Benjamin Edward Stiller (born November 30, 1965) is an Emmy-winning American comedian, actor, film producer and director. He is the son of veteran comedians and actors Jerry Stiller and Anne Meara. After beginning his acting career with a play, he wrote several mockumentaries, and was offered two of his own shows, both entitled The Ben Stiller Show. After acting in a few films, Stiller had his directorial debut with Reality Bites, and has since written, starred in, directed, and produced over fifty films and television shows. Stiller's films have grossed $1.38 billion.

Stiller is a member of the comedic acting brotherhood known as the Frat Pack. With multiple cameos in music videos, television shows, and films, he may be best known for his roles in Starsky and Hutch, There's Something About Mary, Zoolander, Dodgeball: A True Underdog Story, Meet the Parents, its sequel Meet the Fockers, and Night at the Museum. Throughout his career, Stiller has received several awards and honors including an Emmy Award, several MTV Movie Awards, and a Teen Choice Award. Stiller's most recent role was in the movie The Heartbreak Kid.

The Ben Stiller Show was a sketch comedy television show that aired on FOX from September 1992 to January 1993. It was a spin-off from the successful MTV series of the same name. The show starred Ben Stiller, Andy Dick, Janeane Garofalo and Bob Odenkirk. Character actor John F. O'Donohue also appeared in every episode. It featured numerous filmed comedy segments, many of which parodied mid-1980's to early-1990's pop-culture. Despite excellent reviews, Fox canceled the series after only 12 episodes, due to low ratings.

Unlike most sketch comedy shows, The Ben Stiller Show does not use a studio audience nor a laugh track. This was the only FOX sketch comedy program not to use a laugh track. The semi-spinoff, The Andy Dick Show, uses the same format.

After cancellation, the series took home the 1993 Emmy Award for Outstanding Writing in a Variety Series. Despite its short prime-time run, many consider the show to contain some of the best satire of its era. It continues to have a cult following, and the complete series DVD was released in 2003.

Many of the writers and performers used the series as a springboard to greater success in comedy and entertainment. Series creator, writer, director, producer, and host Ben Stiller, went on to star in multiple box office hits, starting with There's Something About Mary in 1998. Co-creator and writer Judd Apatow went on to produce numerous popular comedy series and films, and directed the 2005 hit film The 40 Year-Old Virgin. Performer Andy Dick had a co-starring role on the NBC comedy NewsRadio and later had his own MTV series (The Andy Dick Show), which borrowed the format of The Ben Stiller Show. Janeane Garofalo spent a year at Saturday Night Live, played an Emmy-nominated role in The Larry Sanders Show, and has had a successful career in stand-up comedy. Bob Odenkirk subsequently starred with fellow series writer David Cross on HBO's absurdist sketch comedy series Mr. Show with Bob and David.

This comedy/variety show specialized in parodies of movies and television shows and commercials. Often, they would also have a special guest (e.g., a TV actor) join them in the comedy sketches, with hilarious results. Written by Tad Dibbern

A weekly behind the scenes look at the world of TV comedy in which host Stiller was constantly getting grief from co-writer Kahn and other cast members. Aired on MTV in 1990. Written by Anonymous

Ben Stiller was born on November 30, 1965, in New York, New York to legendary comedians Jerry Stiller and Anne Meara. It's not surprising that Ben Stiller has followed in his family's footsteps. Ben's parents made no real effort to keep their son away from the Hollywood lifestyle and he grew up among the stars, wondering just why his parents were so popular. At a young age, he and his sister Amy Stiller would perform plays at home, wearing Amy's tights to perform Shakespeare. Ben also picked up an interest in being on the other side of the camera and, at age 10, began shooting films on his Super 8 camera. The plots were always simple: someone would pick on the shy, awkward Stiller...and then he would always get his revenge. This desire for revenge on the popular, good-looking people may have motivated his teen-angst opus Reality Bites (1994) later in his career. He both directed and performed in the film, which costarred Winona Ryder and Ethan Hawke. Before he even got his start in Hollywood, Ben put in several consistently solid years in the theater. After dropping out of UCLA, he performed in the Tony Award winner, "The House of Blue Leaves". While working on the play, Stiller shot a short spoof of Color of Money, The (1986) starring him (in the Tom Cruise role) and his House of Blue Leaves, The (1987) (TV) costar John Mahoney (I) (in the Paul Newman (I) role). The short film was so funny that Lorne Michaels purchased it and aired it on "Saturday Night Live" (1975). This led to Ben spending a year on the show in 1989. Ben made his big screen debut in Steven Spielberg (I)'s Empire of the Sun (1987) in 1987. Demonstrating early on the multifaceted tone his career would take, he soon stepped behind the camera to direct Back to Brooklyn for MTV. The network was impressed and gave Stiller his own show, "Ben Stiller Show, The" (1992). He recruited fellow offbeat comedians Janeane Garofalo and Andy Dick (I) and created a bitingly satirical show. MTV ended up passing on it, but it was picked up by Fox. Unfortunately, the show was a ratings miss. Stiller was soon out of work, although he did have the satisfaction of picking up an Emmy for the show after its cancellation. For a while, Ben had to settle for guest appearance work. While he was doing this, he saved up his cash and in the end was able to scrape enough together to make Reality Bites (1994), now a cult classic which is looked upon favorably by the generation it depicted. Ben continued to work steadily for a time, particularly in independent productions where he was more at ease. However, he never quite managed to catch a big break. His first big budget directing job was Jim Carrey's Cable Guy, The (1996). Although many critics were impressed, Jim Carrey's fans were not. In 1998, There's Something About Mary (1998) had propelled Ben into the mainstream spotlight. With his wince-inducing turn in the Farrelly brothers' gross-out film, Ben really "struck a nerve" with mainstream America. In recent years, Ben has starred in such hit movies as Keeping the Faith (2000) and Meet the Parents (2000). Ben excels at cerebral comedy, but he knows how to get down and lowbrow when he needs to, making him one of America's currently most popular performers.