Harland Williams
Encyclopedia
Harland Williams is a Canadian
actor
, comedian
, author
, artist, musician
and radio personality
.
, Ontario
, to Lorraine (née O'Donnell), a social worker, and John Reesor Williams, who worked as a member of the Ontario Provincial Parliament. He was the middle child of four sisters. Harland holds dual citizenship with Canada and the United States.
He is an accomplished author and illustrator of his own series of children's books involving a little brontosaurus named Lickety Split. Williams' love of art drove him to create the series, in which the curious, young dinosaur embarks on a series of amazing adventures and learns important life lessons in the process. The artistically inclined Williams had refined his passion for drawing and painting at Canada's Sheridan College
in Oakville
, Ontario
. Finding a creative outlet in poetry and painting while working as a forest ranger for five years after dropping out of Sheridan College
, Williams set his goals to leave the forest as a stand-up comic and actor, soon moving to Los Angeles
to pursue his new found calling.
Harland's cousin is Barenaked Ladies
keyboardist Kevin Hearn
and together they have a hobby band called The Cousins.
, There's Something About Mary
, Half Baked
, RocketMan
, Sorority Boys
, Down Periscope
and Employee of The Month
. Williams was featured as a security guard in the music video for Barenaked Ladies
"Falling For The First Time
". He has performed his stand-up comedy routines on Late Night with David Letterman
, The Tonight Show with Jay Leno
, Late Night with Conan O'Brien
, HBO, Comedy Central
and at comedy clubs throughout the country.
Harland's improvisational skills led to him winning the award for 'Best Improviser' on an episode of NBC's prime time series Thank God You're Here
in 2007.
Harland's latest ventures include voicing 'Monster' on Nickelodeon's new animated series Robot and Monster and starring as Warwick the Warlock in Disney's upcoming movie Spooky Buddies
.
Harland has a free, tri-weekly podcast called The Harland Highway. Since its debut in December 2009, The Harland Highway has been receiving positive reviews and is quickly becoming one of the top downloaded podcasts on the internet. The Harland Highway can be downloaded on iTunes
or streamed live from your mobile device on Stitcher Radio
.
Rocker Parry Gripp
of the rock
band Nerf Herder
wrote a song in homage to Williams, entitled "I Wanna Be Your Harland Williams".
He has appeared on Tom Green's House Tonight numerous times.
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
actor
Actor
An actor is a person who acts in a dramatic production and who works in film, television, theatre, or radio in that capacity...
, comedian
Comedian
A comedian or comic is a person who seeks to entertain an audience, primarily by making them laugh. This might be through jokes or amusing situations, or acting a fool, as in slapstick, or employing prop comedy...
, author
Author
An author is broadly defined as "the person who originates or gives existence to anything" and that authorship determines responsibility for what is created. Narrowly defined, an author is the originator of any written work.-Legal significance:...
, artist, musician
Musician
A musician is an artist who plays a musical instrument. It may or may not be the person's profession. Musicians can be classified by their roles in performing music and writing music.Also....* A person who makes music a profession....
and radio personality
Radio personality
A radio personality is a person with an on-air position in radio broadcasting. A radio personality can be someone who introduces and discusses various genres of music, hosts a talk radio show that may take calls from listeners, or someone whose primary responsibility is to give news, weather,...
.
Personal life
Harland Reesor Williams was born on November 14, 1962, in TorontoToronto
Toronto is the provincial capital of Ontario and the largest city in Canada. It is located in Southern Ontario on the northwestern shore of Lake Ontario. A relatively modern city, Toronto's history dates back to the late-18th century, when its land was first purchased by the British monarchy from...
, Ontario
Ontario
Ontario is a province of Canada, located in east-central Canada. It is Canada's most populous province and second largest in total area. It is home to the nation's most populous city, Toronto, and the nation's capital, Ottawa....
, to Lorraine (née O'Donnell), a social worker, and John Reesor Williams, who worked as a member of the Ontario Provincial Parliament. He was the middle child of four sisters. Harland holds dual citizenship with Canada and the United States.
