Stiller was born in New York City. Stiller's father is Jewish and his mother, who is of Irish Catholic background, converted to Judaism after marrying his father. His parents frequently took him on the sets of their appearances, including an appearance on The Mike Douglas Show when he was six. He admitted in an interview that he considered his childhood unusual: "In some ways, it was a show-business Read more...

He landed a role in the Broadway revival of John Guare's The House of Blue Leaves, alongside John Mahoney, a play which later garnered four Tonys. During its run, Stiller produced a satirical mockumentary whose principal was fellow actor Mahoney. His comedic work was so well received by the cast and crew of the play that he followed up with a 10 minute short called "The Hustler of Money", a parody Read more...

MTV was so impressed with Back to Brooklyn that they offered Producer Jim Jones and Director Stiller (aka No Puzzle Productions) a 13-episode show in the experimental "vid-com" format entitled The Ben Stiller Show, mixing short comedy sketches with popular music videos. It was one of five such shows that MTV planned in this format, designed to take over after the end of the long run of "Remote Control". Read more...