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Celebrating Will FerrellThe All-Star CastAn all-star cast of actors, performers and musicians celebrate the life and humor of Will Ferrell. Billie Joe Armstrong
Green Day vocalist/guitarist Billie Joe Armstrong, bassist Mike Dirnt, and drummer Tré Cool were kids from working-class backgrounds who came of age in the underground punk scene in Berkeley. Their 1994 album Dookie, sold 15 million copies and earned the band its first Grammy® Award for Best Alternative Music Performance. Over the years, Green Day continued to top the charts with their subsequent studio albums Insomniac, Nimrod, and Warning, while entertaining millions of fans with their frenetic live shows. But it was their landmark 2004 album American Idiot that launched Green Day into the stratosphere. American Idiot debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard chart, spawned five hit singles, earned seven Grammy® nominations (winning two, including Best Rock Album), and raised the bar for modern rock and roll. In 2009, Green Day released 21st Century Breakdown, which won a 2010 Grammy® Award for Best Rock Album. It spawned two hit singles: the gold “Know Your Enemy,” which was the first song ever to top Billboard’s Rock, Alternative, and Mainstream Rock charts simultaneously, and the double-platinum “21 Guns,” which earned them three 2009 MTV Video Music Awards including Best Rock Video. Green Day also took home an American Music Award for Favorite Alternative Rock Music Artist. Later that year, Green Day collaborated with Tony Award winning director of Spring Awakening, Michael Mayer, for the stage musical of American Idiot. The play bowed at the Berkeley Repertory Theatre in September 2009 and set attendance records during its limited engagement. The play went on to Broadway and ran for a year at the St. James Theatre and won two Tony Awards.
Ed Asner
Versatile, committed, eloquent and talented are all adjectives that describe actor/activist Edward Asner. Perhaps best known for his comedic and dramatic crossover as the gruff but soft-hearted journalist Lou Grant, the role he originated on the landmark TV news room comedy The Mary Tyler Moore Show and continued in the newspaper-set drama Lou Grant, which earned him five Emmys and three Golden Globe Awards. Asner received two more Emmy and Golden Globe Awards for the mini-series Rich Man, Poor Man and Roots. His prolific and much honored acting career demonstrates a consummate ability to transcend the line between comedy and drama. Jack Black
Jack Black returned as "Po" in Kung Fu Panda 2 for Paramount Pictures this past May grossing $125 million in its' international opening weekend. Black also recently premiered Bernie at the Los Angeles Film Festival this June, and The Big Year in October. Black has a vast repertoire of successful films, including top grossing and award winning films such as: Gulliver's Travels, Brutal Legend, Kung Fu Panda, Tropic Thunder, School of Rock, Nacho Libre, and King Kong. Black's other screen credits include the comedies Bob Roberts, High Fidelity, Saving Silverman, Shallow Hal, Orange County, Envy, Shark Tale, The Holiday, and 2000's independent drama Jesus' Son and 2007's drama Margot at the Wedding. Fans also know Black as the lead singer of the rock-folk comedy group Tenacious D, which he created with friend Kyle Gass. Their self-titled album was released in the fall of 2001 with Epic Records and was quickly certified at gold-selling status. The band had a variety series on HBO that aired in 1999. The duo completed their first feature Tenacious D in the Pick of Destiny for New Line Cinema, which released in November 2006. Following Pick of Destiny, two documentaries were released in relation to the film, the first of which was directed and produced by Black himself. Black currently resides in Los Angeles with his wife, Tanya and their two sons. Matthew Broderick
A two-time Tony award-winning stage actor and instantly recognizable film presence, Matthew Broderick was most recently seen in the feature films Wonderful World, Universal's animated adventure The Tale of Despereaux, in which he voices the title character, and Diminished Capacity, opposite Alan Alda and Virginia Madsen. In 2009, he was also on the big screen in Helen Hunt's directorial debut Then She Found Me. Matthew next stars alongside Ben Stiller, Eddie Murphy and Casey Affleck in Tower Heist, and in Margaret with Matt Damon and Mark Ruffalo. Both films will be released this fall. He will return to Broadway in Nice Work if You Can Get It in early 2012. Most recently, Broderick starred in Christopher Hampton's The Philanthropist on Broadway and in Kenneth Lonergan's Off-Broadway production of Starry Messenger, opposite Catalina Sandino Moreno. Previously, he starred in the blockbuster Broadway production of Neil Simon's The Odd Couple. He also starred in