well as his invention in the films, the FLDSMDFR. He voiced a gazelle in Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs.
Hader appeared in Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian as Major General George Armstrong Custer.
He provided a voiceover in the 2010 film Scott Pilgrim vs. the World. He portrayed "The Voice", the disembodied voice that pops up during certain moments of the film's video game-inspired fight scenes. He also had a small cameo as the voice of the USS Vengeance computer in 2013's Star Trek Into Darkness.
Hader has written a slasher film to be produced by Judd Apatow, which he will star in if the film is produced.
In April 2009, Hader was a part of Vanity Fair's list of "Comedy's New Legends".
Hader starred in a dramatic role in the 2014 film The Skeleton Twins, opposite Kristin Wiig, with whom he worked on Saturday Night Live. The film won for 'Best Screenplay' at the Sundance Film Festival.
Other work
Hader was also a creative consultant on the 12th season of South Park. He was a producer on the 13th season, which premiered March 11, 2009. Hader is among the series producers to win the 2009 Emmy Award for Best Animated Series. He also appeared on the commentary recorded for the 2009 Blu-ray edition of South Park: Bigger, Longer and Uncut, and the Comedy Central special 6 Days to Air, a documentary filmed during production of the 2011 South Park episode HumancentiPad. Hader re-joined the writing staff for South Park for its seventeenth season. Hader won a Peabody Award for his participation in Saturday Night Live Political Satire, 2008. He has also been on the MTV show Punk'd. Hader voiced an array of different characters on the second season of the Adult Swim show Xavier: Renegade Angel.
Hader and SNL castmate Seth Meyers penned a Spider-Man one-off entitled The Short Halloween. It was illustrated by Kevin Maguire and came out May 29, 2009. It was given three and a half out of five stars by Benjamin Birdie of Comic Book Resources.
Hader took on the voice role of Professor Impossible on the fourth season of The Venture Brothers, a part originated by Stephen Colbert. In the game Grand Theft Auto IV he played Wilson Taylor Sr (On in-game radio show: Pacemaker). Hader appeared on Tim and Eric Awesome Show impersonating the recurring character James Quall on the episode "Jazz".
In July 2008, Hader starred in, and co-wrote with Simon Rich, the web series The Line on Crackle. Hader lent his voice to the audiobook of Sarah Vowell's The Wordy Shipmates. Hader voiced the Pod in the Aqua Teen Hunger Force episode "IAMAPOD" as well as Hitler in the episode "Der Inflatable Fuhrer." Hader played Kevin, Matt Damon's co-pilot, in the live episode of 30 Rock, recorded October 14, 2010.
He hosted the 2011 and 2012 seasons of Essentials, Jr. on Turner Classic Movies. In the series premiere of The Mindy Project, he guest starred as Mindy's ex-boyfriend. His character returns later in the first season. Hader voices Dr. Malocchio in the original Hulu series The Awesomes.
Personal life
In 2006, Hader married writer-director Maggie Carey. They have three daughters together: Hannah Kathryn, born October 6, 2009, Harper, born July 28, 2012, and Hayley, born November 15, 2014.
Hader is a fan of the Oklahoma City Thunder, an NBA franchise based in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. Prior to game 2 of the 2012 NBA Finals, he joined the NBA GameTime television analysts and did an impression of Ernie Johnson, Jr., a sportscaster for Turner Sports, which owns NBA TV, the network producing NBA GameTime.
Filmography
Film
Television
Video games
Awards and nominations
References
External links
- Bill Hader at the Internet Movie Database