He is an accomplished author and illustrator of his own series of children's books involving a little brontosaurus named Lickety Split. Williams' love of art drove him to create the series, in which the curious, young dinosaur embarks on a series of amazing adventures and learns important life lessons in the process. The artistically inclined Williams had refined his passion for drawing and painting at Canada's Sheridan College
Sheridan College
Sheridan College Institute of Technology and Advanced Learning is a diploma and degree granting Canadian polytechnic institute with approximately 15,000 full time students and 35,000 continuing education students...
in Oakville
Oakville, Ontario
Oakville is a town in Halton Region, on Lake Ontario in Southern Ontario, Canada, and is part of the Greater Toronto Area. As of the 2006 census the population was 165,613.-History:In 1793, Dundas Street was surveyed for a military road...
, Ontario
Ontario
Ontario is a province of Canada, located in east-central Canada. It is Canada's most populous province and second largest in total area. It is home to the nation's most populous city, Toronto, and the nation's capital, Ottawa....
. Finding a creative outlet in poetry and painting while working as a forest ranger for five years after dropping out of Sheridan College
Sheridan College
Sheridan College Institute of Technology and Advanced Learning is a diploma and degree granting Canadian polytechnic institute with approximately 15,000 full time students and 35,000 continuing education students...
, Williams set his goals to leave the forest as a stand-up comic and actor, soon moving to Los Angeles
Los Ángeles
Los Ángeles is the capital of the province of Biobío, in the commune of the same name, in Region VIII , in the center-south of Chile. It is located between the Laja and Biobío rivers. The population is 123,445 inhabitants...
to pursue his new found calling.
Harland's cousin is Barenaked Ladies
Barenaked Ladies
Barenaked Ladies is a Canadian alternative rock band. The band is currently composed of Jim Creeggan, Kevin Hearn, Ed Robertson, and Tyler Stewart. Barenaked Ladies formed in 1988 in Scarborough, Ontario, then a suburban municipality outside the City of Toronto...
keyboardist Kevin Hearn
Kevin Hearn
Kevin Neil Hearn is a Canadian musician who is currently the keyboardist of Barenaked Ladies and his own group, Kevin Hearn and Thin Buckle. He is also a former member of Rheostatics.-Early life:...
and together they have a hobby band called The Cousins.
Career
Harland Williams is known for his movie roles and comedy. His roles include films such as Dumb and Dumber, Freddy Got FingeredFreddy Got Fingered
Freddy Got Fingered is a 2001 American comedy film directed, co-written by and starring Tom Green. Some of the scenes feature similar antics to those seen in his own The Tom Green Show and scenes in Road Trip. It is largely built around gross-out and shock humor...
, There's Something About Mary
There's Something About Mary
There's Something About Mary is a 1998 American comedy film, directed by the Farrelly brothers, Bobby and Peter. It stars Cameron Diaz, Matt Dillon and Ben Stiller, and it is a combination of romantic comedy and gross-out film....
, Half Baked
Half Baked
Half Baked is a 1998 stoner comedy film starring Dave Chappelle, Jim Breuer, Harland Williams and Guillermo Díaz. The movie was directed by Tamra Davis, and co-written by star Dave Chappelle and Neal Brennan...
, RocketMan
RocketMan
RocketMan is a 1997 science fiction comedy film that was produced by Walt Disney Pictures and Caravan Pictures and released on October 10, 1997. The film was shot on location at the Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas and in Moab, Utah for the scenes on the surface on Mars.The film was a...
, Sorority Boys
Sorority Boys
Sorority Boys is a 2002 comedy film directed by Wallace Wolodarsky, about a group of college guys who dress up as women to prove their innocence for a crime they didn't commit.-Plot:...