the hit off-Broadway play, The Foreigner, at the Roundabout Theatre. In 2005, he starred in the feature film version of The Producers, reprising the Tony-nominated performance he gave on Broadway in this smash hit musical. Broderick starred in the critically acclaimed You Can Count on Me opposite Laura Linney. He also earned considerable acclaim starring opposite Reese Witherspoon in the critically lauded and Independent Spirit Award winning political satire Election, directed by Alexander Payne. A New York native, he made his professional stage debut opposite his father, James Broderick, at age 17 in the production of On Valentine's Day. His performance in Harvey Fierstein's Torch Song Trilogy, won him the Outer Critic's Circle Award for Best Supporting Actor. Broderick won his first Tony Award for Neil Simon's Brighton Beach Memoirs, and starred in the play's sequel, Biloxi Blues. He won his second Tony for his role as J. Pierrepont Finch, in the Broadway revival of How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying. Broderick has also starred in such blockbuster movies as Ferris Bueller's Day Off, Glory, War Games, and Disney's The Lion King, as the adult voice of Simba. Additional credits include Bee Movie, Godzilla, Addicted to Love, The Cable Guy, Inspector Gadget, Deck the Halls, Mrs. Parker and the Vicious Circle, Max Dugan Returns, Project X, Family Business, The Freshman, The Night We Never Met, The Last Shot and The Stepford Wives. In addition to his stage, screen and Broadway credits, he has also appeared in the Showtime film Master Harold and the Boys and received an Emmy nomination for the TNT production of David Mamet's A Life in the Theater in which he starred opposite Jack Lemmon. Broderick resides in New York with his wife Sarah Jessica Parker and their three children. Gwen Ifill
GWEN IFILL is moderator and managing editor of Washington Week and senior correspondent for the PBS NewsHour. She is also the best-selling author of The Breakthrough: Politics and Race in the Age of Obama, (Doubleday, 2009). Gwen reports on a wide range of issues from foreign affairs to U.S. politics and policies interviewing national and international newsmakers. She has covered six Presidential campaigns and moderated two vice presidential debates -- in 2004 the debate between Republican Dick Cheney and Democrat John Edwards and in 2008 the debate between Democratic Senator Joe Biden and Republican Governor Sarah Palin. Each week on Washington Week, Gwen leads a robust roundtable discussion with award-winning journalists who provide reporting and analysis of the major stories emanating from the nation’s capital. Now in its 42nd year on the air, Washington Week is the longest-running prime-time news and public affairs program on television. During the 2008 presidential campaign season Washington Week launched a 9-city series of road shows across America with live audiences. The regular broadcasts and whistle-stop series earned Washington Week a 2008 Peabody Award. In honoring Washington Week the committee cited the program for "its reasoned, reliable contribution to the national discourse," and as the gold standard "for public-affairs enthusiasts who prefer illumination to confrontational fireworks." Before coming to PBS in 1999, Gwen was chief congressional and political correspondent for NBC News, White House correspondent for The New York Times, and a local and national political reporter for The Washington Post. She also reported for the Baltimore Evening Sun and the Boston Herald American. Her work as a journalist has been honored by the Radio and Television News Directors Association, Harvard’s Joan Shorenstein Center, Ebony Magazine and Boston’s Ford Hall Forum. Gwen has received more than 20 honorary doctorates and currently serves on the boards of the News Literacy Project, the Committee to Protect Journalists, and she is a fellow with the American Academy of Sciences. A native of New York City, Gwen graduated from Simmons College in Boston. Adam McKay
Adam McKay is a writer, director, and producer of several successful movies such as Anchorman, Talladega Nights, Step Brothers, and most recently The Other Guys. He is a former head writer of SNL and one of the founding members of the Upright Citizens Brigade. Other past credits include writing for Michael Moore's show The Awful Truth, and co-founding the comedy website Funny or Die. He has also produced the hit HBO comedy series which is wrapping its third season, East Bound and Down through his production company with Will Ferrell, Gary Sanchez Productions. In 2009 he took to the stage, directing the Tony nominated Broadway show You're Welcome America: A Final Night with George W. Bush. Tim Meadows
