Harland Michael Williams (born November 14, 1962) is a

Canadian Canadians (french: Canadiens) are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of ...

actor, comedian and writer. After several years of stand-up in Toronto and Los Angeles he made his film debut in ''

Dumb and Dumber ''Dumb and Dumber'' is a 1994 American buddy comedy film directed by Peter Farrelly, who cowrote the screenplay with Bobby Farrelly and Bennett Yellin. It is the first installment in the ''Dumb and Dumber'' franchise. Starring Jim Carrey and ...

'' (1994) before playing starring roles in the short-lived sitcom ''

Simon Simon may refer to: People * Simon (given name), including a list of people and fictional characters with the given name Simon * Simon (surname), including a list of people with the surname Simon * Eugène Simon, French naturalist and the genus ...

'' (1995–96) and the Disney comedy ''

RocketMan ''RocketMan'' (also written as ''Rocket Man'') is a 1997 American comic science fiction film directed by Stuart Gillard and starring Harland Williams, Jessica Lundy, William Sadler, and Jeffrey DeMunn. A partial remake of the 1967 film, '' The ...

'' (1997). He co-starred in ''

Half Baked ''Half Baked'' is a 1998 American stoner comedy film starring Dave Chappelle, Jim Breuer, Harland Williams, and Guillermo Díaz. The film was directed by Tamra Davis, co-written by Chappelle and Neal Brennan and produced by Robert Simonds. The ...

'' and played a psychopathic hitch-hiker in ''

There's Something About Mary ''There's Something About Mary'' is a 1998 American romantic comedy film directed by Peter Farrelly and Bobby Farrelly. It stars Cameron Diaz as the title character with Ben Stiller, Matt Dillon, Lee Evans, and Chris Elliott all playing men who ...

'' in 1998. He later appeared in films such as ''

The Whole Nine Yards "The whole nine yards" or "the full nine yards" is a colloquial American English phrase meaning "everything, the whole lot" or, when used as an adjective, "all the way", as in, "The Army came out and gave us the whole nine yards on how they use ...

'' (2000), ''

Freddy Got Fingered ''Freddy Got Fingered'' is a 2001 American surreal absurdist screwball black comedy film directed by Tom Green in his feature film directorial debut and written by Green and Derek Harvie. Green stars in the film as a childish slacker who wishes ...

'' (2001) and ''

Sorority Boys ''Sorority Boys'' is a 2002 American comedy film directed by Wallace Wolodarsky, about a group of college boys who dress up as girls in order to prove their innocence for a crime they did not commit. The film starred Barry Watson, Michael Ro ...

'' (2002), and provided voices in works such as ''

Gary & Mike ''Gary & Mike'' is an American adult animated buddy comedy sitcom that aired on UPN in 2001 and Comedy Central in 2003. It was Big Ticket Television’s first animated show. The show was produced in stop motion clay animation and lasted only one s ...

'', ''

Robots "\n\n\n\n\nThe robots exclusion standard, also known as the robots exclusion protocol or simply robots.txt, is a standard used by websites to indicate to visiting web crawlers and other web robots which portions of the site they are allowed to visi ...

'' (2005), ''

Meet the Robinsons ''Meet the Robinsons'' is a 2007 American computer-animated science-fiction comedy film produced by Walt Disney Animation Studios and released by Walt Disney Pictures. The List of Walt Disney Animation Studios films, 47th animated film produc ...

'' (2007), and ''

Sausage Party ''Sausage Party'' is a 2016 adult computer-animated comedy film directed by Conrad Vernon and Greg Tiernan and written by Kyle Hunter, Ariel Shaffir, Seth Rogen, and Evan Goldberg from a story by Rogen, Goldberg, and Jonah Hill. The film follow ...

'' (2016). He is also an author of children's books, and creator of the children's animated series ''

Puppy Dog Pals ''Puppy Dog Pals'' is an American computer-animated children's television series created by Harland Williams. The series debuted on Disney Junior in the United States on April 14, 2017. Plot ''Puppy Dog Pals'' is about Bingo and Rolly, two pug ...

''.

Early life

Harland Williams was born on November 14, 1962, in

Toronto Toronto ( ; or ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Ontario. With a recorded population of 2,794,356 in 2021, it is the most populous city in Canada and the fourth most populous city in North America. The city is the ancho ...

, Ontario, to Lorraine Mary (née O'Donnell), a social worker and writer, and John Reesor Williams, a lawyer who served as a member of the Ontario legislature. He grew up in Toronto's Willowdale neighborhood with four sisters. He is the brother of special effects artist Steve "Spaz" Williams, and a cousin to

Barenaked Ladies Barenaked Ladies is a Canadian rock band formed in 1988 in Scarborough, Ontario. The band developed a following in Canada, with their self-titled 1991 cassette becoming the first independent release to be certified gold in Canada. They reach ...

keyboardist

Kevin Hearn Kevin Neil Hearn (born July 3, 1969) is a Canadian musician who is a member of Barenaked Ladies, and his own group, Kevin Hearn and Thin Buckle. He primarily plays keyboards and guitars. He is also a member of Rheostatics. Early life Hearn was ...

. Williams enrolled in

Sheridan College Sheridan College Institute of Technology and Advanced Learning (formerly Sheridan College of Applied Arts and Technology) is a public polytechnic institute of technology located in the west-Greater Toronto Area in Ontario, Canada. Founded in ...

in 1983, where he studied animation and media arts, while periodically working as a forest ranger at

Fort Frances Fort Frances is a town in, and the seat of, Rainy River District in Northwestern Ontario, Canada. The population as of the 2016 census was 7,739. Fort Frances is a popular fishing destination. It hosts the annual Fort Frances Canadian Bass Cham ...