, Down Periscope
Down Periscope
Down Periscope is a 1996 comedy film starring Kelsey Grammer as the captain of a rust-bucket Navy submarine, the USS Stingray, who is fighting for his career....
and Employee of The Month
Employee of the Month (2006 film)
Employee of the Month is a 2006 American comedy film directed by Greg Coolidge, written by Don Calame, Chris Conroy, and Coolidge, and starring Dane Cook, Jessica Simpson and Dax Shepard. The main plot revolves around two shop employees who compete for the affection of their newest co-worker...
. Williams was featured as a security guard in the music video for Barenaked Ladies
Barenaked Ladies
Barenaked Ladies is a Canadian alternative rock band. The band is currently composed of Jim Creeggan, Kevin Hearn, Ed Robertson, and Tyler Stewart. Barenaked Ladies formed in 1988 in Scarborough, Ontario, then a suburban municipality outside the City of Toronto...
"Falling For The First Time
Falling for the First Time
"Falling for the First Time" is the third single by Canadian group the Barenaked Ladies from their 2000 album, Maroon. The song was composed by Steven Page and Ed Robertson. The song also appears on the band's 2001 compilation album, Disc One: All Their Greatest Hits and the soundtrack of the TV...
". He has performed his stand-up comedy routines on Late Night with David Letterman
Late Night with David Letterman
Late Night with David Letterman is a nightly hour-long comedy talk show on NBC that was created and hosted by David Letterman. It premiered in 1982 as the first incarnation of the Late Night franchise and went off the air in 1993, after Letterman left NBC and moved to Late Show on CBS. Late Night...
, The Tonight Show with Jay Leno
The Tonight Show with Jay Leno
The Tonight Show with Jay Leno is an American late-night talk show hosted by Jay Leno that initially aired from May 25, 1992 to May 29, 2009, and resumed production on March 1, 2010. The fourth incarnation of the Tonight Show franchise made its debut on May 25, 1992, three days following Johnny...
, Late Night with Conan O'Brien
Late Night with Conan O'Brien
Late Night with Conan O'Brien is an American late-night talk show hosted by Conan O'Brien that aired 2,725 episodes on NBC between 1993 and 2009. The show featured varied comedic material, celebrity interviews, and musical and comedy performances. Late Night aired weeknights at 12:37 am...
, HBO, Comedy Central
Comedy Central
Comedy Central is an American cable television and satellite television channel that carries comedy programming, both original and syndicated....
and at comedy clubs throughout the country.
Harland's improvisational skills led to him winning the award for 'Best Improviser' on an episode of NBC's prime time series Thank God You're Here
Thank God You're Here (U.S. TV series)
Thank God You're Here is a partially improvised comedy television program based on the Australian TV show, broadcast by NBC. The show was hosted by David Alan Grier and presided over by judge Dave Foley. The pilot was shot on November 9, 2006 and NBC initially ordered six episodes. The show...
in 2007.
Harland's latest ventures include voicing 'Monster' on Nickelodeon's new animated series Robot and Monster and starring as Warwick the Warlock in Disney's upcoming movie Spooky Buddies
Spooky Buddies
Spooky Buddies is a 2011 Disney direct-to-DVD family film that is part of the Disney Buddies franchise, a series often referred to as the Air Bud and Air Buddies franchise. For the fifth installment in the Air Buddies series, the team has a Halloween adventure in Fernfield...
.
Harland has a free, tri-weekly podcast called The Harland Highway. Since its debut in December 2009, The Harland Highway has been receiving positive reviews and is quickly becoming one of the top downloaded podcasts on the internet. The Harland Highway can be downloaded on iTunes
ITunes
iTunes is a media player computer program, used for playing, downloading, and organizing digital music and video files on desktop computers. It can also manage contents on iPod, iPhone, iPod Touch and iPad....
or streamed live from your mobile device on Stitcher Radio
Stitcher Radio
Stitcher is an on-demand internet radio service that focuses on news and information radio and podcasts. It provides free online streaming through the website and also using native mobile applications such as the iPhone, Android, BlackBerry and Palm webOS...
.
