Will Forte

Orville Willis Forte IV ( ; born June 17, 1970) is an American actor, comedian, writer, and producer. He was a cast member and writer on the NBC sketch comedy series Saturday Night Live for eight seasons from 2002 to 2010. His most famous recurring character was a parody of MacGyver named MacGruber; he reprised that role in the film adaptation, MacGruber; and the limited series of the same name in 2021.

Forte also created and starred in the sitcom The Last Man on Earth (2015–2018). For the series, he received three Primetime Emmy Award nominations: two for acting and one for writing. He played various roles in comedy films, before starring in the drama film Nebraska (2013). Forte has also voiced characters in numerous animated productions, including the Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs films, Abraham Lincoln in Clone High and the Lego Movie franchise, and Shaggy Rogers in Scoob! (2020).

Early life Orville Willis Forte IV was born on June 17, 1970, in Alameda, California, a city in the San Francisco Bay Area. His mother, Patricia, is an artist and former schoolteacher; He went by "Billy" in his early years until he was teased at school for it also being a girl's name. At that point, he chose to be known as "Will." He was interested in comedy from a young age, growing up idolizing comedians Peter Sellers, David Letterman, and Steve Martin as well as the sketch-comedy television series Saturday Night Live. He had no ambitions for a television or film career, though his mother noticed a "creative streak" in him.

After high school, he attended the University of California, Los Angeles, where he was a member of the Lambda Chi Alpha fraternity and completed a degree in history. Forte wanted to become a financial broker like his father at Smith Barney Shearson, but felt "miserable" there.

Forte left New York and returned to Los Angeles, where he began performing with the Groundlings' Main Company, with Cheryl Hines, Jim Rash, and Maya Rudolph. To his surprise, he was offered a chance to be on the show, but declined, opting instead for the financial stability of his work at That '70s Show. He felt working for SNL could not live up to the idealized version he had dreamed of, but he later realized he would be making a mistake. His only role was often Bush, leaving him no chance for more "absurd" pieces he favored. He was nearly fired from the program following his third season (2004–05), but after two three-week extensions to decide his fate, he was brought back.

"I've always liked weirder stuff. My main thing on SNL was that I was never gonna change my sensibility to get on TV—I was just gonna write what I liked writing and hopefully have a hit on that show somewhere." — Forte on his tenure at SNL

Forte's best-known character on SNL was MacGruber, a special operations agent who is tasked in each episode with deactivating a ticking bomb but becomes distracted by personal issues. The sketches were based on the television series MacGyver. It was created by writer Jorma Taccone, who relentlessly pitched the idea to Forte. After the success of the advertisements, creator Lorne Michaels approached Forte, Taccone, and writer John Solomon with the idea to produce a MacGruber film.

Regarding his experiences on SNL, Forte remarked, "Looking back, the experience is something I'll never forget. I still miss it, and I'll always miss it. That's my family." His celebrity impressions included George W. Bush, Tom DeLay, John Edwards, Timothy Geithner, Newt Gingrich, Chad Lowe, Zell Miller, David Petraeus, Harry Reid, Brian Williams, and Hu Jintao.

In the summer of 2009, MacGruber was shot on a tight schedule for four weeks in Albuquerque, New Mexico. It was written while simultaneously producing the weekly episode of SNL, and the show's production process left the trio deprived of sleep. Forte was positive regarding the film, saying, What you see with this movie is exactly what we wanted to do. It's the three of us having a bunch of fun writing it, then having fun making it with a bunch of our friends—old friends and new friends. I think that fun comes across when you watch it. It's rare that you get that kind of creative freedom. It fared worse at the box office, where it failed to recoup its budget and was pulled from theaters after its third week. Forte found the failure tolerable, commenting, "When you make something that you're really proud of and it doesn't do well, you can live with it."

Forte left Saturday Night Live shortly before the beginning of the show's thirty-sixth season in 2010. He felt it was the "right time to go", considering his eight-year tenure there, his expansion into film with MacGruber, and his age. In addition, his sister had just had children and he wanted to move to the West Coast to be closer to them. and he imagined that if acting did not work out, he would return to mostly writing. Afterwards he entered what he has called a "lost period" Later, he sent an audition tape to Alexander Payne for a role in his next film, Nebraska. He felt scared initially, but followed Bruce Dern's acting advice to "look for the truth" in each scene—in other words, "In every scene, you're just trying to play it as honestly and as real as you can." Forte served as the series' creator, a writer, the lead role, and showrunner for the first season. He felt odd being in charge of its writing team (composed of longtime friends), and awkward at delegating tasks, so much so that he would end up doing the work himself. The series premiered in 2015 to positive responses, and was renewed for three further seasons.

