Dana Carvey

Dana Carvey Photo

DANA CARVEY

Date of Birth: June 2, 1955

Born in Missoula, Montana, Carvey grew up in San Carlos, California. While attending San Francisco State University he won the San Francisco Stand-Up Comedy Competition. After graduating with a degree in communication arts, he played numerous Bay area clubs before moving to Los Angeles in 1981.

After settling in L.A., he started getting work in film and television. After landing the role of WWAR Assistant in Halloween II (1981) he worked in a couple of television shows, One of the Boys and Blue Thunder as a series regular.

Following two more jobs playing small roles in film, he was hired to work in the coveted Saturday Night Live comedy skit show. During his eight years at SNL he was able to display his talents for celebrity impersonations including George Bush, Jimmy Carter, Ross Perot, and Walter Mondale, and an array of characters such as the prudish Church Lady and bashful Garth Algar from the Wayne's World sketches.

Nearing the end of his SNL run, he and pal Mike Myers decided to take the Wayne's World sketch and make it into a feature film. Though the transformation of SNL skits into films didn't have a great track record, Wayne's World (1992) became a hit in theatres and even garnered a sequel which came out a year later.

Leaving SNL in 1993, Carvey moved around from one film project to another until 1996 when he was granted the chance to make his own television show which he called, The Dana Carvey Show. Not unlike the SNL series, Dana's show had himself along with a group of other actors performing in various skits. Due to the poor ratings however, the series only lasted a year before being axed by television executives.

For the next few years, Dana returned to the show that made him famous - SNL - though he didn't work on the televised series. Instead he focused his time on specials and videos. In 2000 he made a brief return to film playing the Referee in Adam Sandler's Little Nicky. Two years later, he released The Master of Disguise (2002) a film he not only starred in as Pistachio Disguisey, but wrote the screenplay.

The talented actor's more recent films include the Adam Sandler comedy Jack and Jill (2011), and providing voices for the animated features Hotel Transylvania 2 (2015), The Secret Life of Pets (2016) and The Secret Life of Pets 2 (2019).

Married twice, Dana currently lives with Paula (wife number two) and their two sons.

Filmography:

The Secret Life of Pets (2016)
Hotel Transylvania 2 (2015)
Jack and Jill (2011)
Tusker (2003)
The Master of Disguise (2002)
Adam Sandler Goes to Hell (2001) (V) Little Nicky (2000)
Saturday Night Live Christmas (1999) (V)
Saturday Night Live: Game Show Parodies (1998) (V)
Saturday Night Live: The Best of Mike Myers (1998) (V)
The Shot (1996)
Trapped in Paradise (1994)
The Road to Wellville (1994)
Clean Slate (1994)
Wayne's World 2 (1993)
Wayne's World (1992)
Opportunity Knocks (1990)
Cranium Command (1989)
Moving (1988)
Saturday Night Live - Robin Williams (1986) (V)
Tough Guys (1986)
Racing with the Moon (1984)
This Is Spinal Tap (1984)
Halloween II (1981)