Rocker Parry Gripp
Parry Gripp
Parry Gripp is a singer-songwriter as well as lead vocalist and guitarist for the pop punk band Nerf Herder.As a songwriter, Gripp is best known for fake jingles, as in his 2005 solo album For Those About to Shop, We Salute You - a 51-track concept album mimicking various musical styles as product...
of the rock
Rock music
Rock music is a genre of popular music that developed during and after the 1960s, particularly in the United Kingdom and the United States. It has its roots in 1940s and 1950s rock and roll, itself heavily influenced by rhythm and blues and country music...
band Nerf Herder
Nerf Herder
Nerf Herder is a punk rock band from Santa Barbara formed in 1994 by Parry Gripp , Charlie Dennis and Steve Sherlock . They describe themselves as a "geek rock" band, and are known for simplistic modern punk-style songs with frequently humorous, juvenile and pop-culture-referencing lyrics...
wrote a song in homage to Williams, entitled "I Wanna Be Your Harland Williams".
He has appeared on Tom Green's House Tonight numerous times.
Filmography
| Year | Film | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1994 | Dumb And Dumber | State Trooper | |
| 1996 | Down Periscope Down Periscope Down Periscope is a 1996 comedy film starring Kelsey Grammer as the captain of a rust-bucket Navy submarine, the USS Stingray, who is fighting for his career.... |
E.T. "Sonar" Lovacelli | |
| 1997 | RocketMan RocketMan RocketMan is a 1997 science fiction comedy film that was produced by Walt Disney Pictures and Caravan Pictures and released on October 10, 1997. The film was shot on location at the Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas and in Moab, Utah for the scenes on the surface on Mars.The film was a... |
Fred Z. Randall | |
| Wag The Dog Wag the Dog Wag the Dog is a 1997 black comedy film starring Dustin Hoffman and Robert De Niro, co-starring Anne Heche, Denis Leary and William H. Macy about a Washington spin doctor who, merely days before a presidential election, distracts the electorate from a sex scandal by hiring a Hollywood film producer... |
Pet Wrangler | ||
| 1998 | Half Baked Half Baked Half Baked is a 1998 stoner comedy film starring Dave Chappelle, Jim Breuer, Harland Williams and Guillermo Díaz. The movie was directed by Tamra Davis, and co-written by star Dave Chappelle and Neal Brennan... |
Kenny Davis | |
| There's Something About Mary There's Something About Mary There's Something About Mary is a 1998 American comedy film, directed by the Farrelly brothers, Bobby and Peter. It stars Cameron Diaz, Matt Dillon and Ben Stiller, and it is a combination of romantic comedy and gross-out film.... |
Hitchhiker (uncredited) | ||
| Dog Park | Callum | ||
| 1999 | Superstar | Slater | |
| 2000 | The Whole Nine Yards The Whole Nine Yards (film) The Whole Nine Yards is a 2000 American adventure crime comedy film directed by Jonathan Lynn, starring Bruce Willis, Matthew Perry, Amanda Peet, Michael Clarke Duncan and Natasha Henstridge. The title derives from a popular expression possibly dating from World War II naval aviation which means... |
Special Agent Steve Hanson | |
| Big Money Hustlas Big Money Hustlas The film's music was written by Psychopathic Records producer Mike E. Clark. A soundtrack album was released in 2001, and featured new music from the film, in addition to previously released tracks by Insane Clown Posse and Twiztid, and the theme to the 1976 film The Human Tornado, performed by... |
Officer Harry Cox | ||
| 2001 | Freddy Got Fingered Freddy Got Fingered Freddy Got Fingered is a 2001 American comedy film directed, co-written by and starring Tom Green. Some of the scenes feature similar antics to those seen in his own The Tom Green Show and scenes in Road Trip. It is largely built around gross-out and shock humor... |
Darren | |