. Williams gained American citizenship circa 2009.

Career

Williams began in

stand-up comedy Stand-up comedy is a comedy, comedic performance to a live audience in which the performer addresses the audience directly from the stage. The performer is known as a comedian, a comic or a stand-up. Stand-up comedy consists of One-line joke ...

in 1984, when still at Sheridan College. He performed in Toronto for seven years before relocating to Los Angeles in 1992. He credits a 1993 appearance on ''

Late Night with David Letterman ''Late Night with David Letterman'' is an American late-night talk show hosted by David Letterman on NBC, the first iteration of the ''Late Night'' franchise. It premiered on February 1, 1982, and was produced by Letterman's production company ...

'' for a break through, and

Jim Carrey James Eugene Carrey (; born January 17, 1962) is a Canadian-American actor, comedian and artist. Known for his energetic slapstick performances, Carrey first gained recognition in 1990, after landing a role in the American sketch comedy te ...

for bringing him to the attention of the

Farrelly brothers Peter Farrelly and Bobby Farrelly, collectively referred to as the Farrelly brothers, are American screenwriters and directors. They have made eleven films together, including ''Dumb and Dumber'', '' Outside Providence'', and ''There's Something ...

, who cast Williams in his debut role as a police officer in ''

'' (1994). Other film roles include ''

'', ''

Down Periscope ''Down Periscope'' is a 1996 American military comedy submarine film directed by David S. Ward, produced by Robert Lawrence, and starring Kelsey Grammer, Lauren Holly, and Rob Schneider along with Bruce Dern, Harry Dean Stanton, William H. Macy, ...

'', ''

Superstar A superstar is someone who has great popular appeal and is widely known, prominent, or successful in their field. Celebrities referred to as "superstars" may include individuals who work as actors, musicians, athletes, and other media-based profe ...

'' and '' Employee of The Month''. He has performed his stand-up comedy routines on ''

The Tonight Show with Jay Leno ''The Tonight Show with Jay Leno'' is an American late-night talk show hosted by Jay Leno that first aired from May 25, 1992, to May 29, 2009. It resumed production on March 1, 2010 and ended on February 6, 2014. The fourth incarnation of the ...

'', ''

Late Night with Conan O'Brien ''Late Night with Conan O'Brien'' is an American late-night talk show hosted by Conan O'Brien. NBC aired 2,725 episodes from September 13, 1993, to February 20, 2009. The show featured varied comedic material, celebrity interviews, and music ...

'',

HBO Home Box Office (HBO) is an American premium television network, which is the flagship property of namesake parent subsidiary Home Box Office, Inc., itself a unit owned by Warner Bros. Discovery. The overall Home Box Office business unit is ba ...

Comedy Central Comedy Central is an American basic cable channel owned by Paramount Global through its network division's MTV Entertainment Group unit, based in Manhattan. The channel is geared towards young adults aged 18–34 and carries comedy programming ...

and at comedy clubs throughout the country. His 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'' is an Australian television improvised comedy program created by Working Dog Productions, which premiered on Network Ten on 5 April 2006, and aired for the first three seasons and on Seven for the fourth season. Each ...

'' in 2007. Williams's ventures include voicing 'Monster' on

Nickelodeon Nickelodeon (often shortened to Nick) is an American pay television television channel, channel which launched on April 1, 1979, as the first cable channel for children. It is run by Paramount Global through its List of assets owned by Param ...

's animated series ''

Robot and Monster ''Robot and Monster'' is an American CGI animated television series created by Dave Pressler, Joshua Sternin and Jennifer Ventimilia. Main characters Robot and Monster are voiced by Curtis Armstrong and comedian Harland Williams, respectively. I ...

'' and starring as Warwick the Warlock in

Disney The Walt Disney Company, commonly known as Disney (), is an American multinational mass media and entertainment conglomerate headquartered at the Walt Disney Studios complex in Burbank, California. Disney was originally founded on October ...

's direct-to-DVD movie ''

Spooky Buddies ''Spooky Buddies'' is a 2011 Canadian-American supernatural comedy 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 ...

''. He is the author and illustrator of several children's books, including a series about a dinosaur named Lickety Split, as well as books for adults. He has a free, bi-weekly podcast called ''The Harland Highway''. He has appeared on ''

Tom Green's House Tonight ''Tom Green's House Tonight'' (formerly known as ''Tom Green Live!'') is a talk show hosted by Tom Green. In addition to its primary Internet broadcast on ''TomGreen.com'', the show has been syndicated on television stations throughout North Am ...

'' and on the Adam Carolla Podcast numerous times. He is known for his performance of bird sounds on Carolla's show. In August 2012 he began filming in Vancouver a 13-part

Citytv Citytv is a Canadian television network owned by the Rogers Sports & Media subsidiary of Rogers Communications. The licence of the original Citytv station, granted the callsign of CITY-TV by the CRTC on November 25, 1971 to Cable Television Ass ...

comedy series called ''

Package Deal In marketing, product bundling is offering several products or services for sale as one combined product or service package. It is a common feature in many imperfectly competitive product and service markets. Industries engaged in the practice ...

'', in which he stars. Williams created the

Disney Junior Disney Junior is an American pay television network owned by the Walt Disney Television (part of Disney General Entertainment Content) unit of The Walt Disney Company through Disney Branded Television. Aimed mainly at children two to seven yea ...

series ''

'' that debuted in 2017.

Filmography

Film

Television

Video games

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Williams, Harland 1962 births Living people Canadian expatriate male actors in the United States Canadian male film actors Canadian male television actors Canadian male voice actors Canadian stand-up comedians Comedians from Toronto Male actors from Toronto Sheridan College alumni 20th-century Canadian male actors 21st-century Canadian male actors