Guide Note
Comedian, writer and actor Dan Aykroyd was among the original "Not Ready for Prime Time Players" on Saturday Night Live. He has since embarked on a long career as an actor and screenwriter. He is also an enthusiast in the paranormal and has spent years writing about and investigating UFO claims.
Fast Facts
- Born on July 1, 1952 in Ottowa, Ontario, Canada
- Spouse: Donna Dixon
- Originally intended to become a priest
- Lifetime member of the Mutual UFO Network
- Co-founder of the House of Blues organization
- Has differently colored eyes: one is green, the other brown
- Studied criminology in school before dropping out to pursue comedy
Early Career and SNL
Like many other original SNL cast members, including Aykroyd's frequent collaborator John Belushi, the actor/comic got his start with Chicago's Second City theater troupe and the National Lampoon publishing and theatrical group. This led SNL producer Lorne Michaels to cast Aykroyd in the show's initial 1975 season, and he quickly became one of the original cast's breakout stars. Among Aykroyd's most celebrated bits were his impressions of President Jimmy Carter and cooking show mainstay Julia Child, sleazy toy manufacturer Irwin Mainway and The Blues Brothers, which Aykroyd and Belushi spun off into a feature film and best-selling album.
Post-SNL Career
Aykroyd left SNL with much of the original cast in 1979. After the release of Blues Brothers in 1980, he made a few more films with Belushi, including the Steven Spielberg flop 1941 and the dark comedy Neighbors. This led to a variety of roles in film comedies from the '80s up to the present, including Trading Places with Eddie Murphy, the big-screen adaptation of Dragnet with Tom Hanks and The Great Outdoors with John Candy. In 2007, Aykroyd had a small part in the Adam Sandler comedy I Now Pronounce You Chuck and Larry.
Aykroyd was also active behind the scenes, writing the screenplays for the 1984 blockbuster Ghostbusters and Spies Like Us, which reunited him with his first-season SNL co-star Chevy Chase, and making his directorial debut in 1991 with Nothing But Trouble.
Aykroyd has also taken on dramatic roles in films such as Driving Miss Daisy and Chaplin.
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