Actor, born in Ottawa, Canada. He studied at Carleton University, Ottawa, joined the Second City Comedy improvisation group in Toronto, made a name for himself as a stand-up comedian, then joined the cast of the anarchic television show Saturday Night Live (19759). He wrote the screenplay for and starred in The Blues Brothers (1980), appeared in Ghostbusters (1984), and earned a Best Supporting Actor Oscar nomination for his first dramatic role in Driving Miss Daisy (1989). Later films include Exit to Eden (1994), Feeling Minnesota (1996), Grosse Pointe Blank (1997), Antz (voice, 1999), and Christmas with the Kranks (2004). His albums include Briefcase Full of Blues, Made in America, The Blues Brothers, and Best of the Blues Brothers.
| Dan Aykroyd | |
|---|---|
| Born |
July 1, 1952 Ottawa, Ontario, Canada |
Daniel Edward Aykroyd CM (born July 1, 1952 in Ottawa, Canada) is an Academy Award-nominated Canadian comedian, actor, screenwriter, and musician.
Biography
Early life
Aykroyd was born on Dominion Day 1952 at the Ottawa General Hospital.
Aykroyd was born with syndactyly (webbed toes) and heterochromia (the condition of having two differently-colored eyes). The interviewer indicated that she couldn't tell if Aykroyd was kidding.)
Aykroyd attended Roman Catholic high schools at Ottawa, St Pius X and St. Patrick's, where he was briefly expelled from the latter.
Saturday Night Live
Aykroyd gained fame on the American late-night comedy show Saturday Night Live, where he was a writer and cast member for its first four seasons, from 1975 to 1979. (Eric Idle, of Monty Python, once said that Aykroyd's ability to write and act out characters flawlessly made him the only member of the SNL cast capable of having been a Python.)
He was known for his impersonations of celebrities like Jimmy Carter (where the President talked someone down from a bad acid trip by telling them to listen to some Allman Brothers), Richard Nixon, Julia Child (in an oft-replayed sketch where she cannot stop bleeding after cutting herself while cooking), Tom Snyder, and others.
Aykroyd's talent was recognized by others in the highly competitive SNL environment: when he first presented his famous "Super Bass-O-Matic '76" sketch, a fake commercial in which a garish, hyper pitchman (modeled after Ron Popeil) touts a food blender that turns an entire bass into liquid pulp, "to [other writers and cast members] the 'Bass-O-Matic' was so exhilaratingly strange that many remember sitting and listening, open-mouthed ... 143]
While Aykroyd was a close friend and partner with fellow cast member John Belushi and shared some of the same sensibilities, Aykroyd was more reserved and less self-destructive.
In later decades, Aykroyd made occasional guest appearances and unannounced cameos on Saturday Night Live, often impersonating the humorous but slightly bitter American politician Bob Dole.
The Blues Brothers
Aykroyd was good friends with John Belushi, who recruited him for Saturday Night Live. According to Aykroyd, it was his first meeting with Belushi that helped spark their popular Blues Brothers act. When they met in a speakeasy Aykroyd frequented, Aykroyd put on a blues record to play in the background, and it stimulated a fascination with Blues in Belushi, who was primarily a fan of heavy metal. Aykroyd educated John on the finer points of blues music and, with a little encouragement from then-SNL music director Paul Shaffer, it led to the creation of their Blues Brothers characters.
Aykroyd and Belushi were scheduled to present the first ever Visual Effects Award, but Belushi died only a few weeks prior to the ceremony. In the biography "Belushi", Aykroyd claims that John Belushi was the only man he could ever dance with.
In 1992, Aykroyd, along with many other notable music and Hollywood personalities, founded the House of Blues.
Film career
After leaving Saturday Night Live, Aykroyd starred in a number of mainly comedy films, with uneven results both commercially and artistically. When starting out in the film industry Aykroyd would star with his old friend Belushi in three films, the above-mentioned The Blues Brothers as well as Neighbors and 1941.
Aykroyd originally wrote the role of Dr. Peter Venkman in Ghostbusters (1984) with John Belushi in mind, but rewrote the part for another famous SNL player, Bill Murray, after Belushi died.
Aykroyd's acting career reached its peak when he received an Academy Award nomination as Best Supporting Actor for 1989's Driving Miss Daisy'.
His directorial debut was 1991's Nothing But Trouble.
In the 2000s, Aykroyd's film appearances have tended to be small character parts in big-budget productions, such as a signals analyst in Pearl Harbor and a neurologist in 50 First Dates.
Family and honors
For a time, Aykroyd was engaged to Star Wars actress Carrie Fisher (who hosted the Saturday Night Live episode in which Aykroyd and Belushi gave their first polished performance as the Blues Brothers, and had a cameo role in the Blues Brothers film).
Aykroyd married actress Donna Dixon in 1983.
Soul Man
In 1997, Aykroyd starred in a short-lived sitcom on ABC called Soul Man, a spinoff of the popular sitcom Home Improvement.
Wine Maker
As of 2006 Dan Aykroyd has entered a partnership with a Niagara region winery called Lakeview.
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