Will Forte facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Will Forte
Forte at the 2023 WonderCon
Born	Orville Willis Forte IV (1970-06-17) June 17, 1970 (age 54) Alameda, California, U.S.
Education	University of California, Los Angeles (BA)
Occupation	Actor comedian writer
Years active	1997–present
Spouse(s)	Olivia Modling ​ (m. 2021)​
Children	1

Orville Willis Forte IV (/ˈfɔːrteɪ/ FOR-tay; born June 17, 1970) is an American actor and comedian. He was a cast member on the NBC sketch comedy series Saturday Night Live for eight seasons from 2002 to 2010. During his time on the show, he played a recurring character that led to a feature film adaptation, MacGruber (2010), and a streaming television limited series in 2021. Forte also created and starred in the sitcom The Last Man on Earth (2015–2018). For the series, he received three Primetime Emmy Award nominations: two for acting and one for writing.

After obtaining a history degree from the University of California, Los Angeles and becoming a financial broker like his father, Forte changed his career path to comedy and took classes with the improv group The Groundlings. He worked as a writer and producer on 3rd Rock from the Sun and That '70s Show, before joining Saturday Night Live. Forte played various roles in comedy films, before starring in the drama film Nebraska (2013). He has provided voice-work for the Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs films (2009–2013), My Life as a Courgette, Get Squirrely (2016), Luis & the Aliens (2018), The Willoughbys and Scoob! (2020), also voicing Eddy in Disney XD's Lab Rats, and Abraham Lincoln in Clone High (2002–2003, 2023–2024), The Lego Movie films (2014–2019), Michelangelo and Lincoln: History Cops (2014), America: The Motion Picture (2021), Scott Pilgrim Takes Off (2023) and Sausage Party: Foodtopia (2024–present).

Early life

Orville Willis Forte IV was born in Alameda, California, on June 17, 1970, the son of artist and former schoolteacher Patricia C. (née Stivers) and financial broker Orville Willis "Reb" Forte III. He was raised in Moraga before moving to Lafayette at age 13. He went by "Billy" in his early years until he was teased at school for it also being a girl's name, at which point he decided he would from then on be known as "Will". Forte describes himself as having been a "really happy little boy" whose parents were "wonderful" and created a "very loving environment". He was interested in comedy from a young age, growing up idolizing comedians Peter Sellers, David Letterman, and Steve Martin, as well as the sketch-comedy television series Saturday Night Live. He often pulled pranks on his parents, and would record himself performing imaginary radio shows. He did not aim to be a comedian, however, and initially wanted to become a football player.

Forte was "a laid-back teen with a lot of friends" and a member of the varsity football and swim teams at Acalanes High School, from which he graduated in 1988. He was voted "Best Personality" by his graduating class and served as freshman class president. He had no ambitions for a television or film career, though his mother noticed a "creative streak" in him. Following high school, he attended the University of California, Los Angeles, where he was a member of the Lambda Chi Alpha fraternity and completed a degree in history. Planning to follow his father, he became a financial broker at Smith Barney Shearson in Beverly Hills, but felt "miserable" there. He co-wrote a feature-length script while there, and later said that he discovered he loved writing "more than anything [he] had ever done in [his] life". He had been encouraged to attempt comedy during his years at university, and he decided to change his career path to do so.

Career

Forte at the 2011 Tribeca Festival

Forte began taking classes at the Groundlings in Los Angeles, an improvisational and sketch comedy troupe and school, while tutoring children to make ends meet. His first successful foray into comedy was 101 Things to Definitely Not Do If You Want to Get a Chick, a comic book he produced about incompetent men. The comics landed him his first professional job writing for The Jenny McCarthy Show, a short-lived variety show starring Jenny McCarthy. Shortly thereafter, he was asked to submit a packet to the Late Show with David Letterman and was told Letterman responded favorably to animation. After only nine months at Letterman, he was "let go" from the job. He recalled his stint on the program as unpleasant, noting that he did not have enough experience in writing. "What an honor to work at that show but I don't think I was fully mentally prepared. [...] I always wonder what it would be like if I'd had a couple more years of experience before going there."

