Ben Stiller, The Man, The Myth, The Legend

The Man of Many Characters

            When you think of comedic actors of the 20th century, you come up with names such as Adam Sandler, John Goodman, Chris Rock, Will Ferrell, David Spade and many others in the industry. One of the men that come straight into my mind is Ben Stiller. If you asked one hundred people to name at least five Ben Stiller they could give you more than five and also give you tons of one liners from the movies he has been apart of. He has become a man of many faces and personalities when choosing movies. The following is a little look into the life of Ben Stiller and the roles he has taken on in his movies.

            Though many people love his movies and also the one liners, many don't know much about The Stiller. Stiller was born on November 30, 1965, in New York, New York. Son of Jerry Stiller and Anne Meara who where both actors in Hollywood. After graduating high school in 1983 Ben decided to attend University of California- Los Angeles. After studying film for nine months at UCLA for nine months Stiller decided to drop out and follow a Hollywood path. After Stiller went back to living with his parents and trying to raise money being a waiter.

                MTV was so amazed by Bens VH1 performance during the Fashion awards that they asked him if he would like to have his own show. "The Ben Stiller Show" debuted in 1992. The show was a behind-the-scenes look at TV comedy. It was popular, but not popular enough, and would last just one season. Fox network then signed him for another series, run in 1992.The Fox show was much different from the show on MTV, it was based on parodying TV, rock music and movies. Ben Stiller had many connections and many appeared on his show such as Roseanne, Garry Shandling and Sarah Jessica Parker,  David Cassidy, Adam West and James Doohan. The Ben Stiller Show only aired 12 episodes in Fox and once again the ratings were to low for the show to stay on air. 
             Ben decided to prose a directing opportunity and was brought a project starring a major comedic actor. This project was Jim Carrey's The Cable Guy (1996). Though many critics praised the movie for a new look on film making, Jim Carreys fans weren't really impressed with Jims performance because it wasn't Jims usual type of movie. Therefore the movie wasn't a big hit, but Ben did get credit for a job well done on the film making aspect of the motion picture. In 1998 Ben starred in, There's Something About Mary where he played,   "Ted a geek in high school, who was going to go to the prom with one of the most popular girls in school, Mary. The prom date never happened, because Ted had a very unusual accident. Thirteen years later he realizes he is still in love with Mary, so he hires a private investigator to track her down. That investigator discovers he too may be in love with Mary, so he gives Ted some false information to keep him away from her. But soon Ted finds himself back into Mary's life, as we watch one funny scene after another."(www.imdb.com)

            In 2000, Ben appeared as the main role in Meet the Parents where he played a Jewish male nurse who plans to propose to his girlfriend. He then finds out that her father expects to be asked for his daughter's hand before she can accept the proposal. The couple then goes to visit the parents and everything that can possibly go wrong does. This movie basically got Ben Stiller's name out. The next year 2001, Zoolander was released where Ben played a male model Derek Zoolander who is a model that is not as famous as he use to be. He is beaten by Hansel another model for the Male Model of the Year Award. "Just then fashion czar Mugatu offers Derek a comeback in his new "Derelicte"-line. What nobody suspected is that Mugatu plans to assassinate the new Malaysian Prime Minister on his visit to New York, so that cheap child labor is still available for Mugatu's fashion producing. By brainwashing Zoolander, Mugatu and his evil associate Katinka create a dumb and willing killer to do the job. Only in Time Magazine journalist Matilda suspicion arises slowly, and she tries to stop Derek." (www.imdb.com) This becomes another of Stillers big hits and once again his name begins to come out of everyone’s mouths.

            In 2004 Stiller appeared with Jennifer Aniston in Along Came Polly in which he played a risk-adviser insurance salesman on the rebound from his bride's infidelity (during their honeymoon) find happiness with a waitress he knew in junior high who's averse to commitment? Reuben is a sweet klutz who's ready to settle down but sees in her a chance to recover from disappointment and have some fun; Polly is a sweet itinerant, not ready to settle down but sees a chance to spend time with a nice guy who likes her. What will he do when his bride comes crawling back? What will Polly do, when he runs the numbers and thinks she's a good risk? Sub-plots involve his self-centered pal, who's a has-been actor and an assignment to assess the insurability of a balls-out Aussie"(www.imdb.com) This was one of Ben's highlighted movies, it showed Ben's romantic side and it was a stretch from what Stiller usually played on-screen. Along Came Polly was also a hit in the box-office which earned $89,000,000.

            The year of 2004 was huge for Stiller because not only did Along Came Polly do excellent in the industry but in the same year Starsky and Hutch was released which was set in the 1970s and was a tale of two police detective partners who are always out in the rough cases. They get around in a 1974 Ford Torino hot rod and getting into disagreements with each other once again starring with Owen Wilson in which chemistry was made with the two during the filming of Zoolander. Later on in 2004 Envy was also released a movie with featuring Jack Black and Ben Stiller as best friends who are about equal in lifestyle until Jack Blacks character creates the Vapoorizer, a spray that literally makes dog poop evaporate into thin air. Ben Stiller character then grows envious of Jack Blacks character and the story unfolds through the movie with comedy at every point.

            The greatest release for Ben in 2004 was the release of Dodgeball: A True Underdog Story. Ben plays an owner of a high class fitness gym known as Global Gym who wants to buy out Average Joe's a low-class fitness gym. To fight for the gym Average Joe's enters themselves in a Dodgeball tournament where they can earn $50,000 and be able to keep the Gym. Ben Stiller's character also joins the Dodgeball tournament to make sure that Average Joe's doesn't come out victorious. In this movie Stiller plays the evil character; far different from characters in the past. The crowds loved the movie, especially all of the one liners from this movie such as "No one makes me bleed my own blood!", and also "Global Gym, we're better than you and we know it!"

As you can see Ben Stiller is a man of many different faces and roles. He can go from playing a nice guy, romantic guy, to an evil man. Though Stiller sticks to comedy I feel that this is his true calling, falling in the steps of his father Jerry Stiller. I feel that Ben still has a big career in front of him. He is 40 years old now but still is charismatic and energetic. You can catch Ben Stiller in 2006 in Tropic Thunder a movie about, “a group of actors filming a war movie go through an intensive two-week boot camp training, which is helpful when they go on location and are immersed in a real war." (www.imdb.com)