Bill Murray Biography

The fifth of nine children, Bill Murray left behind the Jesuit Priest-run Regis College in Denver after only one year and started supporting himself at odd jobs. But an audition for Chicago's Second City comedy troupe bore fruit on his second try and he became a member of the company. Later he teamed up with John Belushi, Gilda Radner and Dan Aykroyd in The National Lampoon Radio Show which indirectly led to his being hired as part of the cast, along with others mentioned above, for the television comedy sketch series, Saturday Night Live.

Usually playing a disheveled character in his feature films who seems to not be altogether there, Bill says, "It would be too embarrassing to tell you a typical day in my life. I couldn't tell you that I scrub my teeth every day. I mean, I probably do, but I couldn't swear to it."

As for the success that has come his way, he says, "No one is raised by their parents to be prepared for what happens when you become famous."

"But you have to assume there's some reason for doing this job, to keep doing it. Most people do it by accident: they have no intention, they weren't trained for it, it just happened. So all of a sudden, here you are: you're successful at it and now what the hell do you do?"

In 2004, Bill Murray grew even more successful when he won a Golden Globe award and earned his first Oscar nomination ever for his outstanding performance as an American actor in Japan who meets a much younger woman in Sofia Coppola's Lost in Translation (2003). Since then he's appeared on the big screen in films such as the comedy Get Smart (2008) with Steve Carell, Get Low (2010) with Robert Duvall, Moonrise Kingdom (2012) with Bruce Willis and Edward Norton and Hyde Park on Hudson (2012) alongside Laura Linney and Olivia Williams. He also starred in the critically acclaimed St. Vincent (2014), provided the voice for Balou the bear in The Jungle Book (2016), and made a cameo appearance in the comedy reboot Ghostbusters (2016) starring Melissa McCarthy and Kristen Wiig.

Not yet done with Ghostbusters reboots/sequels, he reprised his role as Dr. Peter Venkman in Ghostbusters: Afterlife (2021) and Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire (2024).

Bill has two children with his first wife, Mickey Kelley, and four children with second wife, Jennifer Butler, who filed for divorce from Bill in 2008.

Filmography:

Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire (2024)
Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania (2023)
The Greatest Beer Run Ever (2022)
Ghostbusters: Afterlife (2021)
The French Dispatch (2021)
On the Rocks (2020)
Zombieland: Double Tap (2019)
The Dead Don't Die (2019)
Isle of Dogs (2018)
Ghostbusters (2016)
The Jungle Book (2016)
Aloha (2015)
Rock the Kasbah (2015)
Ghostbusters: 30th Anniversary (2014)
The Grand Budapest Hotel (2014)
The Monuments Men (2014)
St. Vincent (2014)
A Glimpse Inside the Mind of Charles Swan III (2013)
Hyde Park on Hudson (2012)
Moonrise Kingdom (2012)
Passion Play (2010)
Get Low (2010)
Fantastic Mr. Fox (2009) (voice)
The Limits of Control (2009)
City of Ember (2008)
Get Smart (2008)
The Darjeeling Limited (2007)
Garfield's A Tale of Two Kitties (2006) (voice)
The Lost City (2006)
Broken Flowers (2005)
The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou (2004)
Garfield: The Movie (2004) (voice)
Coffee and Cigarettes (2004)
Lost in Translation (2003)
The Royal Tenenbaums (2001)
Ocean's Eleven (2001)
Osmosis Jones (2001)
Speaking of Sex (2001)
Charlie's Angels (2000)
Veeck As In Wreck (2000)
Michael Jordan to the Max (2000)
Company Man (2000)
Hamlet (2000)
Scout's Honor (1999)
Cradle Will Rock (1999)
Wild Things (1998)
Rushmore (1998)
With Friends Like These... (1998)
The Man Who Knew Too Little (1997)
Space Jam (1996) (uncredited)
Larger Than Life (1996)
Kingpin (1996)
Ed Wood (1994)
Groundhog Day (1993)
Mad Dog and Glory (1993)
What About Bob? (1991)
Quick Change (1990) [Also Director and Producer]
Ghostbusters II (1989)
Scrooged (1988)
She's Having a Baby (1988) (uncredited)
Little Shop of Horrors (1986)
Ghostbusters (1984)
Nothing Lasts Forever (1984)
The Razor's Edge (1984) [Also Writer]
Tootsie (1982)
Stripes (1981)
Loose Shoes (1980)
Caddyshack (1980)
Where the Buffalo Roam (1980)
Meatballs (1979)
Mr. Mike's Mondo Video (1979)