Forte left New York and returned to Los Angeles, where he began performing with the Groundlings' Main Company, with Cheryl Hines, Jim Rash and Maya Rudolph. He tried stand-up comedy three times, mostly at open mic nights, but quit after being voted into the Main Company. He joined the writing teams of two failed sitcoms, including The Army Show and Action. Forte got jobs writing for 3rd Rock from the Sun and That '70s Show. He loved writing and had mostly given up on acting, aside from acting with the Groundlings. While performing with the troupe in 2001, he was spotted by Lorne Michaels, the creator of Saturday Night Live (SNL). Forte felt his confidence was higher than usual, as That '70s Show had been picked up for two more years. He was invited to audition for SNL, which he regarded as unexpected.

At his audition for SNL, he performed multiple original characters, including Tim Calhoun, a speed reader, a prison guard, in addition to impressions of singer Michael McDonald and actor Martin Sheen. To his surprise, he was offered a chance to be on the show, but declined, opting instead for the financial stability of his work at That '70s Show. He felt working for SNL could not live up to the idealized version he had dreamed of, but he later realized he would be making a mistake.

After Will Ferrell left Saturday Night Live the following spring, Forte joined the cast, premiering at the beginning of the show's twenty-eighth season in the autumn. He was promoted to repertory player after his first year. His early years on the program were characterized by stage fright and an inability to properly interpret sketches that he did not write himself. He had to "re-learn" how to perform after years as a writer, and later felt his natural tendency to "overthink" things improved his performance. He was particularly uncomfortable portraying President George W. Bush, as he felt he was not the best impressionist and it paled in comparison to Ferrell's impersonation of Bush. His only role was often Bush, leaving him no chance for more "absurd" pieces he favored. He was nearly fired from the program following his third season (2004–05), but after two three-week extensions to decide his fate, he was brought back. Forte estimated it took five seasons for him to feel fully comfortable performing on the show. He made his film debut in Around the World in 80 Days.

His humor at SNL has been described as bizarre, and he became known for many "10-to-1" sketches—pieces that were considered odd, placed at the very end of the show. He was also well known for his characters Tim Calhoun, Greg Stink, and the Falconer. Forte's favorite sketch on the show was one in which he played a motivational coach alongside football star Peyton Manning. He also co-starred with Andy Samberg in the first SNL Digital Short, "Lettuce". He often spent long hours crafting his sketches for the program, missing deadlines, but his pieces were often greeted warmly at table reads. During his time at the show, he co-starred in and wrote the 2007 film The Brothers Solomon. The film was originally a pilot for Carsey-Werner, and its creation was an extension of his agreement to terminate his contract to appear on SNL.

Forte's best-known character on SNL was MacGruber, a special operations agent who is tasked in each episode with deactivating a ticking bomb but becomes distracted by personal issues. The sketches were based on the television series MacGyver. It was created by writer Jorma Taccone, who pitched the idea relentlessly to Forte. He was initially reluctant to commit to the sketch, deeming it too dumb, but accepted after persuasion from Taccone. The first sketch aired in January 2007, and led to multiple more segments in the following years. In 2009, the sketches were spun off into a series of commercials sponsored by Pepsi premiering during Super Bowl XLIII that featured the actor behind MacGyver, Richard Dean Anderson, as MacGruber's father. The advertisements led the character and sketches to receive a wider level of popularity. Following the success of the advertisements, creator Lorne Michaels approached Forte, Taccone, and writer John Solomon with the idea to produce a MacGruber film.

Regarding his experiences on SNL, Forte remarked, "Looking back, the experience is something I'll never forget. I still miss it, and I'll always miss it. That's my family." His celebrity impressions included George W. Bush, Tom DeLay, John Edwards, Timothy Geithner, Newt Gingrich, Chad Lowe, Zell Miller, David Petraeus, Harry Reid, Brian Williams and Hu Jintao.

In the summer of 2009, MacGruber was shot on a tight schedule for four weeks in Albuquerque, New Mexico. It was written while simultaneously producing the weekly episode of SNL, and the show's production process left the trio deprived of sleep. Forte was positive regarding the film, saying,

What you see with this movie is exactly what we wanted to do. It's the three of us having a bunch of fun writing it, then having fun making it with a bunch of our friends—old friends and new friends. I think that fun comes across when you watch it. It's rare that you get that kind of creative freedom.

The film was released in May 2010 and received mixed reviews. It fared worse at the box office, where it failed to recoup its budget and was pulled from theaters after its third week. Forte found the failure tolerable, commenting, "When you make something that you're really proud of and it doesn't do well, you can live with it." The film has since seen more positive reception and has been dubbed a cult classic.

