Bill Hader is a known American comedian, actor and a writer who also contributed as a director and producer of films. His rise to fame came with Saturday Night Live series which aired on NBC and gained him several Emmy Awards. He is also involved in making of a popular mockumentary series.
Bill is also an actor and starred in many known films. He also created an HBO series “Barry” where he stars in. It is a pretty popular show and has gained good critics as well.
Early years
He was born as William Thomas Hader Jr. On June 7, 1978, in the town of Tulsa, located in Oklahoma, United States. He never uses his full name in the industry because he knows that it’s not memorable and that he won’t really benefit from it.
He was born into a talented family of his father William Thomas who worked as a manager in a restaurant but was also a stand up comedian and his mother named Sherri Rebee who was a talented dancer and who worked as a dance teacher he grew up alongside his two sisters Katie and Kara who are both younger than him.
He was their big brother who took care of them and helped them in resolving their problems. It was a huge favor, but he says that he really loves them and that he wouldn’t change that for the world.
Bill is of mixed descent since he has German, Danish and Irish roots. His surname Hader is an old German surname. He says that he would love to explore his culture more, but he sadly often doesn’t have too much time.
Bill was a student at Patrick Henry Elementary School but also attended Edison Junior High. He wasn’t interested in school and couldn’t focus on class and studies. He wasn’t also a big extrovert so he didn’t have many friends. He liked spending his free time watching movies and reading interesting books.
Ever since he found about Monty Phyton and British comedy he became their huge fan. He also likes watching films directed by Mel Broads and W. Allen.
His father was a big influence on him since he was also in the world of comedy. He also loved acting so he had a role in “The Glass Menagerie” produced in his high school. Bill made several short films with his friends in the main roles since he also loved to direct and produce.
Career development
Bill wanted to continue with a career in film but couldn’t join any film school because he didn’t have good grades. Instead, he entered The Art Institute of Phoenix after which he transferred to Scottsdale Community College.
During that time he was forced to find any work to support himself so his first job was selling trees for Christmas. His favorite workplace was as an usher in a movie theatre because it allowed him to watch movies for free. He was fired from this job after he spoiled the ending of a hit movie to very noisy viewers.
Eventually, Bill left college and relocated to Los Angeles in 1999 because he wanted to pursue his dream of becoming a serious filmmaker. He says that he was always pretty creative, but he was not sure if he could master the craft and be one of the best movie makers out there. He decided to try anyway.
Both of his parents supported him in that dream and agreed with him that he should spend his college money on paying rent in Los Angeles. He was very thankful for the fact that they are not mad at him and they are not concerned.
He found a job as a production assistant in a workplace where he spent 18 hours every day so he didn’t have time to accomplish the dream of becoming a filmmaker. He had to work in order to earn cash for his daily living and that was great, except for the fact that he was never really feeling rested enough to pursue his personal living.
He found work as a PA for movies like “Spider-Man” and “Collateral Damage”. He worked as a PA on “The Scorpion King” but quit his job after a very bad work experience which confirmed his opinion that this job is not for him.
His next job was at Triage Entertainment, a facility which works in post-production of movies and series. At that time Bill workes on his first short movie and had spent his savings on it but didn’t release it because he was too embarrassed.
About the same time he broke up with his girlfriend with whom he was together for a long time and was quite depressed about everything. To get out of the depression and make a change he started attending classes in a known theatre troupe named The Second City. This took place in 2003 and he soon realized that being a comedian is a great way for him to release his negative energy and shoe his creativity.
He entered a sketch comedy group alongside Matt Offerman, Mel Cowan, and Eric Filipkowski and it was named “Animals from the Future”. It was his way to break through and get into the world of big and famous characters.
They started having frequent stand-up shows in Van Nuys. Matt Offerman’s sisters came to see the show and became very interested in Bill. She managed to fix him the audition for the Saturday Night Live show.
He came to audition unprepared but managed to pull an improvisation of an elderly Italian who later became one of his main characters called Vinny Vedecci. The audition resulted in getting a manager and he started working on the place of an assistant editor in a cooking show called Iron Chef America.
He appeared in Saturday Night Live for the first time in October 2005 and soon became popular for his impersonations of people like Al Pacino, John Malkovich, Clint Eastwood, and Alan Alda.
Although he had a very good start in the show it took him a while to relax and he suffered from anxiety for a long period of time. During that time he also had sleeping problems and his anxiety was so high that he got a panic attack on stage in 2010. Bill often had migraines which appeared unannounced. Once he suffered one live in the show and lost his sight for a moment.
