Can celebrities really manifest their dream roles through style choices?
Myers created several sketches that launched him to fame. He originally created the 'Sprockets' sketch for Second City, but imported it to Canadian sketch comedy show 'It's Only Rock & Roll' and then 'Saturday Night Live.' He starred as Dieter, a fictional West German talk show host who wore all black and interviewed celebrities in a bored way that parodied German art culture in the '80s.
His father, a war veteran turned insurance agent, was a central figure in his life who loved comedy, but Eric Myers passed in 1991 before he could see his son strike gold on the silver screen. In a June 1999 interview, Myers said: "Austin Powers was born out of trying to celebrate my father's life. My father's favorites were mine—Peter Sellers, Monty Python, Peter Cook, and Dudley Moore … my dad was a guy who loved to be silly; he had a highly prized sense of humor."
Mike Myers was born in Scarborough, Ontario, in 1963, and throughout his career he has demonstrated how proud he is to be Canadian, even writing a very quotable 2016 book called 'Canada' about his relationship to the country. "Canada is the essence of not being," he wrote. "Not English, not American, it is the mathematic of not being. And a subtle flavor—we're more like celery as a flavor."
Having started his acting career at eight years old in commercials, he later graduated into Toronto's Second City Comedy troupe—famed for producing comedians like Eugene Levy, John Candy, Martin Short, Dan Aykroyd, etc. He then made a troupe in London, England, before joining the Chicago Second City troupe and eventually getting a guest spot on 'SNL' from fellow Canadian Lorne Michaels. Myers showed versatility, which he embodies in a quote of his own: "I like smart jokes, I like dumb jokes, and I like dumb jokes done smartly."
In the year 2000, Myers reportedly walked away from a film that would've been based on his Dieter character due to issues with the script. He was then sued by Universal and then by production company Imagine Entertainment for millions of dollars due to breach of contract. Myers counter-sued, citing "violations to [his] right of privacy, abuse of process, and fraud on the part of Universal." Eventually all lawsuits were dropped, but the film was doomed to the bin.
But things started looking up with the big green ogre. Myers is actually the reason the film is so quotable, because he first recorded the whole thing in his regular Canadian accent, then decided to re-record the entire thing in a Scottish accent. He'd considered how fairy-tales are often about class divides and opted to dig into his roots to access an accent "of the people," as he told GQ. It gave us lines like "That'll do, Donkey. That'll do," and "Ogres are like onions." A hilarious comedy with a lot of heart, 'Shrek' was the fourth highest-grossing film of 2001.
Myers was also famous for the 'Coffee Talk' sketches in which he plays a stereotypical Jewish middle-aged woman with an exaggerated New York accent ("Talk amongst yourselves"), long fake nails, tons of jewelry, large glasses, and big hair, which she constantly adjusts. This character was reportedly a spoof on Myers' actual mother-in-law at the time, Linda Richman.
Among the characters Myers made popular on 'SNL' was Wayne Campbell, a teenage cable-access host living in his parents' basement. It evolved from a segment titled 'Wayne's Power Minute' on the Canadian series 'It's Only Rock & Roll' and then evolved again from 'SNL' to Myers' big breakthrough in film.
When asked by IGN about his break, Myers was candid about his process: "I write everything I do. On the average, it takes you about 60 months from the first molecule of an idea to it being in front of an audience. I'm actually somebody that creates their own stuff."
Throughout this time, Shrek also started to become something of a cult figure on the internet, resulting in stage adaptations and Shrek raves where people would go dressed as their favorite character and dance to 'I'm a Believer' DJ edits.
Myers appeared in Quentin Tarantino's film as British General Ed Fenech, which he called "A dream come true." Both of Myers' parents served in WWII, so he has always had an interest in war films.
In a 2014 GQ feature, Myers addressed the fact that he hadn't been in a film for five years. Besides having three kids—Spike, Sunday, and Paulina—with wife Kelly Tisdale, he said he keeps himself busy painting, playing floor hockey, and making music whenever he has time between hatching ideas.
"I call fame the industrial disease of creativity. And it is. Fame can be so toxic that it has reproductive harm," Myers told GQ. "And the notion that people have that fame is ego boosting is one that I would have believed in Toronto. It's more ego death than it is ego restoring. Mostly the exposure that comes with fame is like putting your [male member] on the table and having everybody saying "that looks like a [male member], only smaller."
And just when people weren't sure they'd see him again, Myers created and starred in the 2022 Netflix series 'The Pentaverate,' which comes from the conspiracy theories of one of the characters from his 1993 film 'So I Married an Axe Murderer.'
Sources: (The Canadian Encyclopedia) (IMDb) (GQ) (The History Channel Canada) (IGN)
See also: The best comedians in history
Myers famously co-wrote and starred in 'Wayne's World' (1992) which was a critical and commercial success. It was not only the 10th-highest-grossing film of 1992, but also remains the highest-grossing film based on a 'Saturday Night Live sketch' ever.
