Campaign may refer to:

• Advertising campaign
• Military campaign
• Political campaign
• Advocacy or Advocacy group, relating 'campaigning' on an issue (British English)

Publishing[link]

• Campaign (magazine), a British magazine serving the advertising industry

Gaming[link]

• Campaign (role-playing games) and campaign setting, a connected series of battles, adventures or scenarios played by the same character in a role-playing game.
• A common name for the story mode of a video game.
• Campaign (video game), 1992 computer game by Empire Software

This disambiguation page lists articles associated with the same title. If an internal link led you here, you may wish to change the link to point directly to the intended article.

Look up campaign in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.

Will Ferrell
Ferrell in May 2009
Born	John William Ferrell (1967-07-16) July 16, 1967 (age 44) Irvine, California, United States
Occupation	Comedian, impressionist, actor, writer
Years active	1995–present
Spouse	Viveca Paulin (2000–present)

John William "Will" Ferrell (/ˈfɛrəl/;^[1] born July 16, 1967)^[2] is an American comedian, impressionist, actor, and writer. Ferrell first established himself in the mid 1990s as a cast member on the NBC sketch comedy show Saturday Night Live, and has subsequently starred in the comedy films Old School, Elf, Anchorman, Talladega Nights, Stranger than Fiction, Blades of Glory, Semi-Pro, and The Other Guys. He is considered a member of the "Frat Pack", a generation of leading Hollywood comic actors who emerged in the late 1990s and the 2000s, including Jack Black, Ben Stiller, Steve Carell, Vince Vaughn, and brothers Owen and Luke Wilson.

Early life[link]

Ferrell was born in Irvine, California, the son of Betty Kay (née Overman), a teacher who taught at Old Mill School elementary school and Santa Ana College,^[3] and Roy Lee Ferrell, Jr., a musician with The Righteous Brothers.^[4] His parents were both natives of Roanoke Rapids, North Carolina, and moved to California in 1964;^[5][6] Ferrell has Irish ancestry.^[7] Ferrell has a younger brother, Patrick.^[8] When he was 8, his parents divorced. Ferrell said of the divorce, "I was the type of kid who would say, 'Hey Look at the bright side! We'll have two Christmases.'" The divorce was amicable and both parents were committed to their children. The biggest problem was Lee's line of work. As a person in show business, his paychecks were never steady and he was gone from home months at a time. Growing up in the environment made Ferrell not want to go into show business, but get a steady job.^[8]

Will first attended school at Turtle Rock Elementary and later attended Rancho San Joaquin Middle School, both in Irvine. He attended University High School in Irvine, and was a kicker for the school's varsity football team.^[9] He was also on the soccer team and captain of the basketball team, and served on student council. As a joke, he started the reptile club (even though he didn't know anyone who owned one), but the club only lasted for two meetings.^[10]

Ferrell called third grade "a pivotal year". He realized he could make his classmates laugh if he pretended to smash his head against the wall, or if he tripped and fell on purpose, and said it was a great way to make friends.^[11] He told the Orange County Register that the dullness of Irvine contributed to the growth of his humor:

Growing up in suburbia, in safe, master-planned Irvine, there was no drama so we had to create it in our heads. My main form of entertainment was cracking my friends up and exploring new ways of being funny. I didn't have to have the survival mode instinct like other comics, who grew up in tough neighborhoods. I had the opposite. For me, I grew up in Mayberry, and the humor broke the boredom. And there was a lot to make fun of.^[12]

In his senior year of high school, Ferrell and a friend would perform comedy skits over the school's intercom system, with cooperation from the principal. The two had to write their own material though. Ferrell also performed comedic skits in the school's talent shows. He won the "Best Personality" superlative voted by his classmates.^[10]

He enrolled at the University of Southern California, where he studied Sports Broadcasting and joined the Delta Tau Delta Fraternity. In college, he was known for a few pranks. On occasion, he would dress in a janitor's outfit and stroll into his friends' classes. He was also known for streaking around campus with a few other people from the Delta Tau Delta fraternity.^[10] Ferrell earned an internship at a local television station in the sports department. He did not enjoy the work.^[13]

