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Orville Willis "Will" Forte IV (born June 17, 1970) is an American comedian, actor, and producer. Forte was a cast member on the NBC sketch comedy series Saturday Night Live for eight seasons from 2002 to 2010. During his time on the show, he became known for playing a recurring character that led to a feature film adaptation, MacGruber (2010), and a streaming television series, MacGruber, which he has starred in since 2021. Outside of SNL, Forte is also known for creating and starring 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.

Will held the responsibility of playing the President of the United States, George W. Bush, before passing it down to Jason Sudeikis during the 2006-2007 season. Will inherited this role from Will Ferrell, Chris Parnell and Darrell Hammond.

Will joined the cast in 2002 as a featured player, along with Fred Armisen at the beginning of the show's twenty-eighth season in the fall. He was promoted to repertory player for the show's 29th season after his first year (most people usually wait until 2). alongside Seth Meyers and Jeff Richards.

Some of Will's memorable characters include Andy (the "Ohhhhhhhh, Noooooooo!" guy), MacGruber, and Ken Mortimer, a.k.a. The Falconer. His most memorable impressions are of President George W. Bush, politician Zell Miller and of SNL's creator and Executive Producer Lorne Michaels (in a boring 1975 "interview" with Jiminy Glick). Other characters of Will's include awkward political candidate Tim Calhoun, Neil (from the Introverts), and foreign exchange student Lyle Kane.

Forte left Saturday Night Live shortly before the beginning of the show's thirty-sixth season in 2010. He felt it 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. He soon regretted the decision, calling the following year an "emotionally trying period," as he felt "devastated" that he would no longer be on the program. He assumed his shot at a film career was ruined, and he imagined that if acting did not work out, he would return to writing primarily. Following this, he entered what he has called a "lost period" and had small supporting roles, such as Rock of Ages, That's My Boy and The Watch, all of which were not successful. The only commercial successful film he worked on was Grown Ups 2, where he made a cameo as a male cheerleader. He also took a role as Paul L'astnamé, the cross-dressing boyfriend of Jenna Maroney on the critically acclaimed sitcom 30 Rock.

Forte took his first dramatic role for the 2013 film Run & Jump. Director Steph Green offered him the part, and Forte imagined it a "fun thing to try," though he noted that she had more confidence in him than he had himself. Later, he sent an audition tape to Alexander Payne for a role in his next film, Nebraska. He equated his casting in the film to his fear of joining SNL a decade prior, noting that he was "terrified" to begin working on it. 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 began work on The Last Man on Earth, a sitcom, with longtime collaborators Phil Lord and Christopher Miller in 2013. Though it was the duo's idea, Forte attached himself to the concept, crafting a treatment over a weekend. The series was pitched around Hollywood to positive responses and was picked up in 2014 by Fox. Forte serves 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. Being a showrunner "truly was an amount of work I never knew existed," he said, which involved him working a "minimum of 12 hours" daily. The series premiered in 2015 to positive responses and was renewed for the next three 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 starred as National Lampoon magazine co-founder and writer Doug Kenney in the Netflix biographical film A Futile and Stupid Gesture. The film was directed by David Wain and also 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 will voice the lead role as Coach Dan in Disney and Pixar’s first full length upcoming series Win or lose which will be on Disney+ in late 2023.

Impressions/Characters[]

Impressions[]

Characters[]

  • Andy
  • Announcer for "What's Up With That?"
  • Carl the Office Guy
  • Clancy T. Bachleratt
  • Crew Member
  • Dancing Coach
  • The Falconer
  • Greg Stink
  • Hamilton
  • Jean-George Peppers
  • Jeff Montogomery
  • Jon Bovi Member
  • Lundford Dancer
  • Lyle Kane
  • MacGruber
  • Mr. Dillon
  • Neil
  • Patrick Kelly
  • Terry
  • Tim Calhoun

SNL Career[]

Gallery[]

Preceded by:
Darrell Hammond
George W. Bush Impression (22 Appearances)
(20042006)
Followed by:
Jason Sudeikis
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