Ben Stiller facts for kids

Ben Stiller
Stiller filming Tower Heist, 2010
Born	Benjamin Edward Stiller November 30, 1965 (1965-11-30) New York City, United States
Occupation	Actor, comedian, director producer, screenwriter
Years active	1987–present
Spouse(s)	Christine Taylor (m. 2000)
Children	2
Parent(s)	Jerry Stiller Anne Meara (deceased)
Family	Amy Stiller (sister)

Ben Stiller (born November 30, 1965) is an American actor, comedian, voice actor, screenwriter, movie director, and producer. He is best known for his roles in There's Something About Mary, Zoolander (2001), Meet the Parents (2001) (and its 2004 sequel Meet the Fockers). Stiller has also starred in Flirting with Disaster (1996), Duplex (2003) and Dodgeball: A True Underdog Story (2004) among others. One of the first movies he starred in was Steven Spielberg's Empire of the Sun (1987) Tropic Thunder (2008).

He directed Reality Bites (1994) and The Cable Guy (1996).

Early life

Stiller was born in New York City in 1965. His father, Jerry Stiller, is from a Jewish family that immigrated from Poland and Galicia, in Eastern Europe. His mother, Anne Meara, who was of Irish Catholic background, converted to Reform Judaism after marrying his father. She died in 2015. The family celebrated both Hanukkah and Christmas, and Stiller had a Bar Mitzvah. He has said that he is "half Jewish and half Irish Catholic." Stiller's parents frequently took him on the sets of their appearances, including The Mike Douglas Show when he was six. He stated in an interview that he considered his childhood unusual: "In some ways, it was a show-business upbringing—a lot of traveling, a lot of late nights—not what you'd call traditional."

Health

In October 2016, Stiller revealed that he had been diagnosed with prostate cancer in June 2014. Following surgery, he received a cancer-free status in September 2014.

Images for kids

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  Stiller signing autographs before a screening for Tropic Thunder at Camp Pendleton on August 3, 2008.

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  Stiller in December 2008