Dan Aykroyd

Dan Aykroyd (born July 1, 1952, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada) is a Canadian American comedian and actor best known for his deadpan, fast-talking, and antic sense of humor, first as an original cast member on the late-night sketch comedy show Saturday Night Live (SNL; 1975– ) and later in films, notably The Blues Brothers (1980) and Ghostbusters (1984).

Early life and career

Aykroyd was born to Samuel Aykroyd, a civil engineer and government adviser, and Lorraine (née Gougeon) Aykroyd, a senior civil servant. He had one sibling, brother Peter. From a young age Dan Aykroyd was an adept mimic and natural comedian, and, encouraged by his parents, he began taking improvisational theater classes at age 12. He attended Carleton University in Ottawa, studying sociology and criminology, but he dropped out and began performing in comedy clubs in Toronto. In 1973 Aykroyd became a member of the improv comedy troupe The Second City at the group’s new satellite location in Toronto, where he shared the stage with Gilda Radner. Aykroyd also performed at Second City’s flagship Chicago theater and became fast friends with future collaborator John Belushi.

Saturday Night Live

In 1975 Aykroyd was recruited by producer Lorne Michaels—a fellow Canadian whom Aykroyd had met in Toronto—to join NBC’s Saturday Night (renamed Saturday Night Live in the second season). Initially hired as a writer (he would contribute to more than 60 episodes), Aykroyd was quickly added to the acting troupe, known as the Not Ready for Prime Time Players, which also included Radner and Belushi. During his four seasons on SNL, Aykroyd performed in many classic sketches, including “Bass-O-Matic,” about an infomercial salesman hawking a blender for fish; the Julia Child-inspired “French Chef”; a recurring bit with host Steve Martin as the Festrunk Brothers, Czech swingers known for their catchphrase “two wild and crazy guys!”; and for one year as the coanchor (with Jane Curtin) of the “Weekend Update” news segment. Aykroyd also wrote several sketches that formed the basis of later movies, including “The Blues Brothers” and “The Coneheads.”

Movie blockbusters: The Blues Brothers and Ghostbusters

Aykroyd left SNL after the fourth season to pursue a career in movies. In 1979 he costarred with Belushi in the World War II slapstick comedy 1941, directed by Steven Spielberg. The following year the pair headlined the musical comedy The Blues Brothers, which Aykroyd wrote with director John Landis. Aykroyd was a devoted fan of blues music and had begun playing the harmonica as a teenager. After originating the characters on SNL, he and Belushi performed live as the Blues Brothers and released a best-selling live album. The movie filled in the brothers’ backstory and featured appearances by such legends as James Brown, Ray Charles, and Aretha Franklin.

Aykroyd’s other early movies include Neighbors (1981), the third straight film with Belushi; Doctor Detroit (1983), in which he starred with his future wife, Donna Dixon; Trading Places (1983), alongside Eddie Murphy and Jamie Lee Curtis;  Twilight Zone: The Movie (1983), written and directed by Landis; and a cameo in 1984’s smash hit Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom.

In 1984 Aykroyd debuted one of his most famous movie characters, Dr. Raymond Stantz, in Ghostbusters. Directed by Ivan Reitman and written by Aykroyd and Harold Ramis, the comedy follows three parapsychologists—Stantz, Dr. Peter Venkman (played by Bill Murray), and Egon Spengler (Ramis)—as they investigate paranormal activity in New York City. Ghostbusters was a runaway hit and spawned several sequels and reboots (1989, 2016, 2021, and 2024). Aykroyd’s other notable lead roles from the 1980s include Spies Like Us (1985), directed by Landis, written by Aykroyd, and co-starring Chevy Chase; John Hughes’s The Great Outdoors (1988); and Caddyshack II (1988). In 1989 Aykroyd took on a dramatic role in Driving Miss Daisy, for which he received an Academy Award nomination for best supporting actor.

Later roles

Aykroyd turned to more supporting roles in the 1990s, appearing with Macaulay Culkin in 1991’s My Girl (and its 1994 follow-up); Sneakers (1992), starring Robert Redford; Richard Attenborough’s Chaplin (1992), starring Robert Downey, Jr., in the title role; Coneheads (1993), with Curtin and fellow original SNL cast member Laraine Newman; and Tommy Boy (1995), featuring SNL’s Chris Farley and David Spade. Also in 1995 Aykroyd was in Michael Moore’s Canadian Bacon, starring John Candy and Alan Alda, and in 1997 he shared the screen with John Cusack, playing a hit man in Grosse Pointe Blank. In 1998 Aykroyd wrote and starred in the sequel Blues Brothers 2000, with John Goodman.

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In 2001 Aykroyd portrayed Captain Thurman in Michael Bay’s blockbuster Pearl Harbor and was directed by Woody Allen in the crime comedy The Curse of the Jade Scorpion. In 2004 Aykroyd played a small role in the romantic comedy 50 First Dates, which starred Adam Sandler and Drew Barrymore, and reteamed with Curtis for the holiday comedy Christmas with the Kranks. He again paired with Sandler in I Now Pronounce You Chuck & Larry (2007), also starring comedian Kevin James, and in 2013 he supported Michael Douglas and Matt Damon in the Liberace biopic Behind the Candelabra.

In the mid-2010s Aykroyd appeared in Tammy (2014) with Melissa McCarthy and Susan Sarandon and in the James Brown biopic Get on Up (2014), starring Chadwick Boseman. He rejoined Sandler and James in Pixels (2015).

Personal life and awards

Aykroyd and Dixon married in 1983 (separated 2022) and have three daughters. He was made a member of the Order of Canada in 1998.