Steve Carell is an American actor, comedian, writer, and director. He is best known for his roles in The Office, The 40-Year-Old Virgin, and Despicable Me. He has also appeared in a number of other films and television shows.
Carell was born in Concord, Massachusetts, on August 16, 1963. He attended Middlesex School and then Hamilton College, where he studied English and sociology. He later worked as a mail carrier, a bank teller, and a janitor before finding success as a comedian.
Carell began his career in improv comedy and stand-up. He later transitioned to television and film. He has appeared in a number of films, including Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy, The 40-Year-Old Virgin, Little Miss Sunshine, Evan Almighty, and Despicable Me. He has also starred in the TV series The Office, for which he won a Golden Globe Award.
In addition to his work as an actor, Carell has also written, produced, and directed a number of films and television shows. He made his directorial debut with the film Welcome to Marwen. He has also written and produced the films The 40-Year-Old Virgin, Little Miss Sunshine, and Despicable Me.
Table of Contents:
1. Early Life
2. Career
3. Filmography
4. Television
5. Awards and Nominations
6. Personal Life
7. Philanthropy
8. Steve Carell Quotes
1. Early Life
Steve Carell was born in Concord, Massachusetts, on August 16, 1963. He is the youngest of four children. His father, Edwin, was a physician, and his mother, Harriet, was a psychiatric nurse.
Carell was raised in a Protestant household. He attended Middlesex School, a private preparatory school in Concord. He then attended Hamilton College, where he studied English and sociology.
After graduating from college, Carell worked a variety of jobs, including a mail carrier, a bank teller, and a janitor. He also did stand-up comedy in Boston and New York.
2. Career
Carell began his career in improv comedy. He was a member of the improv group Second City in Chicago. He then moved to New York, where he co-founded the improv group The Upright Citizens Brigade.
Carell made his television debut in 1995 on the sketch comedy show The Dana Carvey Show. He then appeared on a variety of other shows, including Saturday Night Live, The Daily Show, and The Colbert Report.
Carell’s breakout role came in 2005 when he was cast as Michael Scott in the American version of The Office. The show was a huge success, and Carell won a Golden Globe Award for his performance.
Carell has also appeared in a number of films. His most notable roles include The 40-Year-Old Virgin, Little Miss Sunshine, Evan Almighty, and Despicable Me.
In addition to his work as an actor, Carell has also written, produced, and directed a number of films and television shows. He made his directorial debut with the film Welcome to Marwen. He has also written and produced the films The 40-Year-Old Virgin, Little Miss Sunshine, and Despicable Me.
3. Filmography
Carell has appeared in a number of films, including:
- The 40-Year-Old Virgin (2005)
- Little Miss Sunshine (2006)
- Evan Almighty (2007)
- Despicable Me (2010)
- The Way, Way Back (2013)
- Foxcatcher (2014)
- The Big Short (2015)
4. Television
Carell has also appeared in a number of television shows, including:
- The Office (2005-2013)
- The Dana Carvey Show (1995)
- Saturday Night Live (1996-2002)
- The Daily Show (1999-2005)
- The Colbert Report (2005-2014)
5. Awards and Nominations
Carell has won a number of awards for his work in television and film.
His most notable awards include:
- Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Television Series Musical or Comedy (The Office, 2006)
- Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Comedy Series (The Office, 2006)
- Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Motion Picture Musical or Comedy (The 40-Year-Old Virgin, 2006)
6. Personal Life
Carell is married to actress and writer Nancy Carell. They have two children together.
7. Philanthropy
Carell is a supporter of a number of charities, including the Make-A-Wish Foundation, the American Red Cross, and the Humane Society.
Steve Carell Quotes
“I’ve thought a lot about success because it’s very strange to me that I’ve been successful.” — Steve Carell
“Some people just derive great joy from making other people laugh. And I do, but I don’t feel like I need to do it 24 hours a day.” — Steve Carell
“I am always the type of person who is waiting for the other shoe to drop and for it to peter out and end. And if it does that’s fine.” — Steve Carell
“Different things just strike people differently. And it’s so subjective, too. Because what makes one person laugh won’t make others laugh. I guess it’s kind of checkerboarded.” — Steve Carell
“Wikipedia is the best thing ever. Anyone in the world can write anything they want about any subject. So you know you are getting the best possible information.” — Steve Carell
“When you approach it, and I hate sounding like the pretentious actor, but yeah, I think you have to find things within the character that are likable, or at least human, and not to go at it with any sort of predetermined notions as to what that character is.” — Steve Carell
“In my wildest dreams i never thought- well, I never thought I’d work.” — Steve Carell
“For me, at least, all of my career goals, all of my focus, everything just shifted and the importance was my children, and that’s where all the joy came from as well.” — Steve Carell
“Maybe the coolest people are the ones who don’t care about being cool.” — Steve Carell
“As soon as you start to talk about your own mannerisms, you are screwed. Because if you are aware of your own mannerisms, or beyond that even what makes any one thing funny to people, I really ascribe to that that if you start deconstructing it too much, it is immediately not funny.” — Steve Carell
“Relationships shouldn’t be disposable. If there’s something worth saving – not always the case, some relationships are irreconcilable – but if there is something that you determine is worth saving, then try to do that.” — Steve Carell
“It’s harder when people are playing along, because it’s just not as funny. They’re trying to be funny, and it sort of cancels out the whole joke.” — Steve Carell
“That’s an interesting way to put it: an expectation of who you should be. More often than not, it’s described as an expectation of who you are.” — Steve Carell
“What kind of person would have a real craving for gummy worms?” — Steve Carell
