Mike Myers is one of several Canadians who
have made a successful transition to the world of Hollywood stardom. Amazingly, with all his professional success, he
still considers himself to be just a goofy, hockey loving, Toronto boy.
Mike Myers was
born in Scarborough, Ontario (a suburb of Toronto) to British parents, Eric and Alice, on
the 25th of May 1963. His British
parents had a love of the entertainment world. His
mother studied acting at the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Arts and his father was
a lover of comedy, especially Peter Sellers’ movies and Monty Python’s Flying
Circus. They shared their interests with
their children so it was natural for Mike to have an interest in the acting world. He was only 8 years old when he made his television
debut in a commercial for British Columbia Hydro-Electric with Gilda Radner. He developed a crush on her and when he saw her,
years later, on Saturday Night Live, he decided he wanted to join the cast too. He developed his abilities on Canadian television,
eventually starring in his own comedy series, Mullarkey and Myers.
As a child, Mike
used to watch Saturday Night Live and dream of being on the show. He used to work on his Wayne’s World,
character, Wayne Campbell, at high school parties to impress the girls. In 1989, his dream came true when he was
asked to join the SNL cast. He stayed
on the show until 1994 and during that time he won an Emmy for writing. In 1992, he and Dana Carvey, also from SNL,
starred in the movie Wayne’s World, which turned out to be a Hollywood
success. 
(Click here to view a trailer for the movie http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0105793/trailers-screenplay-E12298-13-2) Mike decided to leave Saturday Night Live to
pursue his movie career. Unfortunately, his
next two movies, Wayne’s’ World II and So I Married an Axe Murderer,
were unsuccessful.
Mike decided to take a break from acting to marry
Robin Razan. The story is told of how Mike met
his wife at a hockey game after she was hit by a puck and he came over to console her. He spent this time away from movies concentrating
on their marriage and getting away from the celebrity lifestyle. He kept busy by working with a retro 60s rock band
and that is where he developed his Austin Powers character.
With wife Robin’s encouragements, he wrote the script for Austin
Powers: International Man of Mystery in
only three weeks. In 1997, it became a huge
box-office success. People, young and old, can
still be heard saying Austin Powers’ catch phrase “Yeah Baby”. (Click on the link to hear a sound clip of
Austin Powers http://supak.com/store/videos/sounds/Austin_Powers/behave_yeah_baby.wav) Mike decided to stretch his acting talents and he
appeared in the drama, 54, based on the famous disco Studio 54. Both audiences and critics were impressed with his
dramatic ability.
Mike has
recently appeared in the two Austin Powers sequels: The
Spy who Shagged Me and Goldmember. In
2001, he lent his voice to the ogre in Shrek, another huge box-office success and
popular with both children and adults. 
A sequel is in the
works. His next project is the main character
of The Cat in the Hat, based on the children’s book by Dr. Seuss. (Click on the link to watch a trailer of the
movie http://movies.yahoo.com/movies/feature/drseussthecatinthehat.html)
Mike has had the
honour of having a street named after him in his hometown of Scarborough. It is called Mike Myers Drive. In June 2001, he was awarded a star on the Canadian
Walk of Fame in Toronto, Ontario. He made an
emotional thank you speech, attesting to his love of his hometown and his country.
Mike and his wife currently
live in Los Angeles with their three dogs (not surprisingly named after hockey players). With his diverse acting talents, he is sure to have
a long and successful film career. Yet even
with all his success to date, he remains a modest hometown Canadian boy at heart. “I still believe that at any time the
no-talent police will come and arrest me.”
Lesson courtesy of Karen St.Aubin of Ottawa, Ontario
