Dan Aykroyd
Encyclopedia
Daniel Edward "Dan" Aykroyd, CM
Order of Canada
The Order of Canada is a Canadian national order, admission into which is, within the system of orders, decorations, and medals of Canada, the second highest honour for merit...

 (born July 1, 1952) is a Canadian comedian, actor, screenwriter, musician, winemaker
Winemaker
A winemaker or vintner is a person engaged in winemaking. They are generally employed by wineries or wine companies, where their work includes:*Cooperating with viticulturists...

 and ufologist
Ufology
Ufology is a neologism coined to describe the collective efforts of those who study reports and associated evidence of unidentified flying objects . UFOs have been subject to various investigations over the years by governments, independent groups, and scientists...

. He was an original cast member of Saturday Night Live
Saturday Night Live
Saturday Night Live is a live American late-night television sketch comedy and variety show developed by Lorne Michaels and Dick Ebersol. The show premiered on NBC on October 11, 1975, under the original title of NBC's Saturday Night.The show's sketches often parody contemporary American culture...

, an originator of The Blues Brothers
The Blues Brothers
The Blues Brothers are an American blues and soul revivalist band founded in 1978 by comedy actors Dan Aykroyd and John Belushi as part of a musical sketch on Saturday Night Live...

(with John Belushi
John Belushi
John Adam Belushi was an American comedian, actor, and musician, best known as one of the original cast members of the NBC sketch comedy show Saturday Night Live, The Star of the Films National Lampoon's Animal House and the The Blues Brothers and for fronting the American blues and soul...

) and Ghostbusters
Ghostbusters
Ghostbusters is a 1984 American science fiction comedy film directed by Ivan Reitman and written by Dan Aykroyd and Harold Ramis. The film stars Bill Murray, Dan Aykroyd, Sigourney Weaver, Harold Ramis, and Rick Moranis and follows three eccentric parapsychologists in New York City, who start a...

and has had a long career as a film actor and screenwriter.

Early life

Aykroyd was born on July 1, 1952, at the Ottawa General Hospital
The Ottawa Hospital
The Ottawa Hospital or L'Hôpital d'Ottawa is a major, non-profit, public, university teaching hospital in Ottawa made up of the former Grace Hospital, Riverside Hospital, Ottawa General Hospital and Ottawa Civic Hospital. It is a 1,195-bed academic health sciences centre...

 in Ottawa
Ottawa
Ottawa is the capital of Canada, the second largest city in the Province of Ontario, and the fourth largest city in the country. The city is located on the south bank of the Ottawa River in the eastern portion of Southern Ontario...

, Ontario, Canada. He grew up in the Canadian capital, where his father, Samuel Peter Aykroyd, a civil engineer, worked as a policy adviser to Canadian Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau
Pierre Trudeau
Joseph Philippe Pierre Yves Elliott Trudeau, , usually known as Pierre Trudeau or Pierre Elliott Trudeau, was the 15th Prime Minister of Canada from April 20, 1968 to June 4, 1979, and again from March 3, 1980 to June 30, 1984.Trudeau began his political career campaigning for socialist ideals,...

. His mother, Lorraine Hélène (née Gougeon), is a French Canadian
French Canadian
French Canadian or Francophone Canadian, , generally refers to the descendents of French colonists who arrived in New France in the 17th and 18th centuries...

 secretary. His brother, Peter
Peter Aykroyd
Peter Hugh Aykroyd was born to Lorraine and Peter Aykroyd in Canada. He is the younger brother of comedian Dan Aykroyd. Along with his older brother he was in the Second City comedy troupe in Toronto, Ontario. The two were also on the popular NBC sketch show Saturday Night Live. Peter was a cast...

, also became a comedy actor. Aykroyd was born with syndactyly (webbed toes
Webbed toes
Webbed toes is the common name for syndactyly affecting the feet. It is characterised by the fusion of two or more digits of the feet. This is normal in many birds, such as ducks; amphibians, such as frogs; and mammals, such as kangaroos...

), which was revealed in the movie Mr. Mike's Mondo Video
Mr. Mike's Mondo Video
Mr. Mike's Mondo Video was a 1979 movie conceived by Saturday Night Live writer/featured player Michael O'Donoghue.-Plot:Mondo Video was a spoof of the controversial 1962 documentary Mondo Cane, showing people doing weird stunts. The logo for this film copies the original Mondo Cane logo...

and in a short film on Saturday Night Live (Don't Look Back In Anger). He was also born with heterochromia
Heterochromia
In anatomy, heterochromia refers to a difference in coloration, usually of the iris but also of hair or skin. Heterochromia is a result of the relative excess or lack of melanin...

 (a condition of having two differently coloured eyes). His right eye is green and his left eye is brown.

Aykroyd's great-grandfather, Samuel Augustus Aykroyd (1855–1933), a dentist, had been a mystic
Mysticism
Mysticism is the knowledge of, and especially the personal experience of, states of consciousness, i.e. levels of being, beyond normal human perception, including experience and even communion with a supreme being.-Classical origins:...

 and had been involved in Spiritualism
Spiritualism
Spiritualism is a belief system or religion, postulating the belief that spirits of the dead residing in the spirit world have both the ability and the inclination to communicate with the living...

, which would greatly interest Aykroyd, who stated that "All that stuff was hanging around the old farmhouse I grew up in, so I was kind of steeped in it".

Aykroyd was raised in the Roman Catholic Church, and had intended to become a priest until the age of seventeen. He attended St Pius X
St. Pius X High School (Ottawa)
St. Pius X High School is a Canadian secondary school founded in 1958 in Ottawa, Ontario. The school, operated by the publicly funded Ottawa Catholic School Board, teaches grades 9-12. Enrollment currently stands at around 1,100 students.-School shooting:...

 and St Patrick's
St. Patrick's High School (Ottawa)
St. Patrick's High School, located in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada, is a Catholic high school publicly funded under the Ontario school system as part of the Ottawa-Carleton Catholic School Board...

. He went on to study criminology
Criminology
Criminology is the scientific study of the nature, extent, causes, and control of criminal behavior in both the individual and in society...

 and sociology
Sociology
Sociology is the study of society. It is a social science—a term with which it is sometimes synonymous—which uses various methods of empirical investigation and critical analysis to develop a body of knowledge about human social activity...

 at Carleton University
Carleton University
Carleton University is a comprehensive university located in the capital of Canada, Ottawa, Ontario. The enabling legislation is The Carleton University Act, 1952, S.O. 1952. Founded as a small college in 1942, Carleton now offers over 65 programs in a diverse range of disciplines. Carleton has...

 but dropped out before completing his degree. He worked as a comedian in various Canadian nightclub
Nightclub
A nightclub is an entertainment venue which usually operates late into the night...

s and ran an after-hours speakeasy
Speakeasy
A speakeasy, also called a blind pig or blind tiger, is an establishment that illegally sells alcoholic beverages. Such establishments came into prominence in the United States during the period known as Prohibition...

 (Club 505) in Toronto for several years.

Aykroyd's musical career was initially developed in Ottawa, particularly through his regular attendances at Le Hibou, a club that featured many blues artists. He describes these influences as follows:

...there was a little club there called Le Hibou, which in French means 'the owl'. And it was run by a gentleman named Harvey Glatt
Harvey Glatt
Harvey Glatt is a notable and award-winning Canadian music promoter, manager, broadcaster, record and instrument retailer, and record label owner.- History :...

, and he brought every, and I mean every blues star that you or I would ever have wanted to have seen through Ottawa in the late 50s, well I guess more late 60s sort of, in around the Newport jazz rediscovery. I was going to Le Hibou and hearing James Cotton
James Cotton
James Cotton is an American blues harmonica player, singer and songwriter, who has performed and recorded with many of the great blues artists of his time as well as with his own band.-Career:...

, Otis Spann
Otis Spann
Otis Spann was an American blues musician, who many consider the leading postwar Chicago blues pianist.-Career:Born in Jackson, Mississippi, United States, Spann became known for his distinct piano style....

, Pinetop Perkins
Pinetop Perkins
Joseph William Perkins , known by the stage name Pinetop Perkins, was an American blues musician, specializing in piano music...

, and Muddy Waters
Muddy Waters
McKinley Morganfield , known as Muddy Waters, was an American blues musician, generally considered the "father of modern Chicago blues"...

. I actually jammed behind Muddy Waters. S. P. Leary left the drum kit one night, and Muddy said 'anybody out there play drums? I don't have a drummer.' And I walked on stage and we started, I don't know, Little Red Rooster
Little Red Rooster
"Little Red Rooster" is a song that is a classic of the blues. Howlin' Wolf recorded "The Red Rooster" in 1961, a song credited to blues arranger and songwriter Willie Dixon, although earlier songs have been cited as inspiration...

, something. He said 'keep that beat going, you make Muddy feel good.' And I heard Howlin' Wolf
Howlin' Wolf
Chester Arthur Burnett , known as Howlin' Wolf, was an influential American blues singer, guitarist and harmonica player....

 (Chester Burnett). Many, many times I saw Howlin' Wolf. As well as The Doors
The Doors
The Doors were an American rock band formed in 1965 in Los Angeles, California, with vocalist Jim Morrison, keyboardist Ray Manzarek, drummer John Densmore, and guitarist Robby Krieger...

. And of course Buddy Guy
Buddy Guy
George "Buddy" Guy is an American blues and jazz guitarist and singer. He is a critically acclaimed artist who has established himself as a pioneer of the Chicago blues sound, and has served as an influence to some of the most notable musicians of his generation...

, Buddy Guy and Junior Wells
Junior Wells
Junior Wells , born Amos Wells Blakemore Jr., was an American Chicago blues vocalist, harmonica player, and recording artist...

, Sonny Terry
Sonny Terry
Saunders Terrell, better known as Sonny Terry was a blind American Piedmont blues musician. He was widely known for his energetic blues harmonica style, which frequently included vocal whoops and hollers, and imitations of trains and fox hunts.-Career:Terry was born in Greensboro, Georgia...

 and Brownie McGhee
Brownie McGhee
Walter Brown McGhee was a Piedmont blues singer and guitarist, best known for his collaborations with the harmonica player Sonny Terry.-Life and career:...

. So I was exposed to all of these players, playing there as part of this scene to service the academic community in Ottawa, a very well-educated community. Had I lived in a different town I don't think that this would have happened, because it was just the confluence of educated government workers, and then also all the colleges in the area, Ottawa University
University of Ottawa
The University of Ottawa is a bilingual, research-intensive, non-denominational, international university in Ottawa, Ontario. It is one of the oldest universities in Canada. It was originally established as the College of Bytown in 1848 by the Missionary Oblates of Mary Immaculate...

, Carleton
Carleton University
Carleton University is a comprehensive university located in the capital of Canada, Ottawa, Ontario. The enabling legislation is The Carleton University Act, 1952, S.O. 1952. Founded as a small college in 1942, Carleton now offers over 65 programs in a diverse range of disciplines. Carleton has...

, and all the schools—these people were interested in blues culture.

Saturday Night Live

Aykroyd gained fame on the American late-night comedy show Saturday Night Live
Saturday Night Live
Saturday Night Live is a live American late-night television sketch comedy and variety show developed by Lorne Michaels and Dick Ebersol. The show premiered on NBC on October 11, 1975, under the original title of NBC's Saturday Night.The show's sketches often parody contemporary American culture...