“I’ve waited my entire life to be busy. Whenever I hear actors complain about being busy, I think, ‘shut up.’ Because you do, you wait to be successful or to be able to work.” — Steve Carell
“I don’t do anything to try to change people’s perceptions of me. I tend to think that’s sort of an ego-driven thing.” — Steve Carell
“I wasn’t a class clown, I never developed this comedic flair as a kid. Even when I decided to become an actor, it was just to be an actor, not necessarily a comedic actor. I wasn’t that guy who struck out with women so he became really funny, and that’s when the women started to like him.” — Steve Carell
“As a parent, all you want is for your kids to be safe but you don’t want to be over-protective and so you know that at some stage, they’re going to make their own mistakes and get hurt emotionally when all you want to do is protect them from that.” — Steve Carell
“There’s plenty of room for all sorts of movies and all sorts of comedies, so I never saw that as a competitive thing. I think there’s room in the marketplace for everything.” — Steve Carell
“I think there’s a little bit of idiot in everybody and I think some people cover it better than others but I think I am very much a guy who wears his heart on his sleeve.” — Steve Carell
“I’m not good with pickup lines or flirting. I don’t have that kind of self-confidence or natural charisma.” — Steve Carell
“High school – those are your prime suffering years. They don’t get better suffering than that.” — Steve Carell
“My maternal grandma was a tough, tough lady and a stern woman, who lost her husband young and raised six kids by herself. She lived in a mining community in Upstate New York and ran a boarding house for miners. She took care of an entire family and miners who lived in the house as well.” — Steve Carell
“In an enclosed space, a camel’s breath can change the atmosphere of the room. Not only just the smell, they literally seem to change the atmospheric pressure. It’s so disgusting. It’s like they have eight stomachs each more rancid than the next and it just comes out of their mouth.” — Steve Carell
“I’m not superstitious, but I’m a little stitious.” — Steve Carell
“People just like to be on camera. There’s a huge desire to be in front of the camera, and once there, people will say and do almost anything. It’s sort of a drug, and I think people get addicted to it.” — Steve Carell
“I play the baritone horn – which is like a mini tuba, and is the least sexy instrument you can choose, and I generally say I don’t play one so I don’t have to acknowledge it. I also play fife.” — Steve Carell
“We are all facing the end one day or another. I say, live a good and prosperous life, make sure your choices count, make them count.” — Steve Carell
“Reading a book, watching a movie, going to a play, it’s transporting, and very, very exciting. And to be a part of that, creating things with your imagination, whoa.” — Steve Carell
“We always spend the summer together. My wife and kids, we always go back to Massachusetts and spend the summer there near where my wife and I both grew up. I wasn’t willing to sacrifice the summer to go elsewhere.” — Steve Carell
“I am happily married, and I think I was lucky that success came a little later in my life. It’s difficult to handle all the attention when you are a young gun.” — Steve Carell
“You’re doing your kids a disservice if they do get everything they want because that’s not the way life’s going to go, and I think kids have to have some reality.” — Steve Carell
“Is it true that if you don’t USE it you LOSE it?” — Steve Carell
“If I’d had a great level of success early on, who knows how I would have responded. I might have been a complete jerk.” — Steve Carell
“You know, what’s funny to one person is not at all to someone else.” — Steve Carell
“Sending a handwritten letter is becoming such an anomaly. It’s disappearing. My mom is the only one who still writes me letters. And there’s something visceral about opening a letter – I see her on the page. I see her in her handwriting.” — Steve Carell
“People say, ‘What’s the secret to a marriage?’ There’s no secret – I think you get lucky.” — Steve Carell
“I’m listening to a lot of Katy Perry, Taylor Swift, and Rihanna. A lot of pop female artists. I have to say I’m pretty well-versed in the pop female category.” — Steve Carell
“I find things funny that aren’t self-aware. That don’t know they’re funny, and I think the same can hold true for drama. If you think you’re in this tragedy and you play it for tragedy, there’s a self-awareness there that I think takes you out of watching it and I believe it cuts both ways.” — Steve Carell
“Taste in comedy, like fashion, changes all the time.” — Steve Carell
“I can get lazy. I don’t think I’m a very driven person. When I have work, I work very hard. But when I don’t work, I really don’t do anything. I could easily just fade away.” — Steve Carell
“Instead of telling our young people to plan ahead, we should tell them to plan to be surprised.” — Steve Carell
“I’m a fun dad, but I don’t know if I’m the fun, crazy dad.” — Steve Carell
“Like most people, I have painful memories of trying to fit in as a child. I wore, said, and did pretty much what everyone else did.” — Steve Carell
“Divorce is fairly common these days, and I think many times people disregard the emotional impact that divorce has on a couple and a family because it happens so frequently.” — Steve Carell
“You’re so in love with your children that you’d do anything for them; that’s not necessarily the best thing.” — Steve Carell
“I had, like, two goals in my career: One was to try to get into ‘Second City.’ When I moved to Chicago, my goal was to try to work at ‘Second City.’ And beyond that, my goal was to make enough money as an actor to not do anything else but act, not have to go and wait tables again.” — Steve Carell
“Your brain, like your tongue, is a muscle. Practicing thinking by yourself really helps develop your brain, which you need throughout your day. I like to practice my thinking in a darkened room, alone.” — Steve Carell
“I think ultimately when you believe somebody is going through a situation and it’s either awkward or ridiculous, but you believe it, that can be funny.” — Steve Carell
“Steve Buscemi is hilarious. He’s really, really good with improv.” — Steve Carell
Source: Wikipedia IMDb RottenTomatoes Twitter Britannica Instagram TVInsider TheGuardian USMagazine Emmys