Forte alongside Phil Lord and Christopher Miller at WonderCon 2015

Forte left Saturday Night Live shortly before the beginning of the show's thirty-sixth season in 2010. He felt it the "right time to go", considering his eight-year tenure there, his expansion into film with MacGruber, and his age. In addition, his sister had just had children and he wanted to move to the West Coast to be closer to them. He soon regretted the decision, calling the following year an "emotionally trying period", as he felt "devastated" that he would no longer be on the program. He assumed his shot at a film career was ruined, and he imagined that if acting did not work out, he would return to writing primarily. Following this, he entered what he has called a "lost period" and had small supporting roles, such as Rock of Ages, That's My Boy and The Watch, all of which were not successful. The only commercial successful film he worked on was Grown Ups 2, where he made a cameo as a male cheerleader. He also took a role as Paul L'astnamé, the boyfriend of Jenna Maroney on the critically acclaimed sitcom 30 Rock.

Forte took his first dramatic role for the 2013 film Run & Jump. Director Steph Green offered him the part, and Forte imagined it a "fun thing to try", though he noted that she had more confidence in him than he had himself. Later, he sent an audition tape to Alexander Payne for a role in his next film, Nebraska. He equated his casting in the film to his fear of joining SNL a decade prior, noting that he was "terrified" to begin working on it. He felt scared initially, but followed Bruce Dern's acting advice to "look for the truth" in each scene—in other words, "In every scene, you're just trying to play it as honestly and as real as you can."

Forte began working on The Last Man on Earth, a sitcom, with longtime collaborators Phil Lord and Christopher Miller in 2013. Though it was the duo's idea, Forte attached himself to the concept, crafting a treatment over a weekend. The series was pitched around Hollywood to positive responses and was picked up in 2014 by Fox. Forte serves as the series' creator, a writer, the lead role, and showrunner for the first season. He felt odd being in charge of its writing team (composed of longtime friends), and awkward at delegating tasks, so much so that he would end up doing the work himself. Being a showrunner "truly was an amount of work I never knew existed," he said, which involved him working a "minimum of 12 hours" daily. The series premiered in 2015 to positive responses, and was renewed for the next three seasons.

In 2016, Forte played Hulka in the comedy Keanu, starring Jordan Peele and Keegan-Michael Key. In 2018, he played National Lampoon magazine co-founder Douglas Kenney in the Netflix biographical film A Futile and Stupid Gesture. The film was directed by David Wain and also features Domhnall Gleeson as co-founder Henry Beard. Forte voiced Shaggy Rogers in the Scooby-Doo film Scoob!.

In 2021, Forte starred in Sweet Tooth, reprised his role as MacGruber in a TV series on Peacock, and began voicing Wolf Tobin in the animated sitcom The Great North. In 2022, it was announced that Forte had a leading role for Disney and Pixar's first animated television series Win or Lose. It is set to premiere on Disney+ in 2025. He voiced an older version of the titular character in Scott Pilgrim Takes Off.

Other work

Forte is a supporter of the camp Wampler's Kids and recorded a promotional piece at SNL with Edgar Hernandez of City Heights, a neighborhood in San Diego, CA. Forte was a childhood friend of founder Steven Wampler and previously the national spokesman for SciEyes, a non-profit organization created to support research, training and public education in stem cell biology and to further the field by recognizing and supporting its potential for creating new therapies for the treatment of blinding and debilitating eye diseases. He was a primary donor towards the establishment of a research fellowship for third-year medical students at Duke Medical Center. He serves on the board of directors of the National Policy and Advocacy Council on Homelessness.

Personal life

Forte resides in Santa Monica, California. He purchased his home there just two weeks before joining the cast of Saturday Night Live, which required him to move to New York City, and later admitted that "it was not the greatest timing". He dated his Last Man on Earth co-star January Jones in 2015. In 2019, he became engaged to Olivia Modling, whom he met in 2018. They have a daughter, born in February 2021. He and Modling married on July 31, 2021.

Forte's mother has visited every film set on which he has worked and made an appearance on a Mother's Day episode of SNL, in which he sang a song to her on Weekend Update. He also officiated his sister Michelle's wedding, and filmed the birth of his niece and nephew.