, where he was a writer and the youngest cast member for its first four seasons, from 1975 to 1979. Aykroyd brought a unique sensibility to the show, combining youth, unusual interests, talent as an impersonator
Impersonator
An impersonator is someone who imitates or copies the behavior or actions of another. There are many reasons for someone to be an impersonator, some common ones being as follows:...

 and an almost lunatic intensity. Eric Idle
Eric Idle
Eric Idle is an English comedian, actor, author, singer, writer, and comedic composer. He was as a member of the British comedy group Monty Python, a member of the The Rutles on Saturday Night Live and author of the play, Spamalot....

, of Monty Python
Monty Python
Monty Python was a British surreal comedy group who created their influential Monty Python's Flying Circus, a British television comedy sketch show that first aired on the BBC on 5 October 1969. Forty-five episodes were made over four series...

, once said that Aykroyd's ability to write and act out characters flawlessly made him the only member of the SNL cast capable of being a Python.

He was known for his impersonations of celebrities like Jimmy Carter
Jimmy Carter
James Earl "Jimmy" Carter, Jr. is an American politician who served as the 39th President of the United States and was the recipient of the 2002 Nobel Peace Prize, the only U.S. President to have received the Prize after leaving office...

, Vincent Price
Vincent Price
Vincent Leonard Price, Jr. was an American actor, well known for his distinctive voice and serio-comic attitude in a series of horror films made in the latter part of his career.-Early life and career:Price was born in St...

, Richard Nixon
Richard Nixon
Richard Milhous Nixon was the 37th President of the United States, serving from 1969 to 1974. The only president to resign the office, Nixon had previously served as a US representative and senator from California and as the 36th Vice President of the United States from 1953 to 1961 under...

, Rod Serling
Rod Serling
Rodman Edward "Rod" Serling was an American screenwriter, novelist, television producer, and narrator best known for his live television dramas of the 1950s and his science fiction anthology TV series, The Twilight Zone. Serling was active in politics, both on and off the screen and helped form...

, Tom Snyder
Tom Snyder
Thomas James "Tom" Snyder was an American television personality, news anchor and radio personality best known for his late night talk shows The Tomorrow Show, on the NBC television network in the 1970s and 1980s, and The Late Late Show, on the CBS Television Network in the 1990s...

, and others. He was also known for his recurring roles, such as Beldar, father in the Coneheads
Coneheads
The Coneheads is a sketch on Saturday Night Live which originated on the January 15, 1977 episode, and starred Dan Aykroyd as father Beldar, Jane Curtin as mother Prymaat, and Laraine Newman as daughter Connie.-Summary:...

 family; with Steve Martin
Steve Martin
Stephen Glenn "Steve" Martin is an American actor, comedian, writer, playwright, producer, musician and composer....

, Georg Festrunk, one of the "Two Wild and Crazy Guys" Czech
Czech Republic
The Czech Republic is a landlocked country in Central Europe. The country is bordered by Poland to the northeast, Slovakia to the east, Austria to the south, and Germany to the west and northwest....

 brothers; sleazy late-night cable TV host E. Buzz Miller and his cousin, corrupt maker of children's toys and costumes Irwin Mainway (who extolled the virtues and defended the safety of the "Bag-o-Glass" toy, perhaps the retail leader of the "Bag-o" series of toys); Fred Garvin – male prostitute; and high-bred but low-brow critic Leonard Pinth-Garnell. He also co-hosted the Weekend Update
Weekend Update
Weekend Update is a Saturday Night Live sketch that comments on and parodies current events. It is the show's longest running recurring sketch, having been on since the show's first broadcast, and is typically presented in the middle of the show immediately after the first musical performance...

 segment for a season with Jane Curtin
Jane Curtin
Jane Therese Curtin is an American actress and comedienne. She is commonly referred to as Queen of the Deadpan.First coming to prominence as an original cast member on Saturday Night Live in 1975, she went on to win back-to-back Emmy Awards for Best Lead Actress in a Comedy Series on the 1980s...

, coining the famous catchphrase "Jane, you ignorant slut" during point-counterpoint segments.

Aykroyd's eccentric talent was recognized by others in the highly competitive SNL environment: when he first presented his famous "Super Bass-O-Matic '76" sketch, a fake T.V. commercial in which a garish, hyper pitchman (modelled after Ron Popeil
Ron Popeil
Ronald M. Popeil is an American inventor and marketing personality, best known for his direct response marketing company Ronco...

) touts a food blender
Blender (device)
A blender is a kitchen and laboratory appliance used to mix, puree, or emulsify food and other substances. A stationary blender consists of a blender jar with blade at the bottom, rotated by a motor in the base...

 that turns an entire bass
Striped bass
The striped bass is the state fish of Maryland, Rhode Island, South Carolina, and the state saltwater fish of New York, Virginia, and New Hampshire...

 into liquid pulp, "to [other writers and cast members] the 'Bass-O-Matic' was so exhilaratingly strange that many remember sitting and listening, open-mouthed ... Nobody felt jealous of it because they couldn't imagine writing anything remotely like it."

While Aykroyd was a close friend and partner with fellow cast member John Belushi
John Belushi
John Adam Belushi was an American comedian, actor, and musician, best known as one of the original cast members of the NBC sketch comedy show Saturday Night Live, The Star of the Films National Lampoon's Animal House and the The Blues Brothers and for fronting the American blues and soul...

 and shared some of the same sensibilities, Aykroyd was more reserved and less self-destructive. In 1977, he received an Emmy Award
Emmy Award
An Emmy Award, often referred to simply as the Emmy, is a television production award, similar in nature to the Peabody Awards but more focused on entertainment, and is considered the television equivalent to the Academy Awards and the Grammy Awards .A majority of Emmys are presented in various...

 for writing on Saturday Night Live; he later received two more nominations for writing, and one each for acting and Outstanding Comedy-Variety series.

In later decades, Aykroyd made occasional guest appearances and unannounced cameo
Cameo appearance
A cameo role or cameo appearance is a brief appearance of a known person in a work of the performing arts, such as plays, films, video games and television...

s on Saturday Night Live, often impersonating the American politician Bob Dole
Bob Dole
Robert Joseph "Bob" Dole is an American attorney and politician. Dole represented Kansas in the United States Senate from 1969 to 1996, was Gerald Ford's Vice Presidential running mate in the 1976 presidential election, and was Senate Majority Leader from 1985 to 1987 and in 1995 and 1996...

. He would also bring back past characters including Irwin Mainway and Leonard Pinth-Garnell. During a couple of his guest appearances he resurrected the Blues Brothers
The Blues Brothers
The Blues Brothers are an American blues and soul revivalist band founded in 1978 by comedy actors Dan Aykroyd and John Belushi as part of a musical sketch on Saturday Night Live...

 musical act with frequent host John Goodman
John Goodman
John Stephen Goodman is an American film, television, and stage actor. He is best known for his role as Dan Conner on the television series Roseanne for which he won a Best Actor Golden Globe Award in 1993, and for appearances in the films of the Coen brothers, with prominent roles in Raising...

 in place of John Belushi
John Belushi
John Adam Belushi was an American comedian, actor, and musician, best known as one of the original cast members of the NBC sketch comedy show Saturday Night Live, The Star of the Films National Lampoon's Animal House and the The Blues Brothers and for fronting the American blues and soul...

. Finally in May 2003, he hosted the season finale of Saturday Night Live. During his monologue, he did a musical bit with James Belushi
James Belushi
James Adam "Jim" Belushi is an American actor, comedian, and musician. He is the younger brother of comic actor John Belushi.-Early life:Belushi was born in Chicago...

 that was similar to the Blues Brothers, but neither Aykroyd nor Belushi donned the famous black suit and sunglasses. It was a unique hosting choice as he was not promoting a project at the time and he did not bring back any characters for this appearance. He became the second member of the original cast to host the show. On March 24, 2007, he made an appearance as a crying fan of American Idol
American Idol
American Idol, titled American Idol: The Search for a Superstar for the first season, is a reality television singing competition created by Simon Fuller and produced by FremantleMedia North America and 19 Entertainment...

 finalist Sanjaya Malakar
Sanjaya Malakar
Sanjaya Joseph Malakar is an American singer of Indian origin, who was a finalist on the sixth season of American Idol. He gained national attention on the series, controversially advancing to 7th place with public votes, despite being poorly received by the show's judges, particularly Simon...

 (played by Andy Samberg
Andy Samberg
David Andrew "Andy" Samberg is an American actor, comedian, rapper and writer best known as a member of the comedy group The Lonely Island and as a cast member on Saturday Night Live...

) during Weekend Update
Weekend Update
Weekend Update is a Saturday Night Live sketch that comments on and parodies current events. It is the show's longest running recurring sketch, having been on since the show's first broadcast, and is typically presented in the middle of the show immediately after the first musical performance...

. On February 14, 2009, he made an appearance portraying U.S. House Minority leader John Boehner
John Boehner
John Andrew Boehner is the 61st and current Speaker of the United States House of Representatives. A member of the Republican Party, he is the U.S. Representative from , serving since 1991...

.

The Blues Brothers

Aykroyd was good friends with John Belushi
John Belushi
John Adam Belushi was an American comedian, actor, and musician, best known as one of the original cast members of the NBC sketch comedy show Saturday Night Live, The Star of the Films National Lampoon's Animal House and the The Blues Brothers and for fronting the American blues and soul...

. According to Aykroyd, it was his first meeting with Belushi that helped spark their popular Blues Brothers act. When they met in a club Aykroyd frequented, Aykroyd put on a blues record to play in the background, and it stimulated a fascination with blues in Belushi, who was primarily a fan of heavy rock bands at the time. Aykroyd educated John on the finer points of blues music and, with a little encouragement from then-SNL music director Paul Shaffer
Paul Shaffer
Paul Allen Wood Shaffer, CM is a Canadian musician, actor, voice actor, author, comedian, and composer who has been David Letterman's sidekick since 1982.-Early years:...

, it led to the creation of their Blues Brothers characters.

Backed by such experienced professional R&B sidemen as lead guitarist Steve Cropper
Steve Cropper
Steve Cropper , also known as Steve "The Colonel" Cropper, is an American guitarist, songwriter and record producer. He is best known as the guitarist of the Stax Records house band, Booker T...

, sax man Lou Marini
Lou Marini
Lou Marini, Jr. is an American saxophonist, arranger and composer. He is noted for his work in the jazz, rock, blues and soul music traditions.-Early life and range of musical experience:...

, trumpeter Alan Rubin
Alan Rubin
Alan Rubin , also known as Mr. Fabulous, was an American musician. He played trumpet, flugelhorn, and piccolo trumpet....

 and bass guitarist Donald "Duck" Dunn, the Blues Brothers proved more than an SNL novelty. Taking off with the public as a legitimate musical act, they performed live gigs and released the hit album Briefcase Full of Blues
Briefcase Full of Blues
-External links:* *...

in 1978. The Blues Brothers Band continues to tour today, featuring original members Cropper, Marini, Rubin, and Dunn, along with vocalist Eddie Floyd
Eddie Floyd
Eddie Lee Floyd is an American soul/R&B singer and songwriter, best known for his work on the Stax record label in the 1960s and 1970s and the song "Knock on Wood".-Biography:...

