Ben Stiller was the second of two children born to the veteran comedy team of Jerry Stiller and Ann Meara on November 30, 1965. His father, Jerry, is best known as the ever-kvetching father of George Costanza on "Seinfeld."

Show business has always been a part of Ben's life and in 1990 the entire family, including sister Amy, appeared together in the comedy/horror "Highway to Hell."

In 1988, Stiller made his acting debut in Steven Spielberg's "Empire of the Sun." That same year he directed a comedic short film "Elvis Stories" with John Cusack making an appearance, and the boisterously entertaining video "Elvis is Everywhere."

He then did a parody of Tom Cruise's "The Color of Money" titled "The Hustler of Money" which led to a stint on "Saturday Night Live" as a feature player and writer, along with a few more movie roles. He was then noticed by executives at MTV, who gave him his own, although short lived, "Ben Stiller Show" in 1990. In 1992 the "Ben Stiller Show" was picked up on Fox TV as a follow up to "In Living Color." Unfortunately it was canceled after only one season, but Stiller was somewhat vindicated when he won an Emmy, in 1993, for a satirical script that had become the show's most identifying characteristic during it's short run.

Determined to succeed, Stiller moved to Hollywood and quickly made his mark. He directed and starred in 1994's "Reality Bites," a requiem for the college graduates of the '90's. He then directed Jim Carrey and Matthew Broderick in "The Cable Guy," and while the movie didn't produce at the box office it did win Stiller critical kudos as well as banked him a reported $2.5 million for his efforts. Later that year he hit the jack pot infront of the camera starring opposite Cameron Diaz in the sleeper sensation of the year. He played the long-suffering former prom date protagonist in "There's Something About Mary."

Although Fox and Stiller's past had it's ups and downs, he signed an exclusive production deal with the network in 1997. Stiller will produce and possibly direct at least two films to be released by the studio's Fox 2000 division. While the projects may remain uncertain for a while, Stiller is having little trouble in finding work as an actor in Hollywood.

With the success of "There's Something About Mary," Ben was cast in "Your Friends and Neighbors," "Permanent Midnight," and "Mystery Men." He then starred in "The Suburbans, a comedy that chronicles the travails of a one time teen band of rockers who reunite for an comeback tour.

Watch for him in the upcoming "McClintock's Peach" co-starring Jenny Garofalo, Margaret Cho and Mike Myers.

Although Stiller had never married he had an on-again-off-again relationship with actress Jeanne Tripplehorn (Waterworld) for a number of years, he recently announced his engagement to actress Christine Taylor (Wedding Singer).