Dana Carvey

Dana Carvey

actor, writer, producer

Dana Carvey was born on Jun 02, 1955 in USA. Dana Carvey's big-screen debut came with Halloween II directed by Rick Rosenthal in 1981, strarring Assistant. Dana Carvey is known for Too Funny to Fail: The Life & Death of The Dana Carvey Show directed by Josh Greenbaum, Dana Carvey stars as Self and Robert Smigel as Self - SNL Nerd. Dana Carvey has got 5 awards and 13 nominations so far. The most recent award Dana Carvey achieved is Primetime Emmy Awards. The upcoming new movie Dana Carvey plays is The Secret Life of Pets 2 which will be released on Jun 07, 2019.

One of SNL's most talented alumni, comedian Dana Carvey reigned supreme during his six-season run creating some of the show's most memorable characters, including "Church Lady", "Garth" of Wayne & Garth fame, Grumpy Old Man and bodybuilding "Hans" of Hans & Franz notoriety. This sharp and witty writer, actor and impressionist went on to hatch a modestly successful comedy career in films along with some of his SNL cohorts -- Mike Myers, Adam Sandler and Chris Farley did.The slightly-built, slightly dorky-looking funny guy was born on June 2, 1955 in Missoula, Montana, to Billie Dahl (McDonald) and Bud Carvey. He is of Norwegian, and smaller amounts of English, German, Swedish, and Irish, ancestry. Carvey was raised in San Carlos, California in typical middle class surroundings. His father taught high school business law and his mother, who was also a schoolteacher, had creative outlets as a painter and musician that inspired the young Dana. His gift for inducing laughter arrived at any early age. As young as 9 or 10, Dana was already mimicking characters he saw on TV, with one of his early icons being Jonathan Winters. His musical gifts came in the form of drums and guitar.While majoring in Communication Arts at San Francisco State, Dana sought out the comedy stage doing standard impressions of well-known personalities such as John Wayne, Howard Cosell and James Stewart. Within a few months he was beginning to win stand-up comedy awards. In time, however, he replaced his impersonations with self-created characterizations and such ripe forms as the Church ("Isn't that special!") Lady were the result.After playing various Bay Area comedy venues, Dana decided to relocate to Los Angeles in 1981 and give Hollywood a try. He quickly landed a development deal with NBC. While playing a straight foil to Mickey Rooney wasn't exactly his cup of tea, it did break him into series work as Rooney's grandson in the short-lived sitcom One of the Boys (1982). Mickey played a hip, energetic grandpa who is invited to move out of his retirement home and into the cool pad of his college-student grandson and his roommate (played by another up-and-comer, Nathan Lane).Dana joined the repertory company of Saturday Night Live (1975) in 1986, and the result was spectacular, helping to reverse the show's disastrous decline in popularity at the time. With his sharp, quicksilver characters and uncanny ability to exaggerate dead-on impersonations of the rich and famous -- from politicos George Bush and Ross Perot to entertainment's Johnny Carson, Woody Allen and Regis Philbin, Dana became the darling of the SNL set for six solid seasons. He was nominated six times for an Emmy Award, finally winning in 1993 for "Outstanding Individual Performance in a Variety or Music Program", and also won multiple American Comedy Awards.As expected, Dana began seeking comedy film vehicles to extend his stardom, following the pathway of many other successful post-SNL comics. In his first comedy vehicle Dans les pompes d'un autre (1990), he unleashed his typical bag of tricks (dialects, impressions, etc.) in a tale about a con artist who falls for the daughter of one of his wealthy dupes. It was moderately received. His second, Trou de mémoire (1994), was merely a retread of Bill Murray's earlier Un jour sans fin (1993) about a detective who awakens every morning without any recall. Given a thankless role in Aux bons soins du Dr Kellogg (1994), his third starring film comedy Descente à Paradise (1994) this time had him joining former SNL link=nm0001484]. None kickstarted movie stardom.Dana's best results on film came in tandem with Mike Myers in which the duo recreated their memorable "party-on" dudes Wayne and Garth from the famous SNL sketches. Wayne's World (1992) and its sequel Wayne's World 2 (1993) were box-office smashes, but it strangely did not further Dana's film career. He had hopes that a self-titled TV comedy series, The Dana Carvey Show (1996) would connect with audiences but it faltered. As its host, he reprised a number of his popular characters and introduced a slew of future comedians, including Steve Carell and Stephen Colbert. The show was deemed too offensive and was canceled after only six airings.Into the millennium, Dana's starred in one last comedy vehicle to date. The Master of Disguise (2002), which he co-wrote and was executive-produced by Adam Sandler. Here he played a klutzy Italian waiter who inherits the familial power of disguise. As before, it was a letdown and did little to advance his movie career. Since then he has been seen as a featured player and has appeared in three of Adam Sandler's comedy vehicles (Little Nicky (2000), Jack et Julie (2011) and Sandy Wexler (2017)). He has also been utilized in animated films, voicing such projects as Hôtel Transylvanie 2 (2015), Udvikling: Ankomsten (1982) and its sequel Comme des bêtes 2 (2019).Dana's true brilliance is captured best on the live comedy stage and, in particular, his numerous TV cable specials and stand-up concert appearances. To see Dana perform live is to witness an ideal blend of wit, style, personality and unrestrained, racy humor, something he has not been afforded to do on film. He lives with second wife Paula in Southern California. They have two children.

  • Birthday

    Jun 02, 1955
  • Place of Birth

    Missoula, Montana, USA
  • Also known

    -

Known For

Awards

5 wins & 13 nominations

Primetime Emmy Awards
1993
Outstanding Individual Performance in a Variety or Music Program
Winner - Primetime Emmy
1993
Outstanding Guest Actor in a Comedy Series
Winner - Primetime Emmy
MTV Movie + TV Awards
1992
Best On-Screen Duo
Winner - MTV Movie Award
1992
Best Comedic Performance
Winner - MTV Movie Award
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Movies & TV Shows

All
Movies
TV Shows