After graduating with a bachelor's degree in Sports Information in 1990, he knew he did not want to do broadcasting. He took up jobs as a hotel valet, and on his second day he tore a baggage rack off the top of a van by trying to drive it under a low-lying beam. He also worked as a teller at Wells Fargo, but came up short $300 the first day and $280 the second—he was not stealing the money, he was just careless and error-prone.^[13]

In 1991, he moved out of the house (thanks to his mother's encouragement to pursue something he liked) and to Los Angeles. He auditioned (and got in), and developed his improvisation skills as a member of the comedy group The Groundlings.^[13]

Career[link]

[edit] The Groundlings

Before joining The Groundlings, Ferrell's attempts at standup comedy had little success. He started in the advanced classes and grew to love improvisation. He realized he also liked to impersonate people, and one of his favorites was Harry Caray, the Hall of Fame baseball announcer. Soon he began to create original characters. With fellow Groundlings member Chris Kattan, they created the Butabi Brothers, who go out to dance clubs to try to pick up women but are constantly rejected. While taking classes, Ferrell got a job at an auction house via his friend Viveca Paulin. The job was ideal as it was flexible enough for him to audition and go to rehearsals while also being employed. He received small roles, including TV series Grace Under Fire and Living Single, low-budget films such as A Bucket of Blood, as well as commercials. One winter, he even served as a mall Santa Claus. Then, in 1994, he won a spot with the top professional group of The Groundlings.^[14]

[edit] Saturday Night Live

After SNL's dip in popularity in 1994–1995 and in need of new cast members for the next season, a producer saw The Groundlings and asked Ferrell, Kattan, and Cheri Oteri to audition for SNL's main producer, Lorne Michaels.^[15]

Ferrell joined Saturday Night Live in 1995 and left in 2002 after a successful seven-year tenure. He returned to host twice (both in season finales), and once in the cold open of the final episode of Saturday Night Live Weekend Update Thursday.

During his time on SNL, Ferrell made a name for himself with his impersonations, which included:

• U.S. President George W. Bush
• Chicago Cubs announcer Harry Caray,
• Singer Robert Goulet (crooning a cappella pieces of music by Sisqó, Baha Men, and Notorious B.I.G.),
• Singer Neil Diamond,
• Inside the Actors Studio host James Lipton (who was quoted several times favoring Ferrell's impersonation),
• Massachusetts Senator Ted Kennedy,
• United States Attorney General Janet Reno,
• Convicted Unabomber Ted Kaczynski,
• Game show host Alex Trebek,
• Fictitious black private detective Shaft,
• Professional wrestler-turned-Governor of Minnesota Jesse Ventura,
• U.S. Vice President Al Gore (Darrell Hammond took over once Ferrell started playing Bush),
• Iraqi President Saddam Hussein,
• Cuban President Fidel Castro.

His original characters included "Morning Latte" co-host Tom Wilkins, Ed the Horse's twin brother Ned (cf. Mister Ed), fictional Blue Öyster Cult member Gene Frenkle (physically modeled after Blue Öyster Cult vocalist Eric Bloom), music teacher Marty Culp, Spartan cheerleader Craig Buchanan, Dale Sturtevant from "Dissing Your Dog", Hank of the Bill Brasky Buddies, David Leary from "Dog Show", and night clubber Steve Butabi in a sketch that went to the big screen in 1998's A Night at the Roxbury.

Ferrell returned to Saturday Night Live as a guest host on May 14, 2005, and May 16, 2009. Both times, he reprised his role as Alex Trebek in the "Celebrity Jeopardy" sketches. On the May 14 appearance, Ferrell reprised his role as Robert Goulet in a fake commercial advertising a series of crooned ringtones and, during the performance of the song "Little Sister" by musical guests Queens of the Stone Age, Ferrell came on stage playing the cowbell.

Ferrell became the highest paid cast member of Saturday Night Live in 2001 with a season salary of $350,000.^[16]

Film career[link]

During his time on Saturday Night Live, Ferrell appeared in several movies: Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery, A Night at the Roxbury, Superstar, The Ladies Man, Dick, Drowning Mona, Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me, Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back, and Zoolander.

