Comedy icon Will Forte received his first few breaks in Hollywood as a writer more than 20 years ago. The scribe soon discovered that he was equally adept as an actor, becoming an instant star in the public eye on Saturday Night Live (SNL), to which he graduated from the legendary Groundlings Theatre & School in Los Angeles. The rest, as the saying goes, is history. Forte would dominate the comedy scene in the 2000s and 2010s, acting in noteworthy features such as Beerfest, Fanboys, MacGruber, The Lego Movie, 7 Days in Hell, A Futile and Stupid Gesture, Booksmart, and Goodboys, appearing in hit TV shows including How I Met Your Mother, Parks and Recreation, 30 Rock, The Cleveland Show, American Dad, The League, The Last Man on Earth, and I Think You Should Leave with Tim Robinson, and frequently collaborating with improv-friendly peers like Andy Samberg and The Lonely Island, Broken Lizard comedy troupe, and Tim and Eric. Forte even flexed his dramatic range, starring in auteur Alexander Payne’s acclaimed film, Nebraska.
As an actor, Forte benefits from his adroitness as a writer. And vice-versa. Both crafts come naturally to him, and both crafts work harmoniously with one another. When reading a script, Forte can more readily deconstruct it and discern whether or not the material works for him. When writing a script (The Brothers Solomon, MacGruber, and The Last Man on Earth are examples of works that Forte has either created, written, or co-written), Forte is finely attuned to the performer, creating scenarios that work for every actor, taking into consideration each person’s various, distinct skillsets, a quality that he undoubtedly picked up writing sketches for himself and his peers while he was at the Groundlings. For Forte’s latest film, Extra Ordinary, the comedic actor was intuitively taken with filmmakers’ Mike Ahern and Enda Loughman’s collective vision from day one.
