Bill Hader

Bill Hader

Active - 2001 - 2022  |   Born - Jun 7, 1978 in Tulsa, Oklahoma, United States  |   Genres - Comedy, Music, Drama

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Biography by AllMovie

Square-jawed comedic actor Bill Hader emerged as an onscreen presence in the mid- to late 2000s, both as a regular player on the hallowed Saturday Night Live and as an occasional performer in movies such as the animated Doogal (2004) and the Owen Wilson vehicle You, Me and Dupree (2006). Hader rose to higher billing with his guffaw-inducing turn in the frat-boy comedy Superbad (2007), playing a seriously irresponsible cop and the partnered with Seth Rogen. He was the brother to Jason Segel's character in Forgetting Sarah Marshall, had a brief but memorable cameo right at the beginning of Pineapple Express, and played a sycophantic assistant to Tom Cruise's monstrous Hollywood mogul in Tropic Thunder, all in 2008. The next year he had a huge hit voicing a character in the animated smash Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs, and earned good reviews for his work in Adventureland. He appeared in the sci-fi comedy Paul in 2011.

Hader continued to appear in supporting and cameo roles in films, appearing in an impressive nine films in 2013 (many of them voice roles, including Monsters University and reprising his role in Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs 2), before annoucing he was leaving Saturday Night Live. Once leaving SNL, he stretched his acting legs by starring opposite Kristen Wiig in the dramedy The Skeleton Twins in 2014.

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Factsheet

  • In high school, he hosted a student-produced TV show called You Can't Do That on Channel One.
  • As a teen, sold Christmas trees for three holiday seasons.
  • After moving to Los Angeles, he joined the famed Second City comedy troupe.
  • Was discovered by Will & Grace star Megan Mullally while he was performing at a comedy club with the group Animals from the Future; she later recommended him to SNL's Lorne Michaels.
  • Worked as a field agent on MTV's Punk'd.
  • Received a 2012 Emmy nomination for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series; with his nomination he became Saturday Night Live's first male cast member since Eddie Murphy in 1983 to receive a nod.
  • Left Saturday Night Live in May 2013 after eight seasons, and signed on soon after to write full-time for Comedy Central's South Park.
  • Became the voice of snack legend Mr. Peanut in 2013.
  • On a 2016 episode of Find Your Roots, discovered he is descended from Edward I of England and Charlemagne.