.

Early in the incarnation of the Blues Brothers, John Belushi joined the Grateful Dead on stage on April 2, 1980, for a rendition of "Good Morning Little School Girl" at the Capitol Theatre in Passaic, N.J (coinciding with the Dead performing on SNL that weekend). John sang the part usually carried by the late Dead band member "Pigpen." This is a moment cherished by all fans of John Belushi and the Dead alike. There were other SNL connections between the Dead and SNL over the years.

Cherokee Studios
Cherokee Studios
Cherokee Studios was a recording facility in Hollywood, founded in 1972 and closed in August 2007 to make way for a new building, after 35 years of operation under the Cherokee name as a well-renowned studio...

 in Los Angeles was a regular haunt for the original Blues Brothers back in the early days of the band. John Belushi and Dan Aykroyd became fixtures at the recording studio, while fellow Blues Brother Steve Cropper called Cherokee his producing home. Whenever they needed a bass player, they were joined by another Blues Brother, Donald "Duck" Dunn. During this time, Cropper along with producing partner and Cherokee owner Bruce Robb
Bruce Robb (producer)
Bruce Robb is an American musician, record producer, engineer, and music supervisor. He is most recognized for his active role in the formative years of the music industry: first as a member of “The Robbs” during the music revolution of the 1960s, then as a founder of Cherokee Studios in the...

 worked on a number of music projects with the two comedian/musicians, including Belushi's favourite band Fear and later Aykroyd's movie Dragnet.

Aykroyd and Belushi were scheduled to present the Academy Award for Visual Effects in 1982, but Belushi died only a few weeks prior to the ceremony. Though devastated by his friend's death, Aykroyd presented the award alone, remarking from the stage "My partner would have loved to have been here to present this, given that he was something of a visual effect himself." Not a few years before, when he and John Belushi were making an appearance on the Today show, he referred to them as "kindred spirits." In the biography "Belushi", Aykroyd claims that John Belushi was the only man he could ever dance with.

In 1992, Aykroyd, along with many other notable music and Hollywood personalities, founded the House of Blues
House of Blues
House of Blues is a chain of 13 live music concert halls and restaurants in major markets throughout the United States. House of Blues first location was in Cambridge's Harvard Square. It was opened in 1992 by Isaac Tigrett, co-founder of Hard Rock Cafe, and Dan Aykroyd, star of The Blues Brothers...

. Its mission is to promote African-American cultural contributions of blues music
Blues
Blues is the name given to both a musical form and a music genre that originated in African-American communities of primarily the "Deep South" of the United States at the end of the 19th century from spirituals, work songs, field hollers, shouts and chants, and rhymed simple narrative ballads...

 and folk art
Folk art
Folk art encompasses art produced from an indigenous culture or by peasants or other laboring tradespeople. In contrast to fine art, folk art is primarily utilitarian and decorative rather than purely aesthetic....

. From 2004 until its sale to Live Nation in 2007, it was the second-largest live music promoter in the world, with seven venues and 22 amphitheaters in the United States and Canada. Aykroyd also contributes his voice to the weekly House of Blues Radio Hour, which he hosts in the character of Elwood Delaney aka Elwood Blues. This show is hosted in the United Kingdom (from 1st September 2011) on London's Covent Garden Radio.

Today, the Blues Brothers still tour. Dan Aykroyd still performs as Elwood back with John's younger brother James Belushi
James Belushi
James Adam "Jim" Belushi is an American actor, comedian, and musician. He is the younger brother of comic actor John Belushi.-Early life:Belushi was born in Chicago...

 who plays "Brother Zee" on stage. They are almost always backed by The Sacred Hearts Band.

Other work

Concurrent with his work in Saturday Night Live
Saturday Night Live
Saturday Night Live is a live American late-night television sketch comedy and variety show developed by Lorne Michaels and Dick Ebersol. The show premiered on NBC on October 11, 1975, under the original title of NBC's Saturday Night.The show's sketches often parody contemporary American culture...

, Aykroyd played the role of Purvis Bickle, lift operator at the fictitious office block 99 Sumach Street in the CBC Television
CBC Television
CBC Television is a Canadian television network owned by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, the national public broadcaster.Although the CBC is supported by public funding, the television network supplements this funding with commercial advertising revenue, in contrast to CBC Radio which are...

 series Coming Up Rosie
Coming Up Rosie
Coming Up Rosie was a Canadian children's sitcom TV series on CBC Television, aired for three seasons from 1975–1978.-Premise:The show focused on a group of tenants in an office building located at 99 Sumach Street, Toronto. The title character, Rosie Tucker, was played by Rosemary Radcliffe...

.

After leaving Saturday Night Live, Aykroyd starred in a number of films (mostly comedies), with uneven results both commercially and artistically. He co-starred with Belushi in three films, The Blues Brothers
The Blues Brothers (film)
The Blues Brothers is a 1980 musical comedy film directed by John Landis and starring John Belushi and Dan Aykroyd as "Joliet" Jake and Elwood Blues, characters developed from a musical sketch on the NBC variety series Saturday Night Live. It features musical numbers by R&B and soul singers James...

, Neighbors
Neighbors (film)
Neighbors is a 1981 film based on the book by Thomas Berger. It was released through Columbia Pictures, directed by John G. Avildsen and stars John Belushi as Earl, Dan Aykroyd as Vic , Cathy Moriarty as Ramona, Kathryn Walker as Enid, and Lauren-Marie Taylor as Elaine. The film takes liberties...

and 1941
1941 (film)
1941 is a 1979 period comedy film directed by Steven Spielberg, written by Robert Zemeckis and Bob Gale, and featuring an ensemble cast including John Belushi, Ned Beatty, John Candy, Toshiro Mifune, Christopher Lee and Dan Aykroyd...

. One of his best-received performances was as a blueblood-turned-wretch in the 1983 comic drama Trading Places
Trading Places
Trading Places is a 1983 American comedy film, of the satire genre, directed by John Landis, starring Dan Aykroyd and Eddie Murphy. It tells the story of an upper class commodities broker and a homeless street hustler whose lives cross paths when they are unknowingly made part of an elaborate bet...

; a notable flop was in the earlier 1941
1941 (film)
1941 is a 1979 period comedy film directed by Steven Spielberg, written by Robert Zemeckis and Bob Gale, and featuring an ensemble cast including John Belushi, Ned Beatty, John Candy, Toshiro Mifune, Christopher Lee and Dan Aykroyd...

(director Steven Spielberg
Steven Spielberg
Steven Allan Spielberg KBE is an American film director, screenwriter, producer, video game designer, and studio entrepreneur. In a career of more than four decades, Spielberg's films have covered many themes and genres. Spielberg's early science-fiction and adventure films were seen as an...

 received the brunt of the criticism, but Aykroyd's performance as an Army Sergeant was either played straight or completely manic).

Aykroyd originally wrote the role of Dr. Peter Venkman in Ghostbusters
Ghostbusters
Ghostbusters is a 1984 American science fiction comedy film directed by Ivan Reitman and written by Dan Aykroyd and Harold Ramis. The film stars Bill Murray, Dan Aykroyd, Sigourney Weaver, Harold Ramis, and Rick Moranis and follows three eccentric parapsychologists in New York City, who start a...

(1984) with Belushi in mind, but rewrote the part for Bill Murray
Bill Murray
William James "Bill" Murray is an American actor and comedian. He first gained national exposure on Saturday Night Live in which he earned an Emmy Award and later went on to star in a number of critically and commercially successful comedic films, including Caddyshack , Ghostbusters , and...

 after Belushi died. Aykroyd used to joke that the green ghost (who would later come to be known as "Slimer") was "the ghost of John Belushi", based on the similar party animal personality. Ghostbusters became a huge success for Aykroyd as a co-creator, co-writer, and one of the lead actors; the film's inspiration came from Aykroyd's fascination with parapsychology
Parapsychology
The term parapsychology was coined in or around 1889 by philosopher Max Dessoir, and originates from para meaning "alongside", and psychology. The term was adopted by J.B. Rhine in the 1930s as a replacement for the term psychical research...

.

Aykroyd participated in the recording of "We are the World
We Are the World
"We Are the World" is a song and charity single originally recorded by the supergroup USA for Africa in 1985. It was written by Michael Jackson and Lionel Richie, and produced by Quincy Jones and Michael Omartian for the album We Are the World...

" in 1985.

Aykroyd was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor
Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor
Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role is one of the Academy Awards of Merit presented annually by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to recognize an actor who has delivered an outstanding performance while working within the film industry. Since its inception, however, the...

 for 1989's Driving Miss Daisy
Driving Miss Daisy
Driving Miss Daisy is a 1989 American comedy-drama film adapted from the Alfred Uhry play of the same name. The film was directed by Bruce Beresford, with Morgan Freeman reprising his role as Hoke Colburn and Jessica Tandy playing Miss Daisy...

. He was the second SNL cast member to be nominated for an Oscar, the first being Joan Cusack
Joan Cusack
Joan Mary Cusack is an American film, stage and television actress. Throughout her career, Cusack has appeared in many films as well as appearing in stage productions....

 (Randy Quaid
Randy Quaid
Randall Rudy "Randy" Quaid is an American actor perhaps best known for his role as Cousin Eddie in the National Lampoon's Vacation movies, as well as his numerous supporting roles in films, including his Oscar nominated performance in The Last Detail, Independence Day, Kingpin and Brokeback Mountain...

 also received an Academy Award nomination before either of them, but that was prior to his SNL stint).

His directorial
Film director
A film director is a person who directs the actors and film crew in filmmaking. They control a film's artistic and dramatic nathan roach, while guiding the technical crew and actors.-Responsibilities:...

 debut was 1991's Nothing but Trouble. It starred Demi Moore
Demi Moore
Demi Guynes Kutcher , known professionally as Demi Moore, is an American actress. After minor roles in film and a role in the soap opera General Hospital, Moore established her career in films such as St...

, Chevy Chase
Chevy Chase
Cornelius Crane "Chevy" Chase is an American comedian, writer, and television and film actor, born into a prominent entertainment industry family. Chase worked a plethora of odd jobs before moving into comedy acting with National Lampoon...

, John Candy
John Candy
John Franklin Candy was a Canadian actor and comedian. He rose to fame as a member of the Toronto branch of The Second City and its related Second City Television series, and through his appearances in comedy films such as Stripes, Splash, Cool Runnings, The Great Outdoors, Spaceballs, and Uncle...

 and Aykroyd sporting an oddly phallic prosthetic nose. The film was a critical and box office flop. Other films starring Aykroyd in the 1990s, included Exit to Eden
Exit To Eden (film)
Exit to Eden is a 1994 American comedy-thriller loosely based on the Anne Rice novel of the same name, directed by Garry Marshall and adapted to the screen by Deborah Amelon and Bob Brunner. The original music score was composed by Patrick Doyle....

, Blues Brothers 2000
Blues Brothers 2000
Blues Brothers 2000 is a 1998 American musical comedy film that is a sequel to the 1980 film The Blues Brothers. Directed by John Landis, the film featured Dan Aykroyd and John Goodman, with cameos by many musicians.-Plot:...

