Bill Murray is an American actor, comedian and writer. The fifth of nine children, he was born William James Murray in Wilmette, Illinois, to Lucille (Collins), a mailroom clerk, and Edward Joseph Murray II, who sold lumber. He is of Irish descent. Among his siblings are actors Brian Doyle-Murray, Joel Murray, and John Murray. He and most of his siblings worked as caddies, which paid his tuition to Loyola Academy, a Jesuit school. He played sports and did some acting while in that school, but in his words, mostly "screwed off." He enrolled at Regis College in Denver to study pre-med but dropped out after being arrested for marijuana possession. He then joined the National Lampoon Radio Hour with fellow members Dan Aykroyd, Gilda Radner, and John Belushi. However, while those three became the original members of Saturday Night Live (1975), he joined Saturday Night Live with Howard Cosell (1975), which premiered that same year. After that show failed, he later got the opportunity to join Saturday Night Live (1975), for which he earned his first Emmy Award for Outstanding Writing in a Comedy-Variety or Music Series. He later went on to star in comedy films, including Meatballs (1979), Caddyshack (1980), Stripes (1981), Tootsie (1982), Ghostbusters (1984), Ghostbusters II (1989), Scrooged (1988), What About Bob? (1991), and Groundhog Day (1993). He also co-directed Quick Change (1990). Murray garnered additional critical acclaim later in his career, starring in Lost in Translation (2003), which earned him a Golden Globe and a BAFTA Award for Best Actor, as well as an Academy Award nomination for Best Actor. He also received Golden Globe nominations for his roles in Ghostbusters, Rushmore (1998), Hyde Park on Hudson (2012), St. Vincent (2014), and the HBO miniseries Olive Kitteridge (2014), for which he later won his second Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Limited Series or a Movie.

Bill Murray at an event for Broken Flowers (2005)

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Bill Murray, Richard Benjamin, and Laraine Newman in Saturday Night Live (1975)

Bill Murray, Teri Garr, Jane Curtin, Tom Davis, James Downey, and Brian Doyle-Murray in Downey Wrote That (2025)

Bill Murray, Buck Henry, and Gilda Radner in Downey Wrote That (2025)

Bill Murray and John Candy in John Candy: I Like Me (2025)

Bill Murray, Christopher Guest, and Brian Doyle-Murray in Saturday Night Live with Howard Cosell (1975)

Bill Murray and Naomi Watts in Naomi Watts & Bill Murray (2025)

Bill Murray and Naomi Watts in The Friend (2024)

Bill Murray in Hyde Park on Hudson (2012)

Bill Murray in The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou (2004)

Scarlett Johansson in Lost in Translation (2003)

Bill Murray, Jason Schwartzman, and Olivia Williams in Rushmore (1998)

Jeff Goldblum, Bill Murray, Willem Dafoe, Cate Blanchett, Bud Cort, Anjelica Huston, Michael Gambon, and Owen Wilson in The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou (2004)

Bill Murray vs. Zombies? We're Dying for 'The Dead Don't Die'

Bill Murray(I)

Bill Murray(I)

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