| 2002 | Back by Midnight Back by Midnight Back By Midnight is a 2002 comedy film starring Rodney Dangerfield, Phil LaMarr, Harland Williams, Randy Quaid, Gilbert Gottfried, and Kirstie Alley. However, it was not released until 2005... |
Sheriff Hubbard | |
| Sorority Boys Sorority Boys Sorority Boys is a 2002 comedy film directed by Wallace Wolodarsky, about a group of college guys who dress up as women to prove their innocence for a crime they didn't commit.-Plot:... |
Doofer/Roberta | ||
| 2003 | Family Tree | Jake | |
| Kart Racer | Zee | ||
| 2005 | Lucky 13 | Bleckman | |
| Because of Winn-Dixie Because of Winn-Dixie (film) Because of Winn-Dixie is a 2005 film adapted from the book of the same name by Kate DiCamillo and directed by Wayne Wang. It was produced by Walden Media and released by 20th Century Fox... |
Policeman | ||
| Robots Robots (film) Robots is a 2005 American computer-animated comedy film produced by Blue Sky Studios for 20th Century Fox, and was released theatrically on March 11, 2005. The story was created by Chris Wedge and William Joyce, a children's book author/illustrator. The two were trying to create a film version of... |
Lug (voice) | ||
| 2006 | Employee of the Month Employee of the Month (2006 film) Employee of the Month is a 2006 American comedy film directed by Greg Coolidge, written by Don Calame, Chris Conroy, and Coolidge, and starring Dane Cook, Jessica Simpson and Dax Shepard. The main plot revolves around two shop employees who compete for the affection of their newest co-worker... |
Russell Porpis-Gunders | |
| Surf School | Rip | ||
| 2007 | Meet The Robinsons Meet the Robinsons Meet the Robinsons is a 2007 American computer-animated family film produced by Walt Disney Animation Studios and released by Walt Disney Pictures on March 30, 2007. The forty-seventh animated feature in the Walt Disney Animated Classics, the film was released in both the United States and the... |
Carl (voice) | |
| The Dukes of Hazzard: The Beginning The Dukes of Hazzard: The Beginning The Dukes of Hazzard: The Beginning is a prequel to the 2005 theatrical-release film The Dukes of Hazzard. An edited version of the film debuted on the ABC Family cable television channel on March 4, 2007. 'R'-rated and unrated versions were released on DVD March 13.- Plot :Bo Duke is arrested for... |
Sheriff Rosco P. Coltrane Sheriff Rosco P. Coltrane On the American TV series The Dukes of Hazzard, Rosco Purvis Coltrane is the bumbling sheriff of Hazzard County and right-hand man of its corrupt county commissioner, Jefferson Davis "J.D." Hogg .... |
||
| 2008 | Bachelor Party 2: The Last Temptation Bachelor Party 2: The Last Temptation Bachelor Party 2: The Last Temptation is a 2008 straight-to-DVD sex comedy by 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment. The film, a sequel-in-name-only to a comedy made 24 years earlier , stars Josh Cooke as the bachelor and Sara Foster as his girlfriend... |
Derek | |
| Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa | Giraffe (voice) | ||
| 2009 | Fudgy Wudgy Fudge Face | Elmore P. Fudge | |
| My Life in Ruins My Life in Ruins My Life in Ruins is a 2009 romantic comedy film set amongst the ruins of ancient Greece, starring Nia Vardalos, Richard Dreyfuss, Alexis Georgoulis, Rachel Dratch, Harland Williams and British comedy actor and impressionist Alistair McGowan... |
Big Al Sawchuck | ||
| 2011 | Spooky Buddies Spooky Buddies Spooky Buddies is a 2011 Disney direct-to-DVD family film that is part of the Disney Buddies franchise, a series often referred to as the Air Bud and Air Buddies franchise. For the fifth installment in the Air Buddies series, the team has a Halloween adventure in Fernfield... |
Warwick the Warlock | |
| Lloyd The Conqueror Lloyd the Conqueror Lloyd the Conqueror is a 2011 Canadian comedy film co-written and directed by Michael Peterson. Evan Williams stars as Lloyd , a college student who is convinced by his professor Derek, played by Mike Smith, to join his deteriorating Larping league.... |
Vulcan |