, and Getting Away with Murder
Getting Away with Murder (1996 film)
Getting Away with Murder is a 1996 comedy film written and directed by Harvey Miller. The film stars Dan Aykroyd, Jack Lemmon, Lily Tomlin and Bonnie Hunt.This was the final project for veteran writer and director Harvey Miller....

; these were also poorly received. He also made an uncredited appearance in the Michael Moore
Michael Moore
Michael Francis Moore is an American filmmaker, author, social critic and activist. He is the director and producer of Fahrenheit 9/11, which is the highest-grossing documentary of all time. His films Bowling for Columbine and Sicko also place in the top ten highest-grossing documentaries...

 film, Canadian Bacon
Canadian bacon
Canadian bacon can mean:* Canadian bacon, a US name for two different pork products - back bacon and a smoked ham* Canadian Bacon, a 1995 comedy film* Canadian Bacon , a peak in the US state of Washington...

as a motorcycle cop.

In 1994, Akroyd made a guest appearance in an episode of the sitcom The Nanny
The Nanny (TV series)
The Nanny is an American television sitcom co-produced by Sternin & Fraser Ink, Inc., and Fran Drescher in association with TriStar Television for the CBS network...

 as a refrigerator repairman. In 1997, Aykroyd starred in a short-lived sitcom on ABC called Soul Man
Soul Man (TV series)
Soul Man is an American sitcom that aired on ABC in 1997 that lasted two seasons and starred Dan Aykroyd.The series premiered on April 15, 1997, and was picked up for a second season of 22 episodes after only three episodes aired for the first season...

. The show lasted one season. In the 2000s, Aykroyd's film appearances have tended to be small character parts in big-budget productions, such as a signals analyst in Pearl Harbor
Pearl Harbor (film)
Pearl Harbor is a 2001 American action drama war film directed by Michael Bay and produced by Jerry Bruckheimer and Randall Wallace, who wrote the screenplay...

and a neurologist in 50 First Dates
50 First Dates
50 First Dates is a 2004 American romantic comedy film directed by Peter Segal and written by George Wing. The film stars Adam Sandler as a woman-chasing veterinarian and Drew Barrymore as an amnesiac, along with Rob Schneider, Sean Astin, Lusia Strus, Blake Clark, and Dan Aykroyd.Most of the film...

. In 2001, Aykroyd starred in the Woody Allen
Woody Allen
Woody Allen is an American screenwriter, director, actor, comedian, jazz musician, author, and playwright. Allen's films draw heavily on literature, sexuality, philosophy, psychology, Jewish identity, and the history of cinema...

 film, The Curse of the Jade Scorpion
The Curse of the Jade Scorpion
The Curse of the Jade Scorpion is a 2001 American film written, directed by, and starring Woody Allen. The cast also features Dan Aykroyd, Elizabeth Berkley, Helen Hunt, John Schuck, Wallace Shawn, David Ogden Stiers, and Charlize Theron. The plot concerns an insurance investigator and an...

.

In February 2007, Aykroyd revealed that he would be providing voice-acting for a Ghostbusters III CGI project, though these rumours were clarified later on, that the CGI project was a next-gen video game that was currently in production. In 2009, Aykroyd along with Harold Ramis
Harold Ramis
Harold Allen Ramis is an American actor, director, and writer, specializing in comedy. His best-known film acting roles are as Egon Spengler in Ghostbusters and Russell Ziskey in Stripes , both of which he also co-wrote...

, wrote and appeared in Ghostbusters: The Video Game
Ghostbusters: The Video Game
Ghostbusters: The Video Game is a 2009 cross-platform action game based on the Ghostbusters film franchise. Terminal Reality developed the Windows, PlayStation 3, and Xbox 360 versions, while Red Fly Studio developed the PlayStation 2, PlayStation Portable, and Wii versions, and Zen Studios...

, which also featured Bill Murray, Ernie Hudson
Ernie Hudson
Ernest Lee "Ernie" Hudson is an American actor known for his roles as Winston Zeddemore in the Ghostbusters film series, Sergeant Albrecht in The Crow, and Warden Leo Glynn on HBO's Oz.-Early life:...

, Annie Potts
Annie Potts
Anne Hampton "Annie" Potts is an American film and television actress. She is known for her roles in the 1980s popular films such as Ghostbusters , Pretty in Pink , Jumpin' Jack Flash , Who's Harry Crumb? and Ghostbusters II . Potts is also known as a voice-actress...

, William Atherton
William Atherton
William Atherton , born William Atherton Knight II, is an American film, stage and television actor.-Early life:Atherton was born in Orange, Connecticut, the son of Roby and Robert Atherton Knight...

, and Brian Doyle-Murray
Brian Doyle-Murray
Brian Doyle-Murray is an American comedian, screenwriter, actor and voice artist. He is the older brother of actor/comedian Bill Murray and has acted together with him in several films, including Caddyshack, Scrooged, Ghostbusters II, The Razor's Edge and Groundhog Day...

. On June 14, 2009, GameStop
GameStop
GameStop Corporation is an American video game and entertainment software retailer. The company, whose headquarters is in Grapevine, Texas, United States, operates 6,500 retail stores throughout the United States, Canada, Australia, Austria, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, New...

 used an outgoing phone message pre-recorded by Aykroyd to invite pre-order customers to the launch event at 10 p.m.

Aykroyd wrote the liner notes for fellow Ottawa born blues musician JW-Jones
JW-Jones
JW-Jones is a Canadian blues guitarist, singer and band leader. Jones is signed to the NorthernBlues Music label in Toronto, Canada, CrossCut Records in Europe, and Ruf Records in USA. In the last decade, he has released six albums and played in 17 countries, 4 continents, over 260 cities and...

' album Bluelisted (2008).

In 2009, Aykroyd contributed a series of reminiscences on his upbringing in Canada for a charity album titled Dan Aykroyd's Canada.

Most recently, Dan Aykroyd and Chevy Chase guest starred in the Family Guy
Family Guy
Family Guy is an American animated television series created by Seth MacFarlane for the Fox Broadcasting Company. The series centers on the Griffins, a dysfunctional family consisting of parents Peter and Lois; their children Meg, Chris, and Stewie; and their anthropomorphic pet dog Brian...

episode "Spies Reminiscent of Us
Spies Reminiscent of Us
"Spies Reminiscent of Us" is the third episode of the eighth season of the animated comedy series Family Guy. It originally aired on Fox in the United States on October 11, 2009...

". He also hosts the nationally-syndicated radio show House of Blues Radio Hour under his Blues Brothers moniker Elwood Blues.

Aykroyd appeared in two February 2011 episodes of CBS' The Defenders
The Defenders (2010 TV series)
The Defenders is a 2010 American legal comedy-drama that was ordered to series by CBS for the 2010–11 television season. The series originally ran from September 22, 2010 to March 11, 2011....

, which starred Jim Belushi. This information was announced November 29, 2010.

Honours

He has been inducted into Canada's Walk of Fame
Canada's Walk of Fame
Canada's Walk of Fame , located in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, is a walk of fame that acknowledges the achievements and accomplishments of successful Canadians...

. In 1994, Aykroyd received an honorary
Honorary degree
An honorary degree or a degree honoris causa is an academic degree for which a university has waived the usual requirements, such as matriculation, residence, study, and the passing of examinations...

 Doctor of Literature degree from Carleton University. In 1998, he was made a Member of the Order of Canada
Order of Canada
The Order of Canada is a Canadian national order, admission into which is, within the system of orders, decorations, and medals of Canada, the second highest honour for merit...

.

Aykroyd also received a dubious honour in 1997, when the Committee for the Scientific Investigation of Claims of the Paranormal
Committee for the Scientific Investigation of Claims of the Paranormal
The Committee for Skeptical Inquiry , formerly known as the Committee for the Scientific Investigation of Claims of the Paranormal , is a program within the U.S...

 awarded him the Snuffed Candle award, for "contributing to the public's lack of understanding of the methods of scientific inquiry." CSICOP did this in response to Aykroyd's program Psi Factor. This award came in conjunction with the public having the general perception that Aykroyd is a real guy for repping Ottawa.

The popular Scottish band Dananananaykroyd
Dananananaykroyd
Dananananaykroyd was a six-piece, self-dubbed 'Fight Pop' band formed in 2006 in Glasgow, Scotland. Their name is a play on the name of Canadian actor Dan Aykroyd...

 named themselves after Dan Aykroyd.

Eric Idle
Eric Idle
Eric Idle is an English comedian, actor, author, singer, writer, and comedic composer. He was as a member of the British comedy group Monty Python, a member of the The Rutles on Saturday Night Live and author of the play, Spamalot....

 once said of Aykroyd that he was "the only person I ever met who could have been part of Python
Monty Python
Monty Python was a British surreal comedy group who created their influential Monty Python's Flying Circus, a British television comedy sketch show that first aired on the BBC on 5 October 1969. Forty-five episodes were made over four series...

 – he had all the skills, the capability of being a Python."

Personal life

Aykroyd is a naturalized citizen
Naturalization
Naturalization is the acquisition of citizenship and nationality by somebody who was not a citizen of that country at the time of birth....

 of the United States. In 1983, he married actress Donna Dixon
Donna Dixon
Donna Dixon is an American actress.Donna Dixon was born in Alexandria, Virginia; her father, Earl Dixon, owned a club on U.S. 1, called "Hillbilly Heaven." She is a 1975 graduate of Groveton High School and attended The George Washington University...

, with whom he starred in the movies Doctor Detroit
Doctor Detroit
Doctor Detroit is a 1983 comedy film, written by Bruce Jay Friedman, Robert Boris and Carl Gottlieb. The film stars Dan Aykroyd, Howard Hesseman, Lynn Whitfield, Fran Drescher, and Donna Dixon, with a special appearance by James Brown. The film was directed by Michael Pressman.James Brown performed...

, Spies Like Us
Spies Like Us
Spies Like Us is a 1985 American comedy film directed by John Landis and starring Chevy Chase, Dan Aykroyd, Steve Forrest, and Donna Dixon...

, and The Couch Trip
The Couch Trip
The Couch Trip is a 1988 comedy film directed by Michael Ritchie. It stars Dan Aykroyd, Walter Matthau, Charles Grodin and Donna Dixon.-Plot:...

. They have three daughters: Danielle Alexandra(born November 18, 1989), Belle Kingston (born June 9, 1993), and Stella Irene August (born April 5, 1998). He maintains his Canadian roots as a longtime resident of Sydenham, Ontario
Sydenham, Frontenac County, Ontario
For other places called Sydenham, see Sydenham .Sydenham, named after Lord Sydenham, is a community in Frontenac County, located in the municipality of South Frontenac...

, with his estate on Loughborough Lake
Loughborough Lake
Loughborough Lake is in Ontario, Canada. Located north of Kingston, Ontario. This lake is long and in area, with many small islands, and has over of shoreline....

.

Aykroyd described himself (in a radio interview with Terry Gross
Terry Gross
Terry Gross is the host and co-executive producer of Fresh Air, an interview format radio show produced by WHYY-FM in Philadelphia and distributed throughout the United States by National Public Radio....

