Bill Murray

Bill Murray (born 21.9.1950) is an American actor who rose to fame after his appearances on Saturday Night Live and went on to win Oscar, Emmy, BAFTA and Golden Globe awards.

Childhood: Bill Murray was born to Lucille and Edward J. Murray, in Wilmette, Illinois. His mother was a mail room clerk and his father was a lumber salesman. One of nine children, Bill also has three brothers who also act John, Joel and Brian)

Murray worked as a caddy to pay for his Roman Catholic High School fees and in his teenage years he sang in a band called the Dutch Masters. He dropped out of Regis University in Denver, Colorado when he was caught in possession of marijuana.

Early Career: Murray started out with Second City Chicago, an improvisational comedy troupe. In 1975, John Belushi recruited him for The National Lampoon Radio Hour. He then got the much-coveted role of cast member on Saturday Night Live with Howard Cossell.

Bill's first starring film role was in Meatballs, in 1979, followed by his portrayal of Hunter S. Thompson in Where the Buffalo Roam. He went on to star in a number of box office successes such as Caddyshack, Stripes and Tootsie.

Mainstream Success: Murray starred in Ghostbusters as part of a deal with Columbia Pictures, to gain finance for a film that he had written, an adaptation of The Razor's Edge. Ghostbusters was the highest grossing film of 1984. The Razor's Edge failed to make an impact on the box office at all.

After a four-year hiatus, Murray starred in the Ghostbusters sequel, Ghostbusters II and Scrooged. These were followed by the equally successful What About Bob? and Groundhog Day.

There was a dip in critical acclaim in Murray's career, yet he saw a return to form in Wes Anderson's Rushmore, for which he won a number of awards. This sparked a newly revitalised career as a dramatic - rather than a comic - actor. He went on to perform a number of serious roles, in Wild Things, Hamlet and Cradle Will Rock.

He went on to perform alongside Ben Stiller in The Royal Tenenbaums and 2003's Lost In Translation (in which he starred alongside Scarlett Johansson) won him a Golden Globe and a BAFTA award as well as an Oscar nomination for Best Actor.

Murray's third film with Wes Anderson came with 2004's The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou and continuing his stream of quirky independent-style films, his role in Broken Flowers, a Jim Jarmusch film, was another critical success.

In 2005, he took an acting hiatus, but returned to major roles in 2008 with the movie 'City of Ember'. The following year he had a significant cameo in the comedy zombie flick 'Zombieland' which starred Jesse Eisenberg, Woody Harrelson, Emma Stone and Abigail Breslin.

2009 also saw him portray the voice of Mr. Badger in the animated children's film 'Fantastic Mr. Fox'.

He was nominated for a Golden Globe award for his role as Franklin D. Roosevelt in 2012 film 'Hyde Park on Hudson', and in 2014 appeared in war movie 'The Monuments Men' alongside George Clooney and Matt Damon.

Personal Life: In 1981, Bill Murray married Margaret Kelly on Las Vegas' Super Bowl. They then had a second ceremony in church for their families. Before they divorced in 1994, they had two sons. Homer was born in 1982 and Luke was born in 1985.

Murray went on to marry Jennifer Butler in 1997. They have had four sons together: Jackson William (b.1993), Caleb James (b. 1995), Cooper Jones (b.1997) and Lincoln Darius (b. 2001). In May 2008, Butler filed for divorce, stating that the cause for divorce was alcohol addiction (on Murray's part) and spousal abuse. The divorce was finalised in June 2008.

Murray is a golf enthusiast, sometimes taking part in celebrity tournaments.

Bill Murray is well-known as a sociable and fun-loving kind of person and has been the subject of many unusual, fan related moments in recent years. Examples include attending student parties, singing karaoke in New York and taking up bar-tending for a night at the Shangri-La bar in Austin where he was hanging out with rappers Wu-Tang Clan.