John William Ferrell is an American actor, comedian, producer, writer, and businessman. He established himself in the mid-1990s as a cast member on the NBC sketch comedy show Saturday Night Live. Ferrell is known for his hilarious movies and sketch comedies.
Will is also a member of the “Frat Pack,” a generation of Hollywood comic actors who emerged from the late 90s to the early 2000s. Other notable members of the Frat Pack include Owen Wilson, Ben Stiller, Jack Black, Vince Vaughn, and Steve Carell.
Will Ferrell Net Worth
| Net Worth: | $160 Million |
|---|---|
| Age: | 53 |
| Born: | July 16, 1967 |
| Country of Origin: | United States of America |
| Source of Wealth: | Professional Actor |
| Last Updated: | 2022 |
Personal Life
Ferrell married Viveca Paulin in August 2000. They had met in 1995 at an acting class. They have three sons, Magnus Paulin Ferrell (b. 2004), Mattias Paulin Ferrell (b. 2006) and Axel Paul Ferrell (b. 2010). The family splits their time between New York City and Orange County.
Ferrell has participated in the Boston and New York Marathons. He raises money for the charity Scholarships for Cancer Survivors. John William “Will” Ferrell is an American actor, comedian, and producer from Irvine. Ferrell is mostly known for starring in many popular films that were both critically acclaimed and hit at the box office such as ‘Zoolander’, ‘Elf’, ‘Anchorman’, ‘Blades of Glory’, ‘Step Brothers’ and ‘Get Hard’. Ferrell is also known for being one of the funniest actors in the industry and he has donated considerably to different charities involved with cancer survivors.
Early Life
John William (Will) Ferrell was born on July 16, 1967 in Irvine, California to Betty Kay (a teacher) and Roy Lee Ferrell Jr. (keyboardist for the band The Righteous Brothers.) Will’s parents divorced when he was eight, mainly due to his father’s traveling and inability to produce a steady paycheck at times. This turned Will off from show business, and his intention in his early years growing up was that he wanted to have a steady job and a normal life. He went to Culverdale Elementary and later attended University High School where he was a kicker for the school football team. He was also captain of the basketball team and participated in soccer. He has claimed that growing up in “dull” suburban California contributed to his creative sense of humor.
Ferrell became interested in acting during his high school years, creating comic voices for the school’s daily morning announcements with a friend. He would perform comic skits in the school’s talent shows, and was voted “best personality” in the senior superlatives amongst his classmates.
Ferrell attended the University of Southern California, studying Sports Broadcasting and graduating with a degree in Sports Information. He was known around campus for his pranks, such as dressing as a janitor and walking into his friends’ classes. He was also known for streaking on campus with his fraternity (Delta Tau Delta). Will graduated in 1990, tried a brief but unsuccessful stint as a stand up comedic, and ultimately joined the Los Angeles comedy/improvisation group The Groundlings in 1994 to develop his improvisation skills.
Highlights
Here are some of the best highlights of Will Ferrell’s career:
- Zoolander (Movie, 2001)
- Elf (Movie, 2003)
- Anchorman (Movie, 2004)
- Blades of Glory (Movie, 2007)
- Step Brothers (Movie, 2008)
- American Comedy Awards (Best Comedy Actor, 2014) – Won
- Get Hard (Movie, 2015)
- Zoolander 2 (Movie, 2016)
- Daddy’s Home 2 (Movie, 2017)
- Holmes & Watson (Movie, 2018)
Saturday Night Live
From 1994-1995, Saturday Night Live’s ratings and popularity began to decline. An SNL producer saw The Groundlings and asked Ferrell (along with future SNL players/fellow Groundlings members Chris Kattan and Cheri Oteri) to audition for Lorne Michaels, SNL’s main producer. Ferrell became a main cast member on SNL in 1995 and enjoyed a seven-year tenure.
Ferrell became an incredibly popular cast member almost overnight, mainly due to his spot-on and hilarious impersonations. Notably, he impersonated George W. Bush, Chicago Cubs announcer Harry Caray, Robert Goulet, James Lipton, Janet Reno, and Alex Trebek, among others. He also became well-known for his original characters such as Blue Oyster Cult member Gene Frenkle, cheerleader Craig Buchanan, and night clubber Steve Butabi, whose sketches were turned into a feature film in 1998, “A Night at the Roxbury.”
He’s guest-hosted the show five times since his 2002 departure, thus making him a member of the show’s coveted “Five Timers” club. In a 2014 poll put out by SNL, Ferrell was voted the best SNL cast member of all time.
Film Career
Ferrell appeared in several movies during his Saturday Night Live career, including Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery, Superstar and The Ladies Man (which were based on SNL characters), Dick, Drowning Mona, and Zoolander, among others. After he left SNL, his first starring role was in 2003’s Old School as Frank “The Tank” Richard. The role was met with critical acclaim, and the film was a huge commercial success. Ferrell was nominated for an MTV Movie Award for Best Comedic Performance for his role as Frank. Later that year, he was cast as the title role in Elf, and continued to land major roles in films such as Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy, and Starsky and Hutch. In 2005 alone, Ferrell earned a cool $40 million.
He continued on his path of critical and box office successes in 2016 when he starred in Stranger Than Fiction (where he successfully showed off his aptitude for dramatic acting) and Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby, which was his highest-grossing opening yet at $47 million. In 2008, another box office smash came in the form of Step Brothers, in which he co-starred with John C. Reilly. It earned $128 million worldwide.
The era of Ferrell began to cool slightly in 2009 when Land of the Lost was released to a commercial and critical flop, earning only about $19 million on opening weekend. He continued to make movies into the 2010s, mostly in the form of sequels to past blockbusters. Ferrell continues to be one of the most recognizable faces in comedy with his whacky and unique style of humor.
Career
Will Ferrell began his career by working with some minor jobs. Ferrell tried to establish himself as a standup comedy artist but failed at first.
Next, he auditioned for the Groundings and got trough. Ferrell began to take small roles in different TV sitcoms like ‘Grace Under Fire’ and ‘Living Single’.
Ferrell received a work on ‘Saturday Night Live’ where he appeared in many films. Some of those are ‘Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery’ (1997), ‘A Night at the Roxbury’ (1998), ‘Superstar’ (1999), ‘Dick’ (1999) and ‘Zoolander’ (2001).
In 2004, he starred in ‘Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy’, ‘Wake Up’ and ‘Ron Burgundy: The Lost Movie’. The next year, Ferrell starred in three films: ‘Bewitched’, ‘The Producers’ and ‘Kicking and Screaming’.
Ferrell has since then also produced films such as ‘Eastbound & Down’, an American sports comedy television series.
He appeared in ‘The Other Guys’ and ‘Everything Must Go’.From 2011 onwards he acted in multiple of films such as ‘Casa de Mi Padre’ (2011), ‘Tim and Eric’s Billion Dollar Movie’ (2012), ‘The Campaign’ (2012), ‘Anchorman 2: The Legend Continues’ (2013), ‘Get Hard’ (2015) and ‘Daddy’s Home’ (2015) etc.