) as having mild Tourette syndrome
Tourette syndrome
Tourette syndrome is an inherited neuropsychiatric disorder with onset in childhood, characterized by multiple physical tics and at least one vocal tic; these tics characteristically wax and wane...

 that was successfully treated with therapy when he was a preteen, as well as mild Asperger syndrome
Asperger syndrome
Asperger's syndrome that is characterized by significant difficulties in social interaction, alongside restricted and repetitive patterns of behavior and interests. It differs from other autism spectrum disorders by its relative preservation of linguistic and cognitive development...

.

As of 2006, Aykroyd has entered a partnership with Niagara Cellars, which owns four wineries in the Niagara region. They will be marketing a series of red and white wines under his name. He spent a good amount of time in 2009 promoting his own Crystal Head Vodka
Crystal Head Vodka
Crystal Head Vodka is a premium vodka manufactured by Globefill Inc. in Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada. The vodka was co-founded by actor Dan Aykroyd and artist John Alexandar. The vodka is quadruple-distilled, triple-filtered through charcoal and triple-filtered through Herkimer diamond crystals...

, with his interest in the paranormal coming through with the drink's unique skull-shaped bottle. He is also considering a beer and vodka label with the Coneheads name.

He is a former reserve commander for the police department in Harahan
Harahan, Louisiana
Harahan is a city in Jefferson Parish, Louisiana, United States, and a suburb of New Orleans. The population was 9,885 at the 2000 census.Harahan was named in honor of James Theodore Harahan, president of the Illinois Central Railroad from 1906-1911...

, Louisiana, working for Chief of Police Peter Dale. Aykroyd would carry his badge with him at all times.

Aykroyd helped Dale start the Blue Line Foundation. They are redeveloping flood damaged lots in New Orleans and helping first responders buy them at reduced prices. Coastal Blue Line LLC, hopes to eventually to rebuild 400 properties in New Orleans.

In a recent radio interview with the Hill-Man Morning show, Aykroyd said if he could forget one film he did it would be Exit To Eden
Exit To Eden (film)
Exit to Eden is a 1994 American comedy-thriller loosely based on the Anne Rice novel of the same name, directed by Garry Marshall and adapted to the screen by Deborah Amelon and Bob Brunner. The original music score was composed by Patrick Doyle....

.

Beliefs

Aykroyd considers himself a Spiritualist
Spiritualism
Spiritualism is a belief system or religion, postulating the belief that spirits of the dead residing in the spirit world have both the ability and the inclination to communicate with the living...

, stating that:
I am a Spiritualist, a proud wearer of the Spiritualist badge. Mediums and psychic research have gone on for many, many years... Loads of people have seen [spirits], heard a voice or felt the cold temperature. I believe that they are between here and there, that they exist between the fourth and fifth dimension, and that they visit us frequently.


His great-grandfather, a dentist, had been a mystic
Mysticism
Mysticism is the knowledge of, and especially the personal experience of, states of consciousness, i.e. levels of being, beyond normal human perception, including experience and even communion with a supreme being.-Classical origins:...

 who had corresponded with author Sir Arthur Conan Doyle on the subject of Spiritualism, and who was a member of the Lily Dale Society.

Other than Spiritualism, Aykroyd is also interested in various other aspects of the paranormal
Paranormal
Paranormal is a general term that designates experiences that lie outside "the range of normal experience or scientific explanation" or that indicates phenomena understood to be outside of science's current ability to explain or measure...

, particularly ufology
Ufology
Ufology is a neologism coined to describe the collective efforts of those who study reports and associated evidence of unidentified flying objects . UFOs have been subject to various investigations over the years by governments, independent groups, and scientists...

. He is a lifetime member of and official Hollywood consultant for the Mutual UFO Network
Mutual UFO Network
The Mutual UFO Network is an American non-profit organization that investigates cases of reported UFO sightings. It is one of the oldest and largest UFO-investigative organizations in the United States....

. In 2005, Aykroyd produced a DVD titled, Dan Aykroyd: Unplugged on UFOs. In it, he is interviewed for 80 minutes by UFOlogist David Sereda where he discusses in depth every aspect of the UFO phenomenon, and reveals specifically that they are blue, not green, but appear that way because of a filter.

On September 29, 2009, Peter Aykroyd, father of Dan Aykroyd, published a book entitled, A History of Ghosts. This book chronicled the family's historical involvement in the Spiritualist Movement, to which Aykroyd readily refers. Aykroyd wrote the introduction and accompanied his father on a series of promotional activities, including launches in New York City and Toronto, an appearance on Larry King Live
Larry King Live
Larry King Live is an American talk show hosted by Larry King on CNN from 1985 to 2010. It was CNN's most watched and longest-running program, with over one million viewers nightly....

and various other public relations initiatives. Aykroyd also read the introduction for the audio version of the book.

Film

Year Title Role Notes
1974 Goodly/Rotten/Maple Television film, voice role
1977 Love at First Sight Roy
1979 Mr. Mike's Mondo Video
Mr. Mike's Mondo Video
Mr. Mike's Mondo Video was a 1979 movie conceived by Saturday Night Live writer/featured player Michael O'Donoghue.-Plot:Mondo Video was a spoof of the controversial 1962 documentary Mondo Cane, showing people doing weird stunts. The logo for this film copies the original Mondo Cane logo...

Jack Lord Priest
1979 1941
1941 (film)
1941 is a 1979 period comedy film directed by Steven Spielberg, written by Robert Zemeckis and Bob Gale, and featuring an ensemble cast including John Belushi, Ned Beatty, John Candy, Toshiro Mifune, Christopher Lee and Dan Aykroyd...

Sgt. Frank Tree
1980 Elwood Blues Also Writer
1981 Neighbors
Neighbors (film)
Neighbors is a 1981 film based on the book by Thomas Berger. It was released through Columbia Pictures, directed by John G. Avildsen and stars John Belushi as Earl, Dan Aykroyd as Vic , Cathy Moriarty as Ramona, Kathryn Walker as Enid, and Lauren-Marie Taylor as Elaine. The film takes liberties...

Vic
1982 It Came from Hollywood
It Came From Hollywood
It Came from Hollywood is a 1982 comedy film compiling clips from various B movies. Written by Dana Olsen and directed by Malcolm Leo and Andrew Solt, the film features wraparound segments and narration by several famous comedians, including Dan Aykroyd, John Candy, Gilda Radner, and Cheech and Chong...

Himself
1983 Doctor Detroit
Doctor Detroit
Doctor Detroit is a 1983 comedy film, written by Bruce Jay Friedman, Robert Boris and Carl Gottlieb. The film stars Dan Aykroyd, Howard Hesseman, Lynn Whitfield, Fran Drescher, and Donna Dixon, with a special appearance by James Brown. The film was directed by Michael Pressman.James Brown performed...

Clifford Skridlow/ Doctor Detroit
1983 Trading Places
Trading Places
Trading Places is a 1983 American comedy film, of the satire genre, directed by John Landis, starring Dan Aykroyd and Eddie Murphy. It tells the story of an upper class commodities broker and a homeless street hustler whose lives cross paths when they are unknowingly made part of an elaborate bet...

Louis Winthorpe III
1983 Twilight Zone: The Movie
Twilight Zone: The Movie
Twilight Zone: The Movie is a 1983 science fiction horror film produced by Steven Spielberg and John Landis as a theatrical version of The Twilight Zone, a 1959 and '60s TV series created by Rod Serling. Those starring in the film are: Dan Aykroyd, Albert Brooks, Vic Morrow, Scatman Crothers,...

Passenger/ Ambulance Driver
1984 Ghostbusters
Ghostbusters
Ghostbusters is a 1984 American science fiction comedy film directed by Ivan Reitman and written by Dan Aykroyd and Harold Ramis. The film stars Bill Murray, Dan Aykroyd, Sigourney Weaver, Harold Ramis, and Rick Moranis and follows three eccentric parapsychologists in New York City, who start a...

Dr. Raymond Stantz Also Writer
1984 Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom
Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom
Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom is a 1984 American adventure film directed by Steven Spielberg. It is the second film in the Indiana Jones franchise and prequel to Raiders of the Lost Ark . After arriving in India, Indiana Jones is asked by a desperate village to find a mystical stone...

Art Weber Cameo
1984 Nothing Lasts Forever
Nothing Lasts Forever (film)
Nothing Lasts Forever is a 1984 movie starring a number of high profile Hollywood actors. It was directed by Tom Schiller, who had previously worked on Saturday Night Live....

Buck Heller
1985 Into the Night Herb
1985 Spies Like Us
Spies Like Us
Spies Like Us is a 1985 American comedy film directed by John Landis and starring Chevy Chase, Dan Aykroyd, Steve Forrest, and Donna Dixon...

Austin Millbarge Also Writer
1987 Dragnet
Dragnet (1987 film)
Dragnet is a 1987 film comedy starring Dan Aykroyd and Tom Hanks, directed by Tom Mankiewicz, based on the television crime drama of the same name starring Jack Webb. The screenplay is written by Aykroyd, Alan Zweibel and Mankiewicz. The original music score is by Ira Newborn...

Sgt. Joe Friday
Joe Friday
Detective Sergeant Joe Friday is a fictional detective of the LAPD.-Original Series:The Joe Friday character was created and played by American actor, television producer, and writer Jack Webb on Dragnet...

1988 Caddyshack II
Caddyshack II
Caddyshack II is the 1988 sequel to the 1980 golf comedy film Caddyshack. The film stars Jackie Mason, Dan Aykroyd, Robert Stack, Dyan Cannon, Chevy Chase, Jonathan Silverman, and Jessica Lundy.-Plot:...

Capt. Tom Everett Golden Raspberry Award for Worst Supporting Actor
1988 John W. Burns, Jr.
1988 Roman Craig
1988 She's Having a Baby
She's Having a Baby
She's Having a Baby is a 1988 American romance film directed by John Hughes.The film portrays a young newlywed couple, Kristy and Jake Briggs played by Elizabeth McGovern and Kevin Bacon, who try to cope with being married and what is expected of them by their parents. Jake must also deal with the...

Roman Craig
1988 My Stepmother Is an Alien
My Stepmother Is an Alien
My Stepmother Is An Alien is a 1988 comedy science fiction film produced by the Weintraub Entertainment Group for release through Columbia Pictures, directed by Richard Benjamin and starring Kim Basinger and Dan Aykroyd, with featured performances by Jon Lovitz and Alyson Hannigan.-Plot:Celeste is...

Steven Mills
1989 "Liberian Girl
Liberian Girl
"Liberian Girl" was the ninth single to be released from Michael Jackson's 1987 album Bad. The song was written as early as 1983 and was among those considered for The Jacksons' Victory album. It was reworked and rewritten for Bad...

"
Cameo Music Video by Michael Jackson
Michael Jackson
Michael Joseph Jackson was an American recording artist, entertainer, and businessman. Referred to as the King of Pop, or by his initials MJ, Jackson is recognized as the most successful entertainer of all time by Guinness World Records...

1989 Driving Miss Daisy
Driving Miss Daisy
Driving Miss Daisy is a 1989 American comedy-drama film adapted from the Alfred Uhry play of the same name. The film was directed by Bruce Beresford, with Morgan Freeman reprising his role as Hoke Colburn and Jessica Tandy playing Miss Daisy...

