Bill Murray

Bill Murray is an American actor and comedian born William James Murray on September 21, 1950, in Wilmette, Illinois. He was the fifth of nine children in an Irish Catholic family that included future actor brothers Brian Doyle-Murray and Joel Murray. He studied at Regis University in Denver before joining The Second City improvisational comedy troupe in Chicago and then the National Lampoon Radio Hour in New York.

Murray joined the cast of Saturday Night Live in 1977, where he won an Emmy in 1977 as a writer and developed recurring characters such as Nick the lounge singer. He moved into film with Meatballs in 1979 and Caddyshack in 1980, and he led the comedies Stripes, Tootsie, Ghostbusters, Scrooged, What About Bob?, and Groundhog Day.

Beginning in the late 1990s he expanded into more dramatic work with directors including Wes Anderson and Sofia Coppola. His role as a fading actor in Tokyo in Coppola's Lost in Translation earned him the Golden Globe for Best Actor in a Musical or Comedy in 2004 and an Academy Award nomination. He has appeared in nearly every Wes Anderson film, including Rushmore, The Royal Tenenbaums, The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou, and The Grand Budapest Hotel.

Murray is known for not having an agent or manager and instead operating through a 1-800 voicemail number that filmmakers must use to reach him. He is a part-owner of several minor-league baseball teams and a frequent presence at Pebble Beach golf events.

Their name Bill derives from the Germanic elements wil meaning will or desire and helm meaning helmet, as a short form of William. Bill was among the most common American nicknames for boys named William through the twentieth century.