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Mike Myers
The man who would eventually be responsible for the creation of Wayne Campbell and Austin Powers was born and raised in Scarborough, Ontario. Mike Myers, the third son of British immigrants Eric and Bunny Myers, was born on May 25, 1963. As children, Mike and his two brothers enjoyed comedy very much, thanks in large part to their father. Although Eric Myers wasn't a comedian (he was an encyclopedia salesman), he was a very funny man nonetheless, and taught his children to love comedy.

Mike often got into mischief as a child. He also got into acting, at a very early age. He started appearing in commercials at the age of 8, and continued to appear in them throughout his childhood years. When he was 11, Mike appeared in a commercial with Gilda Radner, one of the original Saturday Night Live cast members (this was shortly before the show hit the air). Mike became immensely attached to Gilda in the short time they worked together, and actually cried when the shoot was over.

Other than doing commercials, Mike had a pretty normal childhood. After graduating from high school in 1982, he was set to start college at York University in Toronto. However, he changed his mind soon after graduating. He decided that he wanted to pursue his one passion--comedy. Mike applied for a spot in the Second City Comedy Troupe, an improv-based comedy outfit in Toronto. Mike got in, and would spend a great part of the next seven years practicing and improving his comedic routine in the group's Toronto and Chicago locations. During that time, Mike and comedy partner Neil Mullarkey starred in their own Canadian television comedy series. The show ran from 1983 to 1986.

After being offered a spot on Saturday Night Live, Mike left the Comedy Troupe for the greener pastures at NBC. Like many of the other big stars to come from Saturday Night Live, Mike started primarily as a writer for the show. Over his six-year run on SNL, Mike became immensely popular, especially through the characters Wayne Campbell and Linda Richman. In 1992, Mike and SNL co-star Dana Carvey brought Wayne and Garth to the big screen in "Wayne's World". The film was highly successful, taking the popularity of its two stars to the next level after grossing $121.7 million at the box office. Shortly afterwards, Wayne and Garth returned to the big screen in "Wayne's World 2". The film opened only 16 months after the original film had exited theaters, and proved to be a big disappointment, taking in only $47.1 million. The film was the second straight dud for Myers, after his "So, I Married an Ax Murder" was only able to gross $11.6 million earlier that summer.

Needing some time off, Mike decided to leave Saturday Night Live in 1994. He spent a good portion of his time just taking it easy with his newlywed wife, screenwriter Robin Ruzan. The two finally married in 1993, after being romantically involved since 1987. The two met at a hockey game after Robin was hit by a stray puck.

With a little urging from Robin, Mike decided to write a script for Austin Powers, a character he had recently created while performing at Los Angeles clubs with Ming Tea (a '60s-style band he helped form). In May 1997, "Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery" was released. The film helped resurrect Mike's career by taking in $53.8 million at the box office. In the James Bond spoof, Mike did double duty as both Austin Powers and his nemesis, Dr. Evil. The film's popularity skyrocketed after being released on video, and has since established a much larger fan base.

After the success of Austin Powers, Mike decided to venture away from comedy by playing Steve Rubell in "54", a film based on the famous Studio 54 nightclub. Mike received good reviews for his performance as the club owner, but the film bombed at the box office during August 1998. Once again, Mike bounced right back, with the release of "Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me" in 1999. In the film, Mike returned as both Austin Powers and Dr. Evil, in addition to playing a third character by the name of Fat Bastard. Although it opened only three weeks after "The Phantom Menace", "The Spy Who Shagged Me" had no trouble knocking that film into second-place during its opening weekend, grossing $57.4 million. The film out-grossed the original film after only three days, and broke the record for the largest opening weekend ever by a comedy. The film has gone on to gross $202 million to date.

Thanks to the incredible success of the Austin Powers series, Mike is now a $20 million-per-picture actor. He recently signed a $20 million deal with Universal to bring "Sprockets" to the big screen. This film is based on Dieter, another of Mike's famous SNL characters. Meanwhile, Mike is appearing in a few smaller roles, including the hockey comedy "Mystery, Alaska", which opened on October 1.

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