Then came an ever bigger triumph, the story of Austin Powers, a cryogenically frozen British spy from the '60s who is thawed when his arch nemesis Dr. Evil returns from space. Myers wrote, starred in, and co-produced the film, which he says credits to his British roots and his father's love of 'Pink Panther' movies. It made four times its budget at the global box office.
This romantic black comedy follows a beat poet who falls in love with a potential serial killer. It gave us lines like "Woman... Woe-man... Whoooa-man!" Though he's uncredited as a writer, Myers reportedly extensively rewrote the script with Neil Mullarkey. It wasn't a hit when it came out, but later gained cult status in home rentals.
The film remains one of the most quoted works from Myers' career, with lines like "Shagadelic, baby!" and "This is me in a nutshell: HELP! I'm in a nutshell!" According to Myers, "About 30 to 40% is improv," which included the "shushing" scene between Dr. Evil and his son.
In the sequel, Wayne and Garth decide to host a rock concert and Wayne must fend off a sleazy record producer from stealing his girlfriend. Myers again wrote and starred in it, giving lines like "I know all seven animal styles: the crane, the stag, the horse, the tiger, the bat, the rat, the monkey, the Beatle [imitates Ringo Starr]. I will take you." But it disappointed at the box office.
After a successful Hollywood entry, Myers took on a famous Dr. Seuss story, but the film was a critical and financial failure, just making above its budget. It was so bad that Dr. Seuss' widow, Audrey Stone Geisel, decided to deny any further live-action adaptations of her husband's works. The film was based on a kids' story but had a certain adult humor to it.
Going back to a cushy place, Myers returned as Shrek, but this time the film follows the ogre as he has difficulty meeting Fiona's parents. It competed for the Palme d'Or, and became the highest-grossing film of 2004. Myers was terrific in his delivery once again, with lines like: "Thank you, gentlemen. Someday I will repay you, unless of course I can't find you, or if I forget."
Myers again co-wrote, starred in, and co-produced this third film, which sees Austin Powers chase Dr. Evil, Mini-Me, and Goldmember through time, stopping in 1975 to get his ex-girlfriend Foxxy Cleopatra's help. This was also a big pop culture moment, as Beyoncé starred in her theatrical film debut.
Leave it to Mike Myers to see the poetic arc under the easy comedy of Shrek. "The first time you meet him, he's a self-loathing ogre who doesn't feel that he's worthy of love," Myers explained to IGN. "In the second one, he doesn't feel worthy of marriage, and in this one he doesn't feel he's worthy of being the father of his country or being a father of a child. You know what I mean? It's a smart progression."
For Myers' next big project, he co-wrote, starred in, and co-produced this film about an American raised by gurus in India who returns to North America and helps a hockey player get his life back together. But this was far from a success. The film lost at least US$20 million, and The New York Times described watching it as "downright antifunny, an experience that makes you wonder if you will ever laugh again."
Myers' noted that he loved Peter Sellers, who did a film called 'The Party' in which he wore brownface as a bumbling character named Bakshi, but 'The Love Guru' came out in 2008 when the political landscape was drastically moving away from so-called racial humor. Hindu societies had a big problem with the offensive and stereotypical depiction of Indian characters and Hinduism, and it was used as an example to show that Myers' brand of humor was on its way out.
Myers again wrote, starred in, and co-produced the sequel, which was an even bigger success. His famous improvised lines broke the fourth wall, like telling the audience, "Just enjoy yourself" as they're discussing the complexities of time travel, or when Myers pointed out they were filming in Southern California when the scene was set in London. Honorable mention to the much-quoted line: "Get in my belly!"
You can hardly watch comedy movies or funny TV shows without hearing an echo of Mike Myers in them, quoted sometimes even unconsciously. He, along with some of the other biggest names in comedy, forged what is now the golden path to Hollywood for comedians, and along the way he created a legacy for himself of both cult and mainstream fame through characters and movies that people never want to stop watching.
Of course, it hasn't all been laughs and giggles the whole way, and indeed there was a time when Myers' quotes actually led to him being called "antifunny." But the Canadian star isn't done yet. Click through to see Mike Myers' best characters and unscripted lines.
Mike Myers' road to becoming the most-quoted comedian
The Canadian actor, comedian, and writer turns 60 this May 25
CELEBRITY Retrospective
You can hardly watch comedy movies or funny TV shows without hearing an echo of Mike Myers in them, quoted sometimes even unconsciously. He, along with some of the other biggest names in comedy, forged what is now the golden path to Hollywood for comedians, and along the way he created a legacy for himself of both cult and mainstream fame through characters and movies that people never want to stop watching.
Of course, it hasn't all been laughs and giggles the whole way, and indeed there was a time when Myers' quotes actually led to him being called "antifunny." But the Canadian star isn't done yet. Click through to see Mike Myers' best characters and unscripted lines.