Forte has discussed and joked about his OCD tendencies. He recounted listening to only one song in his office at SNL for an entire year because he wanted to challenge himself. During an interview with Larry King, he discussed his OCD as a challenge he had to overcome but not one he wished he did not have, as it is a part of his personality. In a February 2015 feature on him and his show The Last Man on Earth, the writer of the article said that Forte mentioned OCD often but it was not clear if he had ever been formally diagnosed, though Forte related how he and a former girlfriend had gone through an OCD questionnaire and it concluded that Forte "should immediately talk to someone about this".

Forte is an avid gamer. While filming A Good Old-Fashioned ..., he attained one of the world's highest scores on the arcade version of Donkey Kong.

Filmography

Film

Key

Denotes works that have not yet been released

Year	Title	Role	Notes
2004	Around the World in 80 Days	Young Bobby
2006	Beerfest	Otto
2007	The Brothers Solomon	Dean Solomon	Also writer
2008	Baby Mama	Scott
2009	The Slammin' Salmon	Horace the Lone Diner	Cameo
	Brief Interviews with Hideous Men	Subject #72
	Dry Cleaner	Stefan Gucci
	Fanboys	THX Security Guard #4
	Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs	Joe Towne (voice)
2010	MacGruber	MacGruber	Also writer
2011	A Good Old Fashioned ...	Glenn
2012	Tim and Eric's Billion Dollar Movie	Allen Bishopman
	Rock of Ages	Mitch Miley
	That's My Boy	Phil
	The Watch	Sergeant Bressman
2013	Grown Ups 2	Male Cheerleader	Uncredited cameo
	Run & Jump	Ted
	Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs 2	Chester V (voice)
	Life of Crime	Marshall Taylor
	Nebraska	David Grant
2014	The Lego Movie	Abraham Lincoln (voice)
	22 Jump Street	Football Announcer (voice)	Uncredited
	Michelangelo and Lincoln: History Cops	Abraham Lincoln (voice)	Short film
	She's Funny That Way	Joshua Fleet
2015	Don Verdean	Pastor Fontaine
	Staten Island Summer	Griffith
	The Ridiculous 6	Will Patch
	Get Squirrely	Cody (voice)
2016	Keanu	Hulka
	Popstar: Never Stop Never Stopping	Bagpipe Player	Cameo
2017	My Life as a Courgette	Mr. Paul (voice)	English dub
2018	A Futile and Stupid Gesture	Doug Kenney
	Luis and the Aliens	Nag (voice)	English dub
2019	The Lego Movie 2: The Second Part	Abraham Lincoln (voice)
	Extra Ordinary	Christian Winter
	Booksmart	Doug Antsler
	Good Boys	Andrew Newman (Max's Dad)
	The Laundromat	Doomed Gringo #1
2020	The Willoughbys	Tim Willoughby (voice)
	Scoob!	Shaggy Rogers (voice)
	... Bus	Fred	Uncredited
2021	America: The Motion Picture	Abraham Lincoln (voice)
2022	Studio 666	Restaurant Delivery Guy (Darren Sandelbaum)
	Weird: The Al Yankovic Story	Ben Scotti
2023	Ruby Gillman, Teenage Kraken	Captain Gordon Lighthouse (voice)
	Strays	Doug
2024	Thelma the Unicorn	Otis (voice)
2025	Kinda Pregnant		Post-production
N/A	Coyote vs. Acme	Wile E. Coyote's lawyer	Unreleased

