Taran Killam | |
|---|---|
| Born | Taran Hourie Killam April 1, 1982 |
| Occupation(s) | Actor, comedian |
| Years active | 1994–present |
| Spouse | Cobie Smulders (2012–present) |
| Children | 1 |
Taran Hourie Killam (born April 1, 1982) is an American actor and comedian best known for his television work on shows such as The Amanda Show, Scrubs, Wild 'N Out, MADtv, Stuck in the Suburbs and currently on Saturday Night Live. David Itzkoff commented in 2013, "Every episode of Saturday Night Live is a high-wire act for Taran Killam..."[1]
Killam was born in Culver City, California and was raised in Big Bear City, California.[2] He graduated from the Los Angeles County High School for the Arts. His great-uncle was actor Robert Stack.[3][4][5]
In 1994, Killam made his first film appearance as an adolescent in Naked Gun 33⅓: The Final Insult. Killam was also featured on Nickelodeon's The Amanda Show starring Amanda Bynes. He played Spalding, a boy who had a huge crush on Moody, in "Moody's Point."
Killam joined the cast of MADtv as a featured player during its 7th season in 2001–2002. Joining the MADtv cast at age 19, Killam was the youngest cast member to ever join the sketch program. He was also a regular cast member on the third and fourth seasons of Nick Cannon's Wild 'N Out. In 2005, Killam co-starred in the television pilot Nobody's Watching, which never aired on network TV, however the pilot gained popularity after it was leaked online and they continued making webisodes from 2006–2007.[6]
Killam co-starred in the 2004 Disney Channel Original Movie Stuck in the Suburbs. After MADtv, Killam appeared on TV shows such as How I Met Your Mother, Jake in Progress, Still Standing, Boston Public, Drake & Josh, Do Over, Roswell and Judging Amy. He had also appeared on Scrubs and Scrubs: Interns as Jimmy (the Overly Touchy Orderly). Killam appeared as a contestant on the episode of The Price Is Right which aired on December 7, 2006. The episode was re-aired on July 19, 2007.
He has also been in Just Married, Big Fat Liar, Anderson's Cross, and My Best Friend's Girl.
Killam was a member of the Los Angeles-based improvisational and sketch comedy troupe The Groundlings. He retired from the Main Company in 2012.
On September 25, 2010, Killam joined the cast of Saturday Night Live for the 36th season, making Killam the second Nickelodeon veteran after Kenan Thompson to join SNL, and the second SNL cast member who was previously a cast member on the sketch show MADtv (after Jeff Richards). In his first season on the show Killam's impressions included Michael Cera, Chris Pine, Pee Wee Herman, John Galliano, Dominique Strauss-Kahn, and Eminem.
In 2011, he appeared in Community episode "Regional Holiday Music" as Mr. Radison (Mr. Rad), a parody of Will Schuester from Glee. In 2012 he appeared in iCarly episode "I Meet The First Lady" as a Secret Service Agent.
Killam is expected to star in the upcoming comedy film The Heat starring Sandra Bullock and Melissa McCarthy.
In December 2011, Killam decided to replicate the Robyn video 'Call Your Girlfriend' in a small writer's room and post it to Youtube. The video immediately went viral.[7]
The late night antics quickly became an Internet phenomenon and garnered Killam significant media and public attention.[8]
When interviewed by Late Night with Jimmy Fallon, Killam states he did not have a former connection with the song until Robyn came to SNL as a guest.[9]
On November 10, 2012, Killam appeared (with Kenan Thompson) in a short video entitled "The Legend of Mokiki and the Sloppy Swish." Mokiki was a laboratory test subject who now wanders Manhattan performing a shuffling move known as the "Sloppy Swish."
The sketch quickly became an Internet phenomenon and garnered Killam significant media and public attention.[10][11] Mike Ryan of The Huffington Post wrote, "It is one of the most bizarre things to ever air on SNL, yet, the next day, everyone was talking about the Sloppy Swish. (I swear that I am not making this up: I've already been invited to a Sloppy Swish-themed karaoke party.)"[12]
After several years of dating, Killam and Canadian actress Cobie Smulders became engaged in January 2009.[13] They married on September 8, 2012 in Solvang, California.[14] The couple has a daughter, Shaelyn Cado Killam (born May 14, 2009).[15]