Boolie Werthan Nominated — Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor
Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor
Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role is one of the Academy Awards of Merit presented annually by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to recognize an actor who has delivered an outstanding performance while working within the film industry. Since its inception, however, the...

1989 Ghostbusters II
Ghostbusters II
Ghostbusters II is a 1989 science fiction comedy film produced and directed by Ivan Reitman. It is the sequel to the 1984 film Ghostbusters and follows the further adventures of a group of parapsychologists and their organization which combats paranormal activities...

Dr. Raymond Stantz Also Writer
1990 Loose Cannons
Loose Cannons
Loose Cannons is a 1990 comedy film, written by Richard Matheson, Richard Christian Matheson, and Bob Clark, who also directed the film. The film is about a hard-nosed cop who is teamed up with a detective with multiple-personality disorder to uncover a long-lost Nazi sex tape, featuring Adolf...

Ellis Fielding
1990 Masters of Menace
Masters of Menace
-Plot:The Masters of Menace are a motorcycle club. When one of their own dies while testing his top fuel Harley, they decide to cross the country to go bury him...

Johnny Lewis
1991 My Girl
My Girl (film)
My Girl is a 1991 drama film directed by Howard Zieff and written by Laurice Elehwany. The film depicts the coming-of-age of a young girl who faces many different emotional highs and lows and stars Dan Aykroyd and Jamie Lee Curtis in their first film together since 1983's Trading Places. The film...

Harry Sultenfuss
1991 Nothing but Trouble Judge Alvin Valkenheiser/ Bobo Also Director/Writer
Golden Raspberry Award for Worst Supporting Actor
Nominated — Golden Raspberry Award for Worst Director
Nominated — Golden Raspberry Award for Worst Screenplay
1992 Chaplin Mack Sennett
Mack Sennett
Mack Sennett was a Canadian-born American director and was known as the innovator of slapstick comedy in film. During his lifetime he was known at times as the "King of Comedy"...

1992 Sneakers
Sneakers (film)
Sneakers is a 1992 caper film directed by Phil Alden Robinson, written by Robinson, Walter F. Parkes, and Lawrence Lasker and starring Robert Redford, Dan Aykroyd, Ben Kingsley, Mary McDonnell, River Phoenix, Sidney Poitier and David Strathairn...

Mother
1992 This Is My Life
This is My Life (film)
This Is My Life is a 1992 film that marked the directorial debut of screenwriter Nora Ephron. The screenplay, written by Ephron and her sister, Delia Ephron, is based on the book, This Is Your Life, by Meg Wolitzer. The film tells the story of Dottie Ingels , who works at a cosmetics counter but...

Arnold Moss
1993 Coneheads
Coneheads (film)
Coneheads is a 1993 film based on the Saturday Night Live sketches about the Coneheads. The film was directed by Steve Barron and produced by Lorne Michaels...

Beldar Conehead Also Writer
1994 Himself Documentary
1994 Exit to Eden
Exit To Eden (film)
Exit to Eden is a 1994 American comedy-thriller loosely based on the Anne Rice novel of the same name, directed by Garry Marshall and adapted to the screen by Deborah Amelon and Bob Brunner. The original music score was composed by Patrick Doyle....

Fred Lavery Nominated — Golden Raspberry Award for Worst Supporting Actor
Nominated — Golden Raspberry Award for Worst Screen Couple 
1994 My Girl 2
My Girl 2
My Girl 2 is a 1994 comedy-drama film starring Anna Chlumsky, Dan Aykroyd, Christine Ebersole, Jamie Lee Curtis, Richard Masur, Austin O'Brien, and Roland Thomson. This was a sequel to 1991's My Girl.-Plot:...

Harry Sultenfuss
1994 North
North (film)
North is an American 1994 comedy film directed by Rob Reiner, and starring Elijah Wood, Bruce Willis, Jason Alexander, Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Dan Aykroyd, Reba McEntire, and Alan Arkin...

Pa Tex Nominated — Golden Raspberry Award for Worst Supporting Actor
1995 Canadian Bacon
Canadian Bacon (film)
Canadian Bacon is a 1995 comedy film which satirizes Canada – United States relations along the Canada – United States border written, directed and produced by Michael Moore, his only non-documentary feature...

OPP Officer Cameo
1995 Casper
Casper (film)
Casper is a 1995 American comedy fantasy film starring Bill Pullman and Christina Ricci, based on the Casper the Friendly Ghost animated cartoons and comic books. The ghosts featured in the film were created through computer-generated imagery...

Dr. Raymond Stantz Cameo
1995 Dexter Voice role
1995 Tommy Boy
Tommy Boy
Tommy Boy is a 1995 road comedy film directed by Peter Segal, written by Bonnie and Terry Turner, and Fred Wolf. It stars former Saturday Night Live colleagues Chris Farley and David Spade. The film tells the story of a socially and emotionally immature man who learns lessons about friendship and...

Zalinsky
1996 Rainbow
Rainbow (1996 film)
Rainbow is a 1996 family adventure film directed by Bob Hoskins, written by Ashley Sidaway and Robert Sidaway and starring Bob Hoskins, Terry Finn, Jacob Tierney, Saul Rubinek and Dan Aykroyd...

Sheriff Wyatt Hampton
1996 Celtic Pride
Celtic Pride
Celtic Pride is a comedy film written by Judd Apatow and Colin Quinn and directed by Tom DeCerchio. It features Daniel Stern and Dan Aykroyd as Mike O'Hara and Jimmy Flaherty, two passionate Boston Celtics fans and Damon Wayans as Lewis Scott, the Utah Jazz's All-Star shooting guard.-Plot:Best...

Jimmy Flaherty
1996 Feeling Minnesota
Feeling Minnesota
Feeling Minnesota is a 1996 American romantic comedy film, starring Keanu Reeves, Vincent D'Onofrio, Cameron Diaz, Tuesday Weld and Courtney Love.-Plot summary:...

Det. Ben Costikyan
1996 My Fellow Americans
My Fellow Americans
My Fellow Americans is a 1996 American comedy film starring Jack Lemmon, Dan Aykroyd and James Garner as feuding ex-presidents. Lauren Bacall, Esther Rolle, John Heard, Wilford Brimley, Bradley Whitford and Jeff Yagher also appear in supporting performances...

President William Haney
1996 Getting Away with Murder
Getting Away with Murder (1996 film)
Getting Away with Murder is a 1996 comedy film written and directed by Harvey Miller. The film stars Dan Aykroyd, Jack Lemmon, Lily Tomlin and Bonnie Hunt.This was the final project for veteran writer and director Harvey Miller....

Jack Lambert
1996 Sgt. Bilko Colonel John T. Hall
1997 Grosse Pointe Blank
Grosse Pointe Blank
Grosse Pointe Blank is a 1997 American Black comedy film, directed by George Armitage, and starring John Cusack and Minnie Driver.In 2000, readers of Total Film magazine voted Grosse Pointe Blank the 21st greatest comedy film of all time. The film's soundtrack features mainly independent music hits...

Grocer
1998 Antz
Antz
Antz is a 1998 American computer animated action adventure film produced by DreamWorks Animation. It features the voices of well-known actors such as Woody Allen, Sharon Stone, Jennifer Lopez, Sylvester Stallone, Dan Aykroyd, Anne Bancroft, Gene Hackman, Christopher Walken, and Danny Glover as...

Chip Voice role
1998 Blues Brothers 2000
Blues Brothers 2000
Blues Brothers 2000 is a 1998 American musical comedy film that is a sequel to the 1980 film The Blues Brothers. Directed by John Landis, the film featured Dan Aykroyd and John Goodman, with cameos by many musicians.-Plot:...

Elwood Blues Also Writer/Producer
1998 Susan's Plan Bob
1999 Diamonds
Diamonds (1999 film)
Diamonds is a 1999 comedy film directed by John Mallory Asher and written by Allan Aaron Katz. The film stars Kirk Douglas, Dan Aykroyd, Lauren Bacall, Jenny McCarthy, and Corbin Allred.-Plot:...

Lance Agensky
2000 Gus
2000 Loser
Loser (film)
Loser is a 2000 American romantic comedy film starring Jason Biggs, Mena Suvari and Greg Kinnear. It is about a small town teenager who is accepted into New York University and must cope with the pressures of college life and the big city...

Dad
2000 Stardom
Stardom
Stardom is a 2000 Canadian film written by J.Jacob Potashnik & Denys Arcand and directed by Denys Arcand and starring Jessica Paré and Dan Aykroyd. It tells the story of a young girl who tries to cope with her rise to stardom after being discovered by a fashion agency...

Barry Levine
2001 Chris Magruder
2001 Evolution
Evolution (film)
Evolution is a 2001 American science fiction comedy film directed by Ivan Reitman and starring David Duchovny, Orlando Jones, Seann William Scott, Julianne Moore and Ted Levine...

Governor Lewis
2001 Himself Documentary
2001 On the Nose
On the Nose (film)
On the Nose is an Irish / Canadian comedy, fantasy film released in 2001. It was written by Tony Philpott and stars Dan Aykroyd and Robbie Coltrane in a magical comedy where a long dead Australian aboriginal's head is used to predict winners in horse races...

Dr. Barry Davis
2001 Pearl Harbor
Pearl Harbor (film)
Pearl Harbor is a 2001 American action drama war film directed by Michael Bay and produced by Jerry Bruckheimer and Randall Wallace, who wrote the screenplay...

Capt. Thurman
2002 Crossroads
Crossroads (2002 film)
Crossroads is a 2002 comedy-drama road film directed by Tamra Davis and starring American recording artist Britney Spears, Zoe Saldana and Taryn Manning...

Pete Wagner
2002 Unconditional Love Max Beasly
2003 Bright Young Things
Bright Young Things
Bright Young Things is a 2003 British drama film written and directed by Stephen Fry. The screenplay, based on the 1930 novel Vile Bodies by Evelyn Waugh, provides satirical social commentary about the Bright Young People: young and carefree London aristocrats and bohemians, as well as society in...

Lord Monomark
2004 Christmas with the Kranks
Christmas with the Kranks
Christmas with the Kranks is a 2004 American comedy film directed by Joe Roth and starring Tim Allen and Jamie Lee Curtis. The screenplay by Chris Columbus is based on the 2001 novel Skipping Christmas by John Grisham.-Plot:...

Vic Frohmeyer
2004 Shortcut to Happiness Julius Jenson
2004 50 First Dates
50 First Dates
50 First Dates is a 2004 American romantic comedy film directed by Peter Segal and written by George Wing. The film stars Adam Sandler as a woman-chasing veterinarian and Drew Barrymore as an amnesiac, along with Rob Schneider, Sean Astin, Lusia Strus, Blake Clark, and Dan Aykroyd.Most of the film...

Dr. Keats
2004 Intern Academy
Intern Academy
Intern Academy is a 2004 Canadian comedy film written and directed by Dave Thomas. It has several alternative titles including working titles An Intern's Diary, Whitecoats and Interns. In Canada, its English title is Intern Academy, while its French title is Médecin en herbe. The US DVD title is...

Dr. Cyrill Kipp
2007 I Now Pronounce You Chuck & Larry Captain Tucker
2010 Yogi Bear
Yogi Bear (film)
Yogi Bear is a 2010 American live-action film adaptation of the Hanna-Barbera cartoon series The Yogi Bear Show directed by Eric Brevig. The film stars Dan Aykroyd, Justin Timberlake, Tom Cavanagh, Anna Faris, T. J. Miller, Nate Corddry, and Andrew Daly....

Yogi Bear
Yogi Bear
Yogi Bear is a fictional bear who appears in animated cartoons created by Hanna-Barbera Productions. He made his debut in 1958 as a supporting character in The Huckleberry Hound Show. Yogi Bear was the first breakout character created by Hanna-Barbera, and was eventually more popular than...

Voice and motion-capture

Television

Year Title Role First episode Notes
1975 Coming Up Rosie
Coming Up Rosie
Coming Up Rosie was a Canadian children's sitcom TV series on CBC Television, aired for three seasons from 1975–1978.-Premise:The show focused on a group of tenants in an office building located at 99 Sumach Street, Toronto. The title character, Rosie Tucker, was played by Rosemary Radcliffe...

Purvis Bickle unknown
1975–79 Saturday Night Live
Saturday Night Live
Saturday Night Live is a live American late-night television sketch comedy and variety show developed by Lorne Michaels and Dick Ebersol. The show premiered on NBC on October 11, 1975, under the original title of NBC's Saturday Night.The show's sketches often parody contemporary American culture...

Various "Episode 1.1" Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Writing in a Comedy-Variety, Variety or Music Series
Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Writing for a Variety, Music or Comedy Program
The Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Writing for a Variety, Music or Comedy Program debuted in 1957, and has been annually awarded most years since 1964. It has had many slight name changes, mostly involving the addition or subtraction of the word comedy. Generally, the category has...

 (1977, nominated 1978–79)
Nominated — Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Continuing or Single Performance by a Supporting Actor in Variety or Music
Primetime Emmy Award for Individual Performance In A Variety Or Music Program
This is a list of winners of the Primetime Emmy Award for Individual Performance In A Variety Or Music Program. Awards in this category from 1974 through 1978 were presented for Outstanding Supporting Actor or Actress in A Variety Show or Special...

 (1978)
1976 Cop Television film, also writer
1978 All You Need Is Cash
All You Need Is Cash
All You Need Is Cash is a 1978 television film that traces the career of a fictitious British rock group called The Rutles...

Brian Thigh Television film
1986–91 Creator
1990 Various "Episode 1.2" 1 episode
1990 It's Garry Shandling's Show
It's Garry Shandling's Show
It's Garry Shandling's Show is an American sitcom which was initially broadcast on Showtime from 1986 to 1990. It was created by Garry Shandling and Alan Zweibel. The show is notable for its frequent use of breaking the fourth wall to allow characters to speak directly to the audience...

Boolie Shandling "Driving Miss Garry" 1 episode
1991 Tales from the Crypt
Tales from the Crypt (TV series)
Tales from the Crypt, sometimes titled HBO's Tales from the Crypt, is an American horror anthology television series that ran from 1989 to 1996 on the premium cable channel HBO...

Captain Mulligan "Yellow" 1 episode
1994 Repair Man "Sunday in the Park with Fran" 1 episode
1995 Kesley Grammar Salutes Jack Benny Himself Television special
1996–2000 PSI Factor: Chronicles of the Paranormal
Psi Factor: Chronicles of the Paranormal
Psi Factor: Chronicles of the Paranormal is a Canadian science fiction drama television series which was filmed in and around Toronto, Ontario, Canada, and aired 88 episodes over four seasons from 1996 to 2000...

Host "John Doe" 88 episodes
1997 Crawford Gordon Television film, also creative consultant
1997 Home Improvement Rev. Mike Walker "Losing My Religion" 1 episode
1997 Soul Man
Soul Man (TV series)
Soul Man is an American sitcom that aired on ABC in 1997 that lasted two seasons and starred Dan Aykroyd.The series premiered on April 15, 1997, and was picked up for a second season of 22 episodes after only three episodes aired for the first season...

Rev. Mike Weber "Grabbed By An Angel" 25 episodes
2001 Earth vs. the Spider
Earth vs. the Spider (2001 film)
Earth vs. the Spider is a 2001 horror-thriller television film directed by Scott Ziehl. It is part of a series of films made for Cinemax paying tribute to the films of American International Pictures...

Det. Insp. Jack Grillo Television film
2001 History's Mysteries Narrator "The Children's Crusade" 1 episode
2002 According to Jim
According to Jim
According to Jim is an American sitcom television series starring Jim Belushi in the title role as a suburban father of three children. It originally ran on ABC from October 3, 2001 to June 2, 2009.-Synopsis:Jim is an abrasive but lovable suburban father...

Danny Michalsky "Old Friends" 5 episodes
2009 Family Guy
Family Guy
Family Guy is an American animated television series created by Seth MacFarlane for the Fox Broadcasting Company. The series centers on the Griffins, a dysfunctional family consisting of parents Peter and Lois; their children Meg, Chris, and Stewie; and their anthropomorphic pet dog Brian...

Himself "Spies Reminiscent of Us
Spies Reminiscent of Us
"Spies Reminiscent of Us" is the third episode of the eighth season of the animated comedy series Family Guy. It originally aired on Fox in the United States on October 11, 2009...

"
1 episode
2009 X-Play
X-Play
X-Play is a TV program about video games, known for its reviews and comedy skits...

Himself "Quit Givin' Me the Bug Eye, Valkyrie" 1 episode
2011 Judge Max Hunter "Nevada v. Doug the Mule" 2 episodes

Guest appearances on SNL

Date Episode number Host/ Musical guest Role
13.11 Justine Bateman
Justine Bateman
Justine Tanya Bateman is an American actress, writer, and producer. She is best known for her regular role as Mallory Keaton on the sitcom Family Ties...

/ Terrance Trent D'Arby
Bob Dole
Bob Dole
Robert Joseph "Bob" Dole is an American attorney and politician. Dole represented Kansas in the United States Senate from 1969 to 1996, was Gerald Ford's Vice Presidential running mate in the 1976 presidential election, and was Senate Majority Leader from 1985 to 1987 and in 1995 and 1996...

18.20 Kevin Kline
Kevin Kline
Kevin Delaney Kline is an American theatre, voice, film actor and comedian. He has won an Academy Award and two Tony Awards, and has been nominated for five Golden Globe Awards, two BAFTA Awards and an Emmy Award.- Early life :...

/ Willie Nelson
Willie Nelson
Willie Hugh Nelson is an American country music singer-songwriter, as well as an author, poet, actor, and activist. The critical success of the album Shotgun Willie , combined with the critical and commercial success of Red Headed Stranger and Stardust , made Nelson one of the most recognized...

 and Paul Simon
Paul Simon
Paul Frederic Simon is an American singer-songwriter and guitarist.Simon is best known for his success, beginning in 1965, as part of the duo Simon & Garfunkel, with musical partner Art Garfunkel. Simon wrote most of the pair's songs, including three that reached number one on the US singles...

Bob Dole
Bob Dole
Robert Joseph "Bob" Dole is an American attorney and politician. Dole represented Kansas in the United States Senate from 1969 to 1996, was Gerald Ford's Vice Presidential running mate in the 1976 presidential election, and was Senate Majority Leader from 1985 to 1987 and in 1995 and 1996...

20.16 John Goodman
John Goodman
John Stephen Goodman is an American film, television, and stage actor. He is best known for his role as Dan Conner on the television series Roseanne for which he won a Best Actor Golden Globe Award in 1993, and for appearances in the films of the Coen brothers, with prominent roles in Raising...

/ The Tragically Hip
The Tragically Hip
The Tragically Hip, often referred to simply as The Hip, is a Canadian rock band from Kingston, Ontario, consisting of Gordon Downie , Paul Langlois , Rob Baker , Gord Sinclair and Johnny Fay . Since their formation in 1983 they have released 12 studio albums, two live albums, and 46 singles...

Bob Dole
Bob Dole
Robert Joseph "Bob" Dole is an American attorney and politician. Dole represented Kansas in the United States Senate from 1969 to 1996, was Gerald Ford's Vice Presidential running mate in the 1976 presidential election, and was Senate Majority Leader from 1985 to 1987 and in 1995 and 1996...

, Elwood Blues, Irwin Mainway, Tom Snyder
Tom Snyder
Thomas James "Tom" Snyder was an American television personality, news anchor and radio personality best known for his late night talk shows The Tomorrow Show, on the NBC television network in the 1970s and 1980s, and The Late Late Show, on the CBS Television Network in the 1990s...

, Rush Limbaugh
Rush Limbaugh
Rush Hudson Limbaugh III is an American radio talk show host, conservative political commentator, and an opinion leader in American conservatism. He hosts The Rush Limbaugh Show which is aired throughout the U.S. on Premiere Radio Networks and is the highest-rated talk-radio program in the United...

, Robert Stack
Robert Stack
Robert Stack was an American actor. In addition to acting in more than 40 films, he was the star of the 1959-1963 ABC television series The Untouchables and later served as the host of Unsolved Mysteries.-Early life:...

, miner
23.14 John Goodman
John Goodman
John Stephen Goodman is an American film, television, and stage actor. He is best known for his role as Dan Conner on the television series Roseanne for which he won a Best Actor Golden Globe Award in 1993, and for appearances in the films of the Coen brothers, with prominent roles in Raising...

/ Paula Cole
Paula Cole
Paula Cole is an American singer/songwriter. Her single "Where Have All the Cowboys Gone" reached the top ten of the Billboard Hot 100 in 1997, and the following year she won a Grammy Award for Best New Artist.-Early life:...

Bob Dole
Bob Dole
Robert Joseph "Bob" Dole is an American attorney and politician. Dole represented Kansas in the United States Senate from 1969 to 1996, was Gerald Ford's Vice Presidential running mate in the 1976 presidential election, and was Senate Majority Leader from 1985 to 1987 and in 1995 and 1996...

, Elwood Blues, Irwin Mainway, Ernesto
24.1 Cameron Diaz
Cameron Diaz
Cameron Michelle Diaz is an American actress and former model. She became famous during the 1990s with roles in the movies The Mask, My Best Friend's Wedding, and There's Something About Mary. Other high-profile credits include the two Charlie's Angels films, voicing the character Princess Fiona...

/ The Smashing Pumpkins
The Smashing Pumpkins
The Smashing Pumpkins are an American alternative rock band that formed in Chicago, Illinois in 1988. Formed by Billy Corgan frontman and James Iha , the band has included Jimmy Chamberlin , D'arcy Wretzky , and currently includes Jeff Schroeder Mike Byrne , and Nicole Fiorentino The Smashing...

Yortuk Festrunk
27.4 John Goodman
John Goodman
John Stephen Goodman is an American film, television, and stage actor. He is best known for his role as Dan Conner on the television series Roseanne for which he won a Best Actor Golden Globe Award in 1993, and for appearances in the films of the Coen brothers, with prominent roles in Raising...

/ Ja Rule
Ja Rule
Jeffrey Atkins , better known by his stage name Ja Rule, is an American rapper, singer, and actor.Born in Hollis, Queens, he began his career in the group Cash Money Click and debuted in 1999 with Venni Vetti Vecci and its single "Holla Holla"...