Television

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1997	Late Show with David Letterman	(uncredited)	Episode: "Robert Pastorelli/Craig Kilborn/Live"; also writer
2002–2010	Saturday Night Live	Various roles	157 episodes
2002–2024	Clone High	Abe Lincoln (voice)	19 episodes
2006	Campus Ladies	Stuart	2 episodes
	Drawn Together	Kirk Cameron (voice)	Episode: "Lost in Parking Space: Part One"
	Aqua Teen Hunger Force	Alien (voice)	Episode: "Antenna"
2007	Flight of the Conchords	Ben	Episode: "The Actor"
	Tim and Eric Nite Live!	Emanuel Melly	Episode #1.5
2007, 2010–2012	30 Rock	Tomas / Paul L'astnamé	13 episodes
2007–2010	Tim and Eric Awesome Show, Great Job!	Various roles	6 episodes
2008	Young Person's Guide to History	Comte de Buffon the Frenchman	Episode #1.1
2008, 2010	How I Met Your Mother	Randy Wharmpess	2 episodes
2009	Sit Down, Shut Up	Stuart Proszakian (voice)	13 episodes
2009–2013	The Cleveland Show	Principal Wally Farquhare / Various voices	22 episodes
2009–2015	American Dad!	Various voices	6 episodes
2010	The Life & Times of Tim	Chipper (voice)	Episode: "Unjustly Neglected Drama"
	WWE Raw	MacGruber	1 episode
	Funny or Die Presents	Cast (Scott & Behr) / Sleeping Celebrity	2 episodes
	Squidbillies	Tom Treebow	Episode: "Lean Green Touchdown Makifying Machine"
2010–2013	Conan	Ted Turner	14 episodes
2011	Parks and Recreation	Kelly Larson	Episode: "Time Capsule"
	Allen Gregory	Ian / Stuart Rossmyre / Sid Lampis (voices)	7 episodes
2011-2012	Up All Night	Reed	3 episodes
	Kick Buttowski: Suburban Daredevil	Gordon "Gordie" Gibble	7 episodes
2011-2015	The League	Chuck	2 episodes
2012-2013	Comedy Bang! Bang!	Chet Barnsider / Felix Dewhurst	2 episodes
2012–2015	Lab Rats	Eddy (voice) / Human Eddy	20 episodes
2012–2016	Gravity Falls	Tyler Cutebiker (voice)	13 episodes
2013	... History	Edwin Booth	Episode: "Washington D.C."
2013–2014	Kroll Show	Various roles	3 episodes
2013–2022	Bob's Burgers	Kurt / Mr. Grant (voices)	8 episodes
2014–2015	The Awesomes	Malocchio Jr. (voice)	10 episodes
2014–2022	The Simpsons	King Toot (voice)	3 episodes
2015	7 Days in Hell	Sandy Pickard	Television film
	Moonbeam City	Rad Cunningham (voice)	10 episodes
2015–2018	The Last Man on Earth	Philip Tandy "Phil" Miller	65 episodes; also creator, writer and executive producer
2016	Maya & Marty	Various	Episode: "Will Forte, Amy Poehler and Jerry Seinfeld"
2017	Michael Bolton's Big, ... Valentine's Day Special	Michael Fulton	Variety special
	Tour de Pharmacy	Police Officer	Television film
	Tim and Eric's Bedtime Stories	Will	Episode: "The Demotion"
2019	Future Man	CASSIN-E (voice)	Episode: "The I of the Tiger"
	I Think You Should Leave with Tim Robinson	Old Man on Plane	Episode: "Thanks for Thinking They Are Cool"
	Alien News Desk	Drexx Drudlarr (voice)	12 episodes
	Crank Yankers	Himself (voice)	2 episodes
2020	Who Wants to Be a Millionaire	Himself	Contestant; 2 episodes
	The Shivering Truth	(voice)	Episode: "Holeways"
	Flipped	Jann Melfi	11 episodes
	Hoops	Dawa (voice)	Episode: "Zen"
2020-2022	Late Night with Seth Meyers	Sea Captain (voice)	Uncredited
2021	No Activity	Dirk (voice)	7 episodes
	Sweet Tooth	Pubba	3 episodes
	Chicago Party Aunt	(voice)	Episode: "Emergency Contact"
	MacGruber	MacGruber	Main role; executive producer
2021–present	The Great North	Wolf Tobin (voice)	Main role; 41 episodes
2021–2023	HouseBroken	Shel (voice)	Main role
2022	Saturday Night Live	Himself (host)	Episode: "Will Forte/Måneskin"
	The Afterparty	Himself	Special guest star: "Aniq" and "Maggie"
2022, 2025	Studio C	Himself	2 Episodes
2022	The Kids in the Hall	Aaron	Episode 4
	Rick and Morty	Eugene Michael ... / Pissmaster (voice)	1 episode
2023	Scott Pilgrim Takes Off	Old Scott Pilgrim (voice)	2 episodes
	Krapopolis	Pants Guy (voice)	Episode: "Dungeons and Deliria"
2024	Bodkin	Gilbert Power	Main role
	That '90s Show	Kiefer
	Sausage Party: Foodtopia	Jack (voice)	Main role
	Gremlins: The Wild Batch	Warden of Alcatraz (voice)
2025	Win or Lose	Coach Dan (voice)	Main role; Upcoming series

Music videos

Video games

Web

Crew work

Awards and nominations

See also

In Spanish: Will Forte para niños