One of the longest-running cast members in the 33-year history of Saturday Night Live, versatile comedian Tim Meadows crafted some of the series' most memorable characters during his 10 years on the popular late night show. Such characters included Leon Phelps, The Ladies' Man and Lionel Osbourne, host of the fictional public affairs show, Perspectives, as well as uncanny impressions of OJ Simpson, Ike Turner and Sammy Davis Jr. Born in Highland Park, Mich., and raised in Detroit, Meadows studied television and radio broadcasting at Wayne State University before performing improvisational comedy at the Soup Kitchen Saloon. In 1985, Meadows relocated to Chicago, where he first joined ImprovOlympic, and then the legendary comedy troupe Second City. During his three-years at Second City, he wrote and starred in productions of The Gods Must Be Lazy, with Chris Farley; It Was Thirty Years Ago Today; and Flag Smoking Permitted in Lobby Only, gaining a loyal following with his sharp comedic talent. In 1991, Meadows achieved the dreams of comics nationwide when producer Lorne Michaels asked him to join SNL as a featured player. Nominated for an Emmy® as part of the show's writing team that same month, he later made the transition to cast member status two years afterward. Several years after appearing in a string of films based on Saturday Night Live sketches, including Coneheads and Wayne's World 2, Meadows was offered his own chance at features. The 2000 release of Paramount's The Ladies Man gave the eponymous hero Leon Phelps the opportunity to bring his Courvoisier-drinking romantic adviser to the big screen. That same year, he left SNL to join NBC's prime-time line-up as a regular cast member on The Michael Richards Show, and in 2002, he joined the cast of the NBC sitcom Leap of Faith. Meadows played a school principal in the hit comedy Mean Girls and most recently co-starred in the Revolution comedy Benchwarmers. His recent films also include Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story with John C. Reilly; Semi-Pro with Will Farrell and just completed filming of Aliens in the Attic with Kevin Nealon and Ashley Tisdale. Currently, he plays 'Paul' on The Bill Engvall Show on TBS. He is also a regular correspondent on The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson on CBS and The Colbert Report on Comedy Central. Conan O'Brien
With "a comic identity as distinctive as his name," according to The New York Times, Conan O'Brien has firmly established himself in the late night comedy universe. Hailed by The Washington Post as "modest, wry, self-effacing and demonstrably the most intelligent of the late-night comics," O'Brien's unique brand of comedy has earned Conan the title "Late Night's King of Cool" from Entertainment Weekly In May of 2008 it was announced that O'Brien was going to hand the reigns of "Late Night" over to Jimmy Fallon as he was going to take over hosting duties for The Tonight Show from Jay Leno in a deal that NBC worked out in with Conan in 2004. On June 1, 2009, Will Ferrell became Conan's first guest on the couch, and Pearl Jam appeared as the first musical guest with O'Brien as host. O'Brien made his final appearance as host of The Tonight Show on January 22, 2010. On April 12, 2010 Conan hit the road, launching his aptly titled comedy road show, the "Legally Prohibited from Being Funny on Television Tour." The two-month 30-city tour sold out on nearly every location. Along with starting the tour that day, Conan also announced via Twitter that he had agreed with the cable network TBS, the comedy-oriented cable channel in the Turner network lineup to launch a brand new talk show. The show, appropriately titled CONAN, premiered on November 8th, 2010. John C. Reilly
Academy Award and multi-Golden Globe nominee John C. Reilly has made an impact in both the comedic and dramatic worlds of cinema. He has received Oscar and Golden Globe nominations for "Best Supporting Actor" for his standout performance as "Amos Hart" in the Academy Award®-winning film, Chicago. Additionally, for that role, he was named "Best Supporting Actor" by the Las Vegas Film Critics, and was nominated by the Chicago Film Critics in the same category. That same year, Reilly starred in two other Academy Award®-nominated films; Martin Scorsese's Gangs of New York, and Stephen Daldry's The Hours, making it the first time that a single actor had been part of three of the five films in this prestigious category. In 2010, Reilly released Cyrus opposite Academy-Award winner Marisa Tomei and Jonah Hill, earning him an IFP Spirit Award nomination for Best Male Lead and also a Satellite Award nomination for Best Actor in a Motion Picture, Musical or Comedy. Directed by Jay and Mark Duplass, Reilly plays "John," a divorced, 40-something who meets "Molly" (Tomei) the woman of his dreams, until he meets her son, "Cyrus" (Hill) who refuses to let him get close with his mother. In 2008 Reilly reunited with Will Ferrell and producer Judd Apatow in the comedy Step Brothers. Released in July 2008, Step Brothers went to earn over $100 million domestically for Columbia Pictures. Paul Rudd
Born in Passaic, New Jersey, actor and screenwriter Paul Rudd has appeared in both films and television and is known for his roles in The 40-Year-Old Virgin, Anchorman, Knocked Up, Dinner for Schmucks, Role Models, I Love You Man, and Our Idiot Brother. In 1995 Rudd made his breakthrough performance playing Cher's collegeaged stepbrother in Clueless. Other film credits include Wet Hot American Summer, Halloween: The Curse of Michael Myers, The Cider House Rules, William Shakespheare's Romeo + Julliet and The Object of My Affection. Preceding his career as an actor, Rudd attended the University of Kansas to study drama where he was awarded the Spencer Tracy Scholarship to study at the American Academy of Dramatic Arts in Los Angeles. Soon after , he made his broadway debut as Joe Farkas in the acclaimed play, The last Night of Ballyhoo. In October 1997, Rudd was nominated for a FANY Award (People's Choice Awards for the Broadway Theater) for his performance. He continued his theater work as Duke Orsino, oppostie Hellen Hunt's Viola in Shakespeare's Twelfth Night. Rudd lives in Manhattan, New York with his wife Julia and two children. Andy Samberg
With a diverse range of comedic talents, Andy Samberg has emerged as a captivating and hilarious leading man on screens both big and small. As an Emmy® award winning writer, Samberg is achieving as much success behind the scenes as he is on screen. Samberg has recently wrapped production on Sean Anders' I Hate You, Dad, co-starring Adam Sandler and James Caan, Maggie Carey’s The To Do List, co-starring Rachel Bilson and Bill Hader, and Celeste and Jesse Forever, written by and co-starring Rashida Jones. He is currently working on Genndy Tartakovsky’s Hotel Transylvania, co-starring Adam Sandler and Kevin James. Samberg, along with his LONELY ISLAND partners Akiva Schaffer and Jorma Taccone, released their sophomore, Emmy® nominated album Turtleneck and Chain this past May. The second time around, the trio upped the ante, teaming up with even more of the music industry’s biggest heavy hitters and A-list celebrities, including Akon, Justin Timberlake, Nicki Minaj and Rihanna. The album received three Emmy® nominations in the category of OUTSTANDING ORIGINAL MUSIC AND LYRICS for “I Just Had Sex (feat. Akon),” Jack Sparrow (feat. Michael Bolton)” and “3-Way (The Golden Rule) (feat. Justin Timberlake and Lady Gaga). Turtleneck and Chain was the highly anticipated follow-up to THE LONELY ISLAND’s first album Incredibad, which included the Emmy® winning sensation "D*** In A Box," featuring superstar Justin Timberlake. Incredibad also featured the follow-up gold record "J**z In My Pants," which has over 100 million views on YouTube and the Grammy® nominated, third single “I’m On A Boat”, which went platinum and catapulted the album into over 350,000 copies sold and made it the #1 selling comedy album in 2009 and 2010. Samberg hosted the 2009 MTV Movie Awards, which was the highest rated Movie Awards since 2004. Samberg was also nominated for a 2009 Emmy® award for Outstanding Music and Lyrics for his song “Motherlover,” performed alongside Justin Timberlake. Other film credits include: Will Gluck’s Friends With Benefits opposite Justin Timberlake and Mila Kunis; Mark Mylod’s What’s Your Number? opposite Chris Evans and Anna Faris; John Hamberg's I Love You, Man opposite Paul Rudd and Jason Segel; Phil Lord and Chris Miller's animated feature Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs with Bill Hader, Anna Farris and James Caan; and Akiva Schaffer’s Hot Rod, starring Jorma Taccone, Ian McShane, Sissy Spacek, Isla Fisher, and Bill Hader. Samberg will start his seventh season as a cast member on “Saturday Night Live". His breakthrough performance for the veteran comedy showcase was the music video "Lazy Sunday," a performance collaboration with SNL alum Chris Parnell. “Lazy Sunday” was an undeniable online phenomenon that amassed over five million hits on YouTube.com within a few days and sparked its own legion of Internet imitations. The controversy surrounding the legal ramifications of online video content thrust the story into the media spotlight, highlighting Samberg as the poster-child for a new generation of DIY filmmakers and comics. Samberg, Schaffer and Taccone, collectively known as THE LONELY ISLAND, have been friends since junior high school in Berkeley, CA. In 2000, the trio began writing, directing, and producing their own brand of comedy and showcasing it on their website www.thelonelyisland.com. Prior to joining “Saturday Night Live,” Samberg performed stand-up comedy in both New York and Los Angeles for seven years and was featured on Comedy Central's “Premium Blend” in 2005. Samberg attended college at UC Santa Cruz and graduated from NYU's Tisch School for the Arts with a film degree in 2000.
