Biography
One of the most vibrant comic personalities of the 1970s and '80s, as well as a noted actor and screenwriter, Dan Aykroyd got his professional start in his native Canada. Before working as a standup comedian in various Canadian nightclubs, Aykroyd studied at a Catholic seminary from which he was later expelled. He then worked as a train brakeman, a surveyor, and studied Sociology at Carleton University in Ottawa, where he began writing and performing comedy sketches. His success as a comic in school led him to work with the Toronto branch of the famed Second City improvisational troupe.
During this time -- while he was also managing the hot nightspot Club 505 on the side -- Aykroyd met comedian and writer
John Belushi, who had come to Toronto to scout new talent for "The National Lampoon Radio Hour." In 1975, both Aykroyd and Belushi were chosen to appear in the first season of Canadian producer
Lorne Michaels' innovative comedy television series
Saturday Night Live. It was as part of the show that Aykroyd gained notoriety for his dead-on impersonations of presidents Richard Nixon and
Jimmy Carter. He also won fame for his other characters, such as Beldar, the patriarch of the Conehead clan of suburban aliens, and Elwood, the second half of the Blues Brothers (Jake Blues was played by Belushi).
Aykroyd made his feature-film debut in 1977 in the Canadian comedy
Love at First Sight, but neither it nor his subsequent film, Mr. Mike's Mondo Video, were successful. His first major Hollywood screen venture was as a co-lead in
Steven Spielberg's
1941 (1979). But Aykroyd still did not earn much recognition until 1980, when he and Belushi reprised their popular
SNL characters in
The Blues Brothers, a terrifically successful venture that managed to become both one of the most often-quoted films of the decade and a true cult classic. Aykroyd and Belushi went on to team up one more time for
Neighbors (1981) before Belushi's death in 1982. Aykroyd's subsequent films in the '80s ranged from the forgettable to the wildly successful, with all-out comedies such as
Ghostbusters (1984) and
Dragnet (1987) falling into the latter category. Many of these films allowed him to collaborate with some of Hollywood's foremost comedians, including fellow
SNL alumni
Chevy Chase,
Bill Murray, and
Eddie Murphy, as well as
Tom Hanks and the late
John Candy. In such pairings, Aykroyd usually played the straight man -- typically an uptight intellectual or a latent psycho. He tried his hand at drama in 1989 as
Jessica Tandy's son in
Driving Miss Daisy and received an Oscar nomination for Best Supporting Actor.
During the '90s, Aykroyd's career faltered just a bit as he appeared in one disappointment after another. Despite scattered successes like
My Girl (1991),
Chaplin (1992),
Casper (1995),
Grosse Pointe Blank (1997), and
Antz (1998), the all-out flops -- The Coneheads (1993),
Exit to Eden (1994), Sgt. Bilko (1996) -- were plentiful. Likewise, the long-awaited Blues Brothers sequel,
Blues Brothers 2000 (1998), proved a great disappointment. Aykroyd, however, continued to maintain a screen profile, starring as
Kirk Douglas' son in the family drama
Diamonds in 1999.
During the next few years, he found greater success in supporting roles, with turns as a shifty businessman in the period drama
The House of Mirth (2000),
Woody Allen's boss in
The Curse of the Jade Scorpion (2001), pop star
Britney Spears' father in her screen debut,
Crossroads (2002), and (in a particularly amusing turn) as Dr. Keats in the
Adam Sandler/
Drew Barrymore comedy
50 First Dates.
Aykroyd also appeared in the 2005
Christmas with the Kranks, alongside
Tim Allen and
Jamie Lee Curtis - not a productive move on the comic's part. To call the film "reviled" would be kind; critics and the public loathed the picture and ran it into the ground. Perhaps in response to this (and in an attempt to bounce back from supporting turns and reclaim a starring role in a blockbuster), Aykroyd planned to revive the smashing success of the
Ghostbusters franchise. The recollaboration with
Harold Ramis, tentatively titled Ghostbusters in Hell, will mark the third installment of the series, co-stars will include
Rick Moranis and
Ben Stiller. Release is slated for 2008.
Since 1983, Aykroyd has been married to the radiant
Donna Dixon, a model who holds the twin titles of Miss Virginia 1976, and Miss District of Columbia 1977; the two co-starred in the 1983 Michael Pressman comedy Doctor Detroit. In Aykroyd's off time, he claims a varied number of interests, including UFOs and supernatural phenomena (his brother Peter works as a psychic researcher), blues music (he co-owns the House of Blues chain of nightclubs/restaurants), and police detective work. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide