Benjamin Edward Meara Stiller (born November 30, 1965) is an American actor, comedian, and filmmaker. Known for his blend of slapstick humor and sharp wit, Stiller rose to fame in the late 1990s with a group of comedic actors colloquially known as the Frat Pack. His films have grossed more than $2.6 billion in Canada and the United States. His accolades include an Emmy Award, a Directors Guild of America Award, a Britannia Award and a Teen Choice Award. Stiller is the son of the comedians and actors Jerry Stiller and Anne Meara. He began his career writing mockumentaries and was offered a variety sketch series, The Ben Stiller Show, which he produced and hosted for its 13-episode run. The series ran on MTV in 1990, and on Fox in 1992 and 1993, earning him a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Writing for a Variety Series. Stiller gained stardom with leading roles in several successful comedy films, including There's Something About Mary (1998), Zoolander (2001), Along Came Polly (2004), Dodgeball: A True Underdog Story (2004), Starsky & Hutch (2004), Tropic Thunder (2008), and Tower Heist (2011). He also led franchises such as the Meet the Parents films (2000–present), the Madagascar franchise (2005–2012), and the Night at the Museum films (2006–2014). His dramatic films include Flirting with Disaster (1996), The Royal Tenenbaums (2001), and the Noah Baumbach films Greenberg (2010), While We're Young (2014), and The Meyerowitz Stories (2017). As a director, Stiller made his feature debut with Reality Bites (1994) and has since directed and starred in the films The Cable Guy (1996), Tropic Thunder, The Secret Life of Walter Mitty (2013), and Zoolander 2 (2016). Since the mid-2010s, Stiller has primarily worked as a television director and showrunner. In 2018, he directed the Showtime limited series Escape at Dannemora, earning a Directors Guild of America Award and two Primetime Emmy Award nominations for Outstanding Limited Series and Outstanding Directing for a Limited Series. Since 2022, he has directed and executive produced the Apple TV series Severance, earning four Primetime Emmy Award nominations.