Molly Shannon
Molly Shannon has become one of Hollywood's most sought-after talents on television and the silver screen. She spent six seasons as a member of the repertory company on Saturday Night Live, primarily known for the eclectic characters she created, such as Mary Katherine Gallagher and Sally O'Malley. She is also praised for her parodies of Courtney Love, Liza Minnelli, Monica Lewinsky, and Meredith Vieira. In 2000 she received an Emmy nomination for Outstanding Individual Performance in a Variety or Music Program. Prior to joining "SNL," Shannon appeared at The Up Front Comedy Theater in Los Angeles in The Rob and Molly Show, an improvisational show she co-wrote with Rob Muir. Last fall, Shannon made her Broadway debut replacing Tony Award winner Katie Finneran in the hit musical Promises, Promises alongside Sean Hayes and Kristin Chenoweth. Last year on television Shannon was featured as a recurring guest star on FOX's smash-hit series Glee where she traded barbs with Jane Lynch's prickly Sue Sylvester. Shannon was also included in the "all-star" group of female "SNL" alumnae who came back this year for Betty White's Emmy-winning hosting gig where Shannon reprised her classic character Terry Rialto of public radio's Delicious Dish.
Ben Stiller
Ben Stiller is an actor, director, writer and producer. Stiller will next star opposite Eddie Murphy in Universal's highly-anticipated action-comedyTower Heist directed by Brett Ratner set for release on November 4th. He is currently in production on Fox's Neighborhood Watch opposite Vince Vaughn, which revolves around a group of men who uncover a plot to destroy the world set for release on July 27, 2012. Stiller received rave reviews for his lead role in Noah Baumbach's Greenberg, which earned him a 2011 Independent Spirit Award nomination for Best Lead Actor. He most recently starred in the Broadway revival of John Guare's award-winning play The House of Blue Leaves alongside Edie Falco and Jennifer Jason Leigh. He made his Broadway debut in the 1986 production of the same name. In 2008, Ben Stiller starred in, co-wrote and directed Tropic Thunder under his Red Hour Films production banner. Starring Robert Downey, Jr., Jack Black and Tom Cruise, the film garnered several award nominations including an Academy Award®, BAFTA, SAG and Golden Globe® for Robert Downey Jr. as well as a Golden Globe® nomination for Tom Cruise. The film also won the Broadcast Film Critics Award and Hollywood Film Festival Award for Comedy of the Year. Red Hour's other production credits include the upcoming film,The Big Year, starring Steve Martin, Owen Wilson and Jack Black; the dark comedy 30 Minutes or Less, starring Danny McBride and Jesse Eisenberg, the animated feature Megamind starring Will Ferrell and Brad Pitt, Submarine, which premiered at the 2010 Toronto International Film Festival, Blades of Glory, Dodgeball: A True Underdog Story, and Starsky and Hutch. His other directing credits include Reality Bites, The Cable Guy, and Zoolander, which he co-wrote and starred in. As a writer, Stiller won an Emmy Award® for the short-lived sketch comedy series The Ben Stiller Show, which he also directed and produced. Stiller's acting credits include: Permanent Midnight, Your Friends & Neighbors, Flirting with Disaster, Empire of the Sun, There's Something About Mary, The Royal Tenenbaums, Night at the Museum and Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian, Meet the Parents, Meet the Fockers and Little Fockers, in voiceover, Madagascar and Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa, and Dodgeball: A True Underdog Story, a Red Hour production. For many years, Stiller has been involved with and supported numerous charities and foundations, including Project ALS, Artists for Peace and Justice, Centre for Environmental Education, Elizabeth Glaser Pediatric AIDS Foundation, Michael J. Fox Foundation, Oxfam, Red Cross, and Starlight Children's Foundation, among others. Following his first visit to Haiti with Save the Children in 2009, Stiller has been committed to raising money for schools in the country through his StillerStrong campaign, and more recently with The Stiller Foundation. In 2010, Stiller was recognized by TIME MAGAZINE for his philanthropic work as one of the TIME 100, a list of the most influential people in the world. |
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Major funding for Will Ferrell: The Kennedy Center Mark Twain Prize is provided by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, PBS and public television viewers. Air travel is generously provided by American Airlines.
Copyright © 2011 WETA. All rights reserved. : Published October 2011 |
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