One of the most popular characters Hader played was named Stefon, a New York correspondent of “Weekend Update”.
In 2006 he had his first movie debut in a comedy movie called You, Me and Dupree whose main protagonists were Owen Wilson, Matt Dillon, and Kate Hudson. It was very interesting to work alongside all of these people and he said that he got some pretty good acting advice as well.
After that, he had several roles like in 2007 romantic comedy named Knocked Up and in a comedy called Hot Rod, released the same year. One of his most popular roles in 2007 was the role of Officer Slater in a teen comedy called Superbad. This character made him known to a wider audience and caused his appearances in various TV shows like Total Request Life and The Tonight Show.
Bill was hired as a consultant and a creative producer on the 12thseason of a popular animated series for adults called South Park. He was one of the producers of the series in the year when it received the Emmy award in the category of Best Animated Series. Bill appeared in a documentary movie called 6 Days to Air which followed the production of Humancenti Pad, one of South Park’s episodes.
In 2008 Bill won a Peabody Award in the category of Political Satire for the work in Saturday Night Live. He made an appearance on Punk’d series aired on MTV.
He gave his voice to a lot of characters of an animated series called Xavier: Renegade Angel. Bill continued working on his short film so he made several of them. Back in the Day and The Jeannie Tate Show are just two of them.
In 2008 he was involved in the creating of a web series named The Line. He was one of the writers of the script and also starred in it. Sarah Vowell used his voice for her audiobook of The Wordy Shipmates.
In 2008 he impersonated James Quall in the Tim and Eric Awesome Show.
He gained a role in an action satire called Tropic Thunder, directed by Ben Stiller. He starred there alongside Robert Downey, Jr. and Tom Cruise. This was the moment he realized that he actually did it: he managed to become famous.
In 2009 he played a role in a comedy-drama called Adventureland and in 2011 in alien-related comedy Paul.
In 2009 he gained a small role in a comedy movie named Year One.
He gave his voice to a leading character in a successful Sony Pictures Animated movie called Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs. He has also given his voice to a gazelle in a successful animated movie Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs.
It was the same year that he appeared as General Custer in a hit movie titled Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian. He made it to the Comedy’s New Legends list that year.
From until 2013, he gave his voice to Professor Impossible in The Venture Brothers.
He also appeared in a video game Grand Theft Auto IV” and in animated adult TV series called Aqua Teen Hunger Force.
In 2010 he played the role of co-pilot in 30 Rock” and gave his voice to a computer in the SF movie called Star Trek Into Darkness. He made a guest appearance at The Mindy Project in 2013.
He also replaced Robert Downey Jr. in The Awesomes where he took over the role of Mr. Peanut. This was very funny in the start because he has a very serious allergy to peanut.
In 2013 he left Saturday Night Live” because he could no longer travel so far to work.
In 2014 he starred in a comedy-drama called “The Skeleton Twin, which premiered on the Sundance Festival.
In 2015 he gave his voice to a character in animated movies Inside Out and The Good Dinosaurs.
In 2015 he made an appearance in a TV police series called Brooklyn Nine-Nine where he had the role of a captain.
He also gave his voice to several characters in parodies made for Bad Lip Reading YouTube channel.
His debut leading role came in 2015 in a movie called Trainwreck where he starred alongside Amy Schumer. The same year he starred in one more romantic drama called Maggie’s Plan.
In 2017 he gave his voice to the character of Alpha 5 in a movie version of a popular series Power Rangers.
In 2018 he started starring in a dark comedy series titled Barry which aires on HBO. He is also one of the creators of the series. For his work as a producer, actor, writer, and a director in the series he had received numerous Primetime Emmy Award nominations.
He has received several awards in categories like Outstanding Lead Actor in a Comedy Series, Outstanding Writing for a Comedy Series and other.
In 2019 he gained a role in a horror movie named It: Chapter Two, where he stars alongside James McAvoy and Jessica Chastain.
Personal life
In 2006 he married his longtime girlfriend Maggie Carey. She is also working in the entertainment business as a writer and a director.
They have three daughters together and stayed together until 2018 when they reached a settlement and divorced.
He loves his daughters very much and sees them very often. Their names are Harper, Hayley, and Hannah.
His favorite books to read are Dostoevsky, Faulkner, Ford, Tanizaki, and Tolstoy.
Quick summary
Full name: William Thomas Hader Jr.
Date of birth: June 7, 1978
Birthplace: Tulsa, Oklahoma, United States
Age: 41
Profession: filmmaker, comedian, actor, writer
Height: 1,85 m
Weight: 81kg
Net Worth: $ 8 million