Rick Moranis Biography

Fast Facts

• After losing his wife to cancer in 1991, he officially retired from acting in 1997, stating that being a single parent to his two children was his top priority
• Has released several country albums that follow the satirical lyric style much like that of Roger Miller and Jim Stafford
• Began his entertainment career as a local disc jockey in Toronto
• Quote: "[Regarding his decision to retire] "I'm a single parent, and I just found that it was too difficult to manage raising my kids and doing the traveling involved in making movies․ So I took a little bit of a break․ And the little bit of a break turned into a longer break, and then I found that I really didn't miss it․""
• Quote: "I really missed being able to create my own material․ In the early movies I did, I was brought in to basically rewrite my stuff․․․I'm really not an actor․ I'm a guy who comes out of comedy, and my impetus was always to rewrite the line to make it funnier, not to try to make somebody's precious words work․"
• After years of DJing, he was convinced by friends to join "SCTV" in 1980 and was only the second cast member at the time to have not been a part of the stage troupe of the same name
• After gaining exposure on "SCTV", he began acting in feature films in the early '80s that included comedic roles such as "Strange Brew", "Ghostbusters", "Honey, I Shrunk the Kids" and others
• Went to elementary school with Geddy Lee, lead singer for rock group Rush
• Landed the role of Louis Tully in "Ghostbusters" only after John Candy was forced to drop the project
• Often collaborated with Dave Thomas starting with the pair's "SCTV" sketch called The Great White North which would eventually lead to a best-selling musical album as well