In 2016, Forte played Hulka, a low-level weed dealer, in the comedy Keanu, starring Jordan Peele and Keegan-Michael Key. In 2018, he played National Lampoon magazine co-founder Douglas Kenney in the Netflix biographical film A Futile and Stupid Gesture. The film was directed by David Wain and features Domhnall Gleeson as co-founder Henry Beard. Forte voiced Shaggy Rogers in the Scooby-Doo film Scoob!. In 2021, Forte starred in Sweet Tooth, reprised his role as MacGruber in a TV series on Peacock, and began voicing Wolf Tobin in the animated sitcom The Great North. In 2022, it was announced that Forte had a leading role for Disney and Pixar's first animated television series Win or Lose. It premiered on Disney+ in 2025. He voiced an older version of the titular character in Scott Pilgrim Takes Off. In 2024, Forte was announced in the main role of Martin in Sunny Nights.

Personal life Forte dated his Last Man on Earth co-star January Jones in 2015. He and Olivia Modling met in 2018 and started seeing each other. They became engaged in 2019. They lived in a modestly sized Craftsman home in Santa Monica, California. two weeks before joining the cast of Saturday Night Live. That action required him to move to New York City but he kept the house. He admitted later that "it was not the greatest timing."

Forte has discussed and joked about his OCD tendencies. He recounted listening to only one song in his office at SNL for an entire year because he wanted to challenge himself. During an interview with Larry King, he discussed his OCD as a challenge he had to overcome but not one he wished he did not have, as it is a part of his personality. In a February 2015 article on Grantland, the writer of the article said that Forte mentioned OCD often but it was not clear if he had ever been formally diagnosed. Forte related how he and a former girlfriend had answered an OCD questionnaire based on his typical actions; it concluded that Forte "should immediately talk to someone about this."

Forte is an avid gamer. While filming A Good Old-Fashioned Orgy, he achieved one of the world's highest scores on the arcade version of Donkey Kong.

Filmography

Film +Key Denotes works that have not yet been released

Television

Music videos Year Title Artist Ref. 2013 "Hopeless Wanderer" Mumford & Sons 2022 "Past Life" Arkells

Video games Year Title Voice role 2009 Grand Theft Auto IV: The Lost and Damned Martin Serious

Web

Crew work Year Title Position 1997 The Jenny McCarthy Show Writer 1997–1998 Late Show with David Letterman Writer 1998 The Army Show Writer 1999–2000 Action Writer 1999–2001 3rd Rock from the Sun Writer 2000 God, the Devil and Bob Writer 2001–2003 That '70s Show Writer and producer 2007 The Brothers Solomon Writer 2008 Extreme Movie Writer 2010 MacGruber Writer 2015–2018 The Last Man on Earth Creator, writer and executive producer 2019 Alien News Desk Consulting producer

Awards and nominations Year Award Category Title Result 1998 Primetime Emmy Award Outstanding Writing for a Variety Series Late Show with David Letterman 2013 Outstanding Guest Actor in a Comedy Series 30 Rock: "My Whole Life Is Thunder" Golden Raspberry Award Worst Screen Ensemble (shared with the entire cast) That's My Boy St. Louis Gateway Film Critics Association Award Best Supporting Actor Nebraska San Francisco Film Critics Circle Award Best Supporting Actor National Board of Review Award Best Supporting Actor Village Voice Film Poll Award Best Supporting Actor 2014 American Comedy Award Supporting Comedy Actor - Film Independent Spirit Award Best Supporting Male 2015 Critics' Choice Television Award Best Actor in a Comedy Series The Last Man on Earth Primetime Emmy Award Outstanding Writing in a Comedy Series Outstanding Lead Actor in a Comedy Series 2016 Critics' Choice Television Award Best Actor in a Comedy Series Satellite Award Best Actor – Television Series Musical or Comedy Primetime Emmy Award Outstanding Lead Actor in a Comedy Series 2021 Critics' Choice Super Award Best Voice Actor in an Animated Movie The Willoughbys