His first starring role came after his departure from SNL with Frank "The Tank" Richard in Old School (2003). The film "belongs to Mr. Ferrell", declared the New York Times, which described how he "uses his hilarious, anxious zealotry to sell the part."^[17] Old School was a major success and Ferrell received an MTV Movie Awards nomination for Best Comedic Performance.

The title role in Elf (2003) followed, as did another MTV Movie Awards nomination. Ferrell continued to land comedy roles in 2004 and 2005 in films such as Melinda and Melinda, Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy, Starsky & Hutch earning himself a place among Hollywood's Frat Pack.^[18] In 2005, Ferrell earned $40 million.^[19] In 2006, Ferrell starred in Stranger Than Fiction and Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby; both received critical and box office success. Ferrell's performance in Stranger Than Fiction introduced audiences to the dramatic potential of Ferrell's acting talents. On December 27, 2006, 'The Magazine' named Ferrell as one of its three actors of the year in their 2006 year in review issue.^[20]

Ferrell at the premiere of Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story, December 2007

Ferrell appeared as part of a pre-game video package for the Rose Bowl along with Texas alum Matthew McConaughey. Ferrell also sang a song at the ESPY Awards in 2006 about Lance Armstrong and Neil Armstrong. He and John C. Reilly also did a spot during the 2008 ESPY Awards where they made demands in order for them to appear at the ESPYs like asking Portland Trail Blazers' center Greg Oden to tuck them in at night and tell them stories of the old times or to bring back the Cold War so the Olympics can be interesting again.

Ferrell participated in a 79th Academy Awards musical-comedy performance with John C. Reilly and Jack Black, wherein they sang a song about comedies being snubbed by the voters in favor of dramas.

In May 2009 it was announced Ferrell is in talks to star in Neighborhood Watch, a comedy about an urbanite who moves to the suburbs and uncovers a conspiracy. In negotiations to direct is David Dobkin, who gave Ferrell a cameo in Wedding Crashers.^[21] In August 2009, Ferrell decided not to do the film. In the summer of 2009, Ferrell did a large amount of filming with several young actors. He helped out on a film entitled Making a Movie^{[citation needed]}, which is now on DVD.

In June 2009, Land of the Lost was released. It was a commercial and critical flop after earning $19 million on opening weekend, about two-thirds of what the studio expected.^[22][23]

In 2010, he was the executive producer and star of The Other Guys, a buddy cop film, which also has an ensemble cast which consists of Mark Wahlberg, Eva Mendes, Michael Keaton, Steve Coogan, Ray Stevenson, Samuel L. Jackson and Dwayne Johnson. Unlike Land of the Lost, the film was a commercial success, earning over $140 million,^[24] and was positively reviewed by critics.

Ferrell is set to star in Casa de Mi Padre, a telenovela spoof comedy set in a ranch with Mexican stars Diego Luna and Gael García Bernal. The movie's story will be told in melodramatic telenovela form and will feature English-language subtitles.^[25]

Voice acting[link]

Will Ferrell dressed as Megamind at the 2010 San Diego Comic-Con International

Ferrell has worked as a voice actor in several animated television programs, including his portrayal of Bob Oblong, a 1950s-style father with no arms or legs, in the short-lived animated television series The Oblongs. He has had several guest appearances on Family Guy, where he played the Black Knight in "Mr. Saturday Knight", as well as Fat Greek Guy and Miles "Chatterbox" Musket in Fifteen Minutes of Shame. Ferrell also starred as Ted (a.k.a. The Man in the Yellow Hat) in the film Curious George^[26] and guest voiced on an episode of the FOX sitcom King of the Hill as a political correct soccer coach. He voiced the title character in the 2010 DreamWorks Animation film Megamind.

Stage career[link]

Ferrell made his Broadway debut taking on departing U.S. President George W. Bush in a one-man show called You’re Welcome America. A Final Night with George W. Bush. The show started performances on January 20, 2009, in previews—Bush's final day in office—at the Cort Theatre and opened officially on February 1. The limited engagement played through March 15, 2009.^[27]

Creating and producing[link]