The comedic actor known the world over as Will Ferrell was actually born John William Ferrell and has gone by his middle name for much of his life. Before initially establishing his comedic personality in front of a national audience on Saturday Night Live (SNL) in the late 1990s Ferrell was born in Irvine, California where he would go on to grow up in Orange County, CA.
The son of an elementary school teacher mother and a guitarist father Will grew up in a somewhat unique environment as his father played guitar for the popular classic rock band The Righteous Brothers and the family lived in Orange County, California before the area between Los Angeles and San Diego became nearly as populated as it is today. Despite not growing up in a classic American setting Will had a mostly normal upbringing while attending elementary, middle, and high school all in Irvine, the city he was born in. A little known trivia fact about Will Ferrell is that the now high profile USC football fan was once the kicker on his high school varsity football team in his youth.
After graduating from University High School in Irvine Ferrell moved up the five freeway to Los Angeles where he began his freshmen year of college at the University of Southern California (USC). At the conclusion of his time as a USC Trojan undergraduate student Will Ferrell was given a diploma for his degree in Sports Information. While studying sports broadcasting in college Will found time to enjoy the social aspects of college when he pledged and eventually became initiated into the Delta Tau Delta fraternity, a frat whose name is commonly shortened to just Delta Tau.
Upon graduating from USC in 1990 at the age of 22 Will wasted no time getting his comedy career in gear as he transitioned from college student to student of comedy improve. As a young USC Trojans alum Will joined a Southern California group of improvisation comics called The Groundlings. The LA based group founded back in 1974 focuses on improv comedy and creates improvised scenes and sketches. Notable alumni of the competitive program include a number of accomplished performers that in addition to Will Ferrell include: Adam Carolla, Jimmy Fallon, Will Forte, Kathy Griffin, Phil Hartman, Lisa Kudrow, Jon Lovitz, Mike Myers, and Conan O'Brien among others.
Will Ferrell would of course move on to become one of the most accomplished comedians of his generation and prove himself to be a box office draw as an actor (garnering $20 million salaries per film) as well as a proven voice actor, producer, and writer.
Sam, the author of this piece, spends a lot of time in Southern California near where Will now lives with his wife and three sons in LA where they're able to enjoy attending Southern Cal football games and practices. When he's not running marathons around the world (including in New York City and Stockholm, Sweden) Will has occasionally been spotted on golf courses around LA with a USC golf bag. Will has been such a high profile supporter of Southern Cal that it would not be surprising if his vocal school spirit has helped sell a USC Trojans golf bag or two to fellow alumni who just needed a little nudge to publicly get on the bandwagon.
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