Dr. Keith Vester, Elwood Blues, Leonard Pinth-Garnell
27.12 Britney Spears
Britney Spears
Britney Jean Spears is an American recording artist and entertainer. Born in McComb, Mississippi, and raised in Kentwood, Louisiana, Spears began performing as a child, landing acting roles in stage productions and television shows. She signed with Jive Records in 1997 and released her debut album...

Mormon, Judge Lindenwell
28.14 Queen Latifah
Queen Latifah
Dana Elaine Owens , better known by her stage name Queen Latifah, is an American singer, rapper, and actress. Her work in music, film and television has earned her a Golden Globe award, two Screen Actors Guild Awards, two Image Awards, a Grammy Award, six additional Grammy nominations, an Emmy...

/ Ms. Dynamite
Ms. Dynamite
Niomi Arleen McLean-Daley , who performs as Ms. Dynamite, is a double BRIT Award and three time MOBO Awards winning UK garage, R&B and hip hop singer and rapper.-Biography:...

Bob Dole
Bob Dole
Robert Joseph "Bob" Dole is an American attorney and politician. Dole represented Kansas in the United States Senate from 1969 to 1996, was Gerald Ford's Vice Presidential running mate in the 1976 presidential election, and was Senate Majority Leader from 1985 to 1987 and in 1995 and 1996...

28.20 Himself/ Beyoncé
Beyoncé Knowles
Beyoncé Giselle Knowles , often known simply as Beyoncé, is an American singer, songwriter, record producer, and actress. Born and raised in Houston, Texas, she enrolled in various performing arts schools and was first exposed to singing and dancing competitions as a child...

Andrew Card
Andrew Card
Andrew Hill Card, Jr. is a Republican American politician, former United States Cabinet member, and head of President George W. Bush's White House Iraq Group. Card served as U.S. Secretary of Transportation under President George H. W. Bush and the White House Chief of Staff under George W. Bush...

, Patrick Fitzpatrick, Donnie "The Finger" Dabinski, biker, Esteban, chief science officer, Butch, Sam Elliot
32.16 Peyton Manning
Peyton Manning
Peyton Williams Manning is an American football quarterback for the Indianapolis Colts of the National Football League . Manning holds the record for most NFL MVP awards with four. He was drafted by the Colts as the first overall pick in 1998 after a standout college football career with the...

/ Carrie Underwood
Carrie Underwood
Carrie Marie Underwood is an American country singer-songwriter and actress who rose to fame as the winner of the fourth season of American Idol, in 2005...

Himself
34.16 Alec Baldwin
Alec Baldwin
Alexander Rae "Alec" Baldwin III is an American actor who has appeared on film, stage, and television.Baldwin first gained recognition through television for his work in the soap opera Knots Landing in the role of Joshua Rush. He was a cast member for two seasons before his character was killed off...

/ The Jonas Brothers
John Boehner
John Boehner
John Andrew Boehner is the 61st and current Speaker of the United States House of Representatives. A member of the Republican Party, he is the U.S. Representative from , serving since 1991...


Highest grossing films

Rank Film Year Gross Budget
1. Pearl Harbor
Pearl Harbor (film)
Pearl Harbor is a 2001 American action drama war film directed by Michael Bay and produced by Jerry Bruckheimer and Randall Wallace, who wrote the screenplay...

2001 $449,220,945 $135,000,000
2. Ghostbusters
Ghostbusters
Ghostbusters is a 1984 American science fiction comedy film directed by Ivan Reitman and written by Dan Aykroyd and Harold Ramis. The film stars Bill Murray, Dan Aykroyd, Sigourney Weaver, Harold Ramis, and Rick Moranis and follows three eccentric parapsychologists in New York City, who start a...

1984 $291,600,000 $30,000,000
3. Ghostbusters II
Ghostbusters II
Ghostbusters II is a 1989 science fiction comedy film produced and directed by Ivan Reitman. It is the sequel to the 1984 film Ghostbusters and follows the further adventures of a group of parapsychologists and their organization which combats paranormal activities...

1989 $215,394,738 $25,000,000
4. Yogi Bear
Yogi Bear
Yogi Bear is a fictional bear who appears in animated cartoons created by Hanna-Barbera Productions. He made his debut in 1958 as a supporting character in The Huckleberry Hound Show. Yogi Bear was the first breakout character created by Hanna-Barbera, and was eventually more popular than...

2010 $201,584,141 $80,000,000
5. Antz
Antz
Antz is a 1998 American computer animated action adventure film produced by DreamWorks Animation. It features the voices of well-known actors such as Woody Allen, Sharon Stone, Jennifer Lopez, Sylvester Stallone, Dan Aykroyd, Anne Bancroft, Gene Hackman, Christopher Walken, and Danny Glover as...

1998 $171,757,863 $60,000,000
6. Driving Miss Daisy 1989 $145,793,296 $7,500,000
7. Sneakers
Sneakers (film)
Sneakers is a 1992 caper film directed by Phil Alden Robinson, written by Robinson, Walter F. Parkes, and Lawrence Lasker and starring Robert Redford, Dan Aykroyd, Ben Kingsley, Mary McDonnell, River Phoenix, Sidney Poitier and David Strathairn...

1992 $105,232,691 Unknown
8. Trading Places
Trading Places
Trading Places is a 1983 American comedy film, of the satire genre, directed by John Landis, starring Dan Aykroyd and Eddie Murphy. It tells the story of an upper class commodities broker and a homeless street hustler whose lives cross paths when they are unknowingly made part of an elaborate bet...

1983 $97,333,523 $28,000,000
9. 1941
1941 (film)
1941 is a 1979 period comedy film directed by Steven Spielberg, written by Robert Zemeckis and Bob Gale, and featuring an ensemble cast including John Belushi, Ned Beatty, John Candy, Toshiro Mifune, Christopher Lee and Dan Aykroyd...

1979 $92,755,742 $35,000,000
10. Spies Like Us
Spies Like Us
Spies Like Us is a 1985 American comedy film directed by John Landis and starring Chevy Chase, Dan Aykroyd, Steve Forrest, and Donna Dixon...

1985 $70,648,171 $20,000,000
11. The Blues Brothers
The Blues Brothers (film)
The Blues Brothers is a 1980 musical comedy film directed by John Landis and starring John Belushi and Dan Aykroyd as "Joliet" Jake and Elwood Blues, characters developed from a musical sketch on the NBC variety series Saturday Night Live. It features musical numbers by R&B and soul singers James...

1980 $115,229,890 $27,000,000
12. My Girl
My Girl (film)
My Girl is a 1991 drama film directed by Howard Zieff and written by Laurice Elehwany. The film depicts the coming-of-age of a young girl who faces many different emotional highs and lows and stars Dan Aykroyd and Jamie Lee Curtis in their first film together since 1983's Trading Places. The film...

1991 $59,847,242 $17,000,000
13. Dragnet
Dragnet (1987 film)
Dragnet is a 1987 film comedy starring Dan Aykroyd and Tom Hanks, directed by Tom Mankiewicz, based on the television crime drama of the same name starring Jack Webb. The screenplay is written by Aykroyd, Alan Zweibel and Mankiewicz. The original music score is by Ira Newborn...

1987 $57,387,516 $20,000,000
14. The Great Outdoors 1988 $41,455,230 $24,000,000
15. Twilight Zone: The Movie
Twilight Zone: The Movie
Twilight Zone: The Movie is a 1983 science fiction horror film produced by Steven Spielberg and John Landis as a theatrical version of The Twilight Zone, a 1959 and '60s TV series created by Rod Serling. Those starring in the film are: Dan Aykroyd, Albert Brooks, Vic Morrow, Scatman Crothers,...

1983 $29,500,000 $10,000,000
16. Neighbors
Neighbors (film)
Neighbors is a 1981 film based on the book by Thomas Berger. It was released through Columbia Pictures, directed by John G. Avildsen and stars John Belushi as Earl, Dan Aykroyd as Vic , Cathy Moriarty as Ramona, Kathryn Walker as Enid, and Lauren-Marie Taylor as Elaine. The film takes liberties...

1981 $28,732,057 $8,500,000
17. She's Having a Baby
She's Having a Baby
She's Having a Baby is a 1988 American romance film directed by John Hughes.The film portrays a young newlywed couple, Kristy and Jake Briggs played by Elizabeth McGovern and Kevin Bacon, who try to cope with being married and what is expected of them by their parents. Jake must also deal with the...

1988 $16,031,707 Unknown
18. Caddyshack II
Caddyshack II
Caddyshack II is the 1988 sequel to the 1980 golf comedy film Caddyshack. The film stars Jackie Mason, Dan Aykroyd, Robert Stack, Dyan Cannon, Chevy Chase, Jonathan Silverman, and Jessica Lundy.-Plot:...

1988 $11,798,302 $20,000,000
19. The Couch Trip
The Couch Trip
The Couch Trip is a 1988 comedy film directed by Michael Ritchie. It stars Dan Aykroyd, Walter Matthau, Charles Grodin and Donna Dixon.-Plot:...

1988 $11,005,304 Unknown
20. Doctor Detroit
Doctor Detroit
Doctor Detroit is a 1983 comedy film, written by Bruce Jay Friedman, Robert Boris and Carl Gottlieb. The film stars Dan Aykroyd, Howard Hesseman, Lynn Whitfield, Fran Drescher, and Donna Dixon, with a special appearance by James Brown. The film was directed by Michael Pressman.James Brown performed...

1983 $10,800,000 $8,000,000

See also

  • List of celebrities who own wineries and vineyards
  • Saturday Night Live cast
    Saturday Night Live cast
    The following is a list of Saturday Night Live cast members, past and present. The cast members of Saturday Night Live are often referred to as the "Not Ready For Prime Time Players".-List of cast members:...

  • Crystal Head Vodka
    Crystal Head Vodka
    Crystal Head Vodka is a premium vodka manufactured by Globefill Inc. in Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada. The vodka was co-founded by actor Dan Aykroyd and artist John Alexandar. The vodka is quadruple-distilled, triple-filtered through charcoal and triple-filtered through Herkimer diamond crystals...


Further reading

  • Hill, Doug, and Weingrad, Jeff, Saturday Night: A Backstage History of Saturday Night Live. Vintage Books, 1986. ISBN 0-394-75053-5.

External links

  • Dan Aykroyd at Psiberific Dan Aykroyd, host of Psi Factor: Chronicles of the Paranormal.
  • Dan Aykroyd and MUFON
  • Dan Aykroyd, Still Full of the 'Blues' – interview on NPR's Fresh Air
    Fresh Air
    Fresh Air is an American radio talk show broadcast on National Public Radio stations across the United States. The show is produced by WHYY-FM in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Its longtime host is Terry Gross. , the show was syndicated to 450 stations and claimed 4.5 million listeners. The show...

     with Terry Gross
    Terry Gross
    Terry Gross is the host and co-executive producer of Fresh Air, an interview format radio show produced by WHYY-FM in Philadelphia and distributed throughout the United States by National Public Radio....

     – originally aired Nov. 22, 2004
  • Dan Aykroyd Unplugged on UFOs (2005) – video.google.com
  • Covent Garden Radio London UK hosts of The House of Blues Show
The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.  The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.
 
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