William Thomas Hader Jr. (born June 7, 1978) is an American actor, comedian, writer, producer, and director. Hader first gained widespread attention for his eight-year stint as a cast member on the long-running NBC sketch comedy series Saturday Night Live from 2005 to 2013, for which he received four Primetime Emmy Award nominations and a Peabody Award. He became known for his impressions and especially for his work on the Weekend Update segments, in which he played Stefon Meyers, a flamboyant New York tour guide who recommends unusual nightclubs and parties with bizarre characters with unusual tastes.
Hader is currently the creator, producer, writer, director, and star of the HBO dark comedy series Barry (2018–present), for which he has been nominated for eight Emmy Awards, winning two. He is also the star and producer of the IFC mockumentary comedy series Documentary Now! (2015–present) which he co-created along with Fred Armisen and Seth Meyers.
Hader has had supporting roles in the films You, Me and Dupree (2006), Hot Rod (2007), Superbad (2007), Forgetting Sarah Marshall (2008), Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian, (2009), Paul (2011), This Is 40 (2012), and 22 Jump Street (2014), as well as leading roles in The Skeleton Twins (2014), Trainwreck (2015), and as an adult Richie Tozier in It Chapter Two (2019).
He also is known for his extensive work in voice-over, portraying both leading and supporting characters in films such as the Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs franchise (2009–2013), Turbo (2013), Inside Out (2015), The BFG (2016), Power Rangers (2017), Toy Story 4 (2019) and Lightyear (2022).
Early life :
Hader was born in Tulsa, Oklahoma, on June 7, 1978, the son of dance teacher Sherri Renee (née Patton) (b. 1956) and air cargo company owner, restaurant manager, truck driver, and occasional stand-up comedian William Thomas Hader Sr (b. 1953). He has two younger sisters named Katie and Kara. His ancestry includes Danish, English, German, and Irish. Hader attended Patrick Henry Elementary School, Edison Junior High, and Cascia Hall Preparatory School. He grew up with writer Duffy Boudreau, with whom he would later collaborate. He says he "had a hard time focusing in class" and "was always joking around". With a feeling of not fitting in, he filled his time watching movies and reading. He appreciated Monty Python, British comedy, and the films of Woody Allen and Mel Brooks, originally being shown many of these by his father. He made short films with friends and starred in a school production of The Glass Menagerie. He was unable to gain admission to top film schools because of his "abysmal" grades, so he instead enrolled at The Art Institute of Phoenix, and later Scottsdale Community College. His first job was as a Christmas tree salesman. He also worked as an usher at a Tempe cinema, which allowed him to see films for free, but he was fired for spoiling the ending of Titanic (1997) for unruly viewers. At Scottsdale Community College, he met Nicholas Jasenovec, who later directed Paper Heart (2009).
