Steven John Carell (born August 16, 1962 in Concord, Massachusetts) is an Academy Award-nominated American film and television actor.
First coming to fame as a correspondent on The Daily Show with Jon Stewart (and like fellow correspondent Stephen Colbert a Second City veteran), he is perhaps most recognized for portraying the character of Michael Scott on The Office, the American adaptation of the British sitcom (for which he received a Golden Globe Award for best actor in a television comedy series). Since then, he's risen to prominence on the big screen, his first starring feature being The 40-Year-Old Virgin, wherein he portrayed the titular character, Andy Stitzer. However, he had minor film roles prior to that, such as Brick Tamland, the Channel 4 News team's moronic weatherman in Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy and Evan Baxter, the Small Name, Big Ego rival to Jim Carrey's Bruce Nolan in Bruce Almighty. He's also known for being the voice of Gru in the Despicable Me films, voicing him since 2010. He's since gone on to take on a variety of roles, proving equally adept in comedy and drama, and even showing that he can completely disappear into some truly dark and disturbed characters.
People tend to forget he's a pretty jam-up writer; he co-wrote The 40-Year-Old Virgin and also wrote the Season 2 finale of The Office ("Casino Night"), widely regarded as one of the best episodes of the series. On top of this, he and his wife Nancy created the TBS series Angie Tribeca and wrote the pilot episode.
May or may not actually be the former president of Iran.
Partial filmography:
- The 40-Year-Old Virgin - his first starring role; he also co-wrote the film.
- Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day
- Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy
- Asteroid City
- Battle of the Sexes
- Beautiful Boy
- Bewitched - very impressive job of channeling Paul Lynde as Uncle Arthur
- The Big Short - a serious character who gets a lot of laughs for his abrasive personality, nonexistent social skills, and liberal use of F-bombs.
- Bruce Almighty
- Evan Almighty - the sequel, starring his character Evan Baxter
- Café Society
- Crazy, Stupid, Love
- Curly Sue - his first acting role, playing a bit part as a waiter
- The Daily Show with Jon Stewart
- Dan in Real Life
- Date Night (with Tina Fey)
- Despicable Me
- Despicable Me
- Despicable Me: Minion Mayhem (simulator ride)
- Despicable Me 2
- Puppy (Despicable Me 2 Mini Movie, introduction only)
- Panic in the Mailroom (Despicable Me 2 Mini Movie, introduction only)
- Training Wheels (Despicable Me 2 Mini Movie, introduction only)
- Minions
- Despicable Me 3
- Minions: The Rise of Gru
- Dinner for Schmucks
- Foxcatcher - another serious role, playing schizophrenic millionaire John Du Pont.
- Get Smart - the role he was genetically engineered for.
- Horton Hears a Who! (2008)
- The Incredible Burt Wonderstone
- Irresistible
- Knocked Up - a brief cameo As Himself
- Last Flag Flying
- Little Miss Sunshine - a rare serious role as a suicidal gay academic.
- Melinda and Melinda
- The Morning Show - one of the VERY few times he's played a decidedly UNLIKEABLE character; Mitch Kessler, who is America's top morning show host- until he's fired from the network amid allegations of sexual misconduct.
- The Office (US)
- The Patient
- Over the Hedge
- Saturday Night Live - as Gary, half of "The Ambiguously Gay Duo" in the recurring TV Funhouse animated sketches
- Seeking a Friend for the End of the World
- Sleepover
- Space Force (2020)
- Vice (2018)
- The Way, Way Back
- Welcome to Marwen
Tropes associated with Steve Carell include:
- Covered in Gunge: This happened to him twice at the Nickelodeon Kids' Choice Awards. Once was in the 2007 ceremony with Tobey Maguire, while the other was in the 2010 ceremony with Tina Fey.
- Dyeing for Your Art: Since attaining silver fox status, he's dyed his hair for roles several times.
- That famous (or rather infamous) chest waxing scene in The 40-Year-Old Virgin? One hundred percent real. At one point Carell nearly lost a nipple due to the actress playing the waxer not realizing that you're supposed to cover the aforementioned body part in Vaseline before putting wax on it. Fortunately, director Judd Apatow realized what was happening and yelled "Cut!" just in time.
- The Everyman: Plays a likable, sympathetic Nice Guy fairly often. Examples include: The 40-Year-Old Virgin, Dan in Real Life, and Crazy, Stupid, Love.
- Large Ham: We are going to steal-pause for effect-THE MOON! His character in Over the Hedge (who, appropriately enough, is named Hammy) also definitely qualifies.
- Playing Against Type: His roles in Little Miss Sunshine and The Way, Way Back, as well as his Oscar-nominated work in Foxcatcher, are all noted departures for the actor. Mitch Kessler from The Morning Show also counts as this.
- Reclusive Artist: Not an extreme example, but he generally dislikes making a public spectacle of himself, doesn't give a lot of interviews and says that, in between projects, he much prefers spending time with his family.
- Silver Fox: Once he started going gray, all corners of the Steve Carell fandom remarked that he's one of the lucky few who managed to get better-looking with age. It's not uncommon to find then-vs-now photos depicting Steve during his Michale Scott debut (where his hair was visibly thinning) compared to current photos of him.
- Star-Making Role: The 40-Year-Old Virgin, although his performance as Brick Tamland in Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy is what got him noticed by Judd Apatow. Ultimately, his role as Michael Scott thrust him into prominence. In Rainn Wilson's book The Bassoon King, he recalls a lunch with the main cast at the start of the show, and Carell said that he had a feeling that "Michael Scott" would be the role he will always be known for.
- Tom Hanks Syndrome: Little Miss Sunshine was the first instance of Steve showing that he has dramatic range and he's moved onto become known as a "serious actor", earning critical acclaim in films like Foxcatcher and The Big Short while also occasionally going back to the broad comedy he built his reputation on.
- Unsympathetic Comedy Protagonist: In The Office (US) and The Incredible Burt Wonderstone.
- He played a Faux Affably Evil Jerkass in The Way Way Back, although he was more the antagonist of that movie.
- Vocal Evolution: His voice as Gru has evolved across the Despicable Me films. In the beginning, he was speaking in his normal voice while using an accent. By the third film, Gru became more guttural and gruff.
- What Could Have Been: He auditioned to be a cast member on Saturday Night Live, but lost the role to Will Ferrell. Despite this, Carell did do voicework for the TV Funhouse cartoons that aired on SNL (he was the voice of Gary on "The Ambiguously Gay Duo"), he hosted three times (the season 31 premiere in 2005, the season 33 finale in 2008, and the Thanksgiving episode in 2018), and is married to a former cast member (Nancy Walls from season 21).
- He also auditioned for the American version of Whose Line Is It Anyway?, but was turned down.
