Will Forte

Orville Willis Forte IV, better known as Will Forte (born June 17, 1970) is an American actor, comedian and writer best known for his eight seasons as a cast member on Saturday Night Live and for starring in the SNL spin-off film MacGruber.

Early life
Forte was born in Alameda County, California, the son of Patricia C. (née Stivers) and Orville Willis Forte III. He was raised in Lafayette, California, and graduated from Acalanes High School and UCLA with a history degree. While at UCLA, he was a member of the Lambda Chi Alpha fraternity.

Saturday Night Live
Forte joined the cast of Saturday Night Live in 2002 as a featured player. He is best known for his skit with Peyton Manning as it was voted #7 best all-time SNL skit. He was upgraded to full cast member shortly thereafter. Forte took over the role of then-president George W. Bush following the departure of Will Ferrell, and a brief half-season of Darrell Hammond playing the part. Forte featured as a number of recurring characters over the years, including The Falconer, MacGruber,Tim Calhoun, Mr. Dillon in the Gilly sketches, Greg Stink, and as one of the characters in the Song Memories sketches. Forte is often featured as a guest at the Weekend Update desk. He has several recurring Update characters, such as Tim Calhoun; He often appears in musical Update bits, such as one of The Kelly Brothers, Daryl Hall of Hall & Oates, and a member of reverse Bon Jovi band, Jon Bovi. On August 26, 2010, Forte announced that he will be leaving SNL after eight years on the show (2002-2010) to focus on other projects.

Other work
Before joining SNL, Forte was a member of The Groundlings. He has written and/or produced on the television series Late Show with David Letterman, 3rd Rock from the Sun, That '70s Show, and Action. Forte provided the voice of Abe Lincoln on the critically acclaimed but short-lived animated series, Clone High. He was a consultant on another short-lived animated series, God, the Devil and Bob. He made a cameo in the movie Around the World in 80 Days and was in the Broken Lizard film Beerfest. Forte made an appearance on Demetri Martin's album, These Are Jokes and guest starred in an episode of the CBS comedy How I Met Your Mother. Forte is a recurring guest on the Adult Swim comedy program Tim and Eric Awesome Show, Great Job!, Forte also appeared on The Young Person's Guide to History, a television special on Adult Swim. On March 31, 2009 he appeared on SNL alum Jimmy Fallon's Late Night with Jimmy Fallon.

Forte wrote the film The Brothers Solomon, in which he stars opposite Will Arnett (husband of former SNL castmember Amy Poehler). He and frequent writing partner John Solomon wrote some segments for Extreme Movie along with fellow SNL castmember Andy Samberg and The Lonely Island. He appeared in the 2009 film Brief Interviews with Hideous Men, directed by John Krasinski and adapted from the short story collection of the same title. The comedy troupe Broken Lizard (with whom Will worked on the comedy Beerfest) stated on their Myspace page that Will had a cameo in their comedy The Slammin' Salmon.

Forte guest starred on HBO's Flight of the Conchords as a "semi-professional" actor who poses as a record company executive, as well as on CBS's How I Met Your Mother as one of Barney's co-workers and potential new wingman.

Forte has also guest voiced on the American Dad! episode "Family Affair," as a Disneyland security guard. He has also guest voiced in the episode "Every Which Way But Lose," as Mayor Woodside. He also appeared on the Christmas fantasy episode Rapture's Delight with SNL co-star Andy Samberg. Forte appeared in three episodes of the sitcom 30 Rock ("Black Tie", "Argus", and "I Do Do"), playing two different characters.

Forte lent his voice to Grand Theft Auto IV: The Lost and Damned and played a radio host called "Martin Serious". In 2009, Forte became a regular voice cast member in the Fox comedy series, "Sit Down, Shut Up". He voices Vice Principal Stuart Proszakian, a former prison clown now working as Knob Haven High's vice-principal. The series premiered on April 19, 2009. Kenan Thompson, Kristin Chenoweth, Jason Bateman, Tom Kenny, Nick Kroll, Cheri Oteri, Will Arnett and Henry Winkler are the other main cast members.

He also voices Principal Wally, a recurring character on The Cleveland Show.

On April 19, 2010, as his MacGruber character co-guest hosted WWE Raw with Kristen Wiig and Ryan Phillippe to promote the film MacGruber. He defeated Vladimir Kozlov after assistance from 'half-brother' Khaluber, a disguise of The Great Khali.

Forte guest starred on fellow SNL alum Amy Poehler's third season of Parks and Recreation playing Kelly, a Twilight-loving resident of the fictional town of Pawnee.

Forte serves on the Board of Directors of the National Policy and Advocacy Council on Homelessness.

In the fall of 2010, Forte returned to CBS' How I Met Your Mother. He reprised his role as Randy, a low-level Goliath National Bank employee.