Billy Crystal

Entertainer

Tony and Emmy Award®-winning comedian, actor, producer, writer, and director BILLY CRYSTAL is known to audiences around the world as the star of such feature films as When Harry Met Sally…, City Slickers and Analyze This; as a cast member of NBC’s Saturday Night Live; and as the acclaimed nine-time host of the Academy Awards®. In 2023, he was the recipient of a Kennedy Center Honor, the highest honor The United States gives for the arts.

Crystal landed his first major television role in 1977 on the comedy series Soap, playing Jodie Dallas, one of the first openly gay characters on TV. In 1984, he hosted Saturday Night Live and a few months later joined the regular cast.  Crystal’s work that year earned him his first Emmy nomination. Of the many characters he created that year, his best-known SNL creation was Fernando, an unctuous talk-show host whose tagline, “You look mahvelous!” entered the popular lexicon.

Crystal’s many feature film credits include the buddy cop comedy Running Scared (1986), Rob Reiner’s comic fairy tale The Princess Bride (1987), and Danny DeVito’s dark comedy Throw Momma from the Train (1987). But his breakthrough role came in 1989 when he starred opposite Meg Ryan in Reiner’s When Harry Met Sally…, which became a romantic touchstone for a generation of moviegoers and was selected as a member of the National Film Registry in 2022. Other iconic titles include Mr. Saturday Night (1992) and America’s Sweethearts (2001). He starred opposite Bette Midler and Marisa Tomei in the 2012 Christmas family comedy Parental Guidance, which he also produced. In addition, he is the voice of one-eyed Mike Wazowski in Disney•Pixar’s animated global blockbusters Monsters Inc. (2001) and its prequel Monsters University (2013). He returned to voice Mike Wazowski in 2021 for the Disney+ series “Monsters at Work.” Crystal’s recent film work includes the friendship comedy Standing Up, Falling Down (2020) opposite Ben Schwartz, and Here Today (2021), which Crystal directed, produced, and starred opposite Tiffany Haddish. He has just completed production on a limited series for Apple TV+, “Before,” a psychological thriller which co-stars Judith Light and Rosie Perez.

As a director, Crystal was nominated for both an Emmy and a Directors Guild Award for his direction of the 2001 HBO movie 61*, which told the dramatic story of the 1961 race between Mickey Mantle and Roger Maris to break Babe Ruth’s single-season home-run record. The film earned 12 Emmy nominations.

In addition to hosting the Academy Awards® nine times—most recently in 2012—Crystal has also hosted the GRAMMY® Awards three times. His work as a host, writer, and producer on the televised awards shows has earned him 14 Emmy nominations and five wins. Crystal won a sixth Emmy for his 1989 HBO comedy special, “Billy Crystal: Midnight Train to Moscow” which featured Crystal as the first American comedian to perform in the Soviet Union. Other HBO specials include “On Location,” “A Comic’s Line,” and “Don’t Get Me Started.”

Crystal, alongside Robin Williams and Whoopi Goldberg, served as co-host of Comic Relief’s televised fundraising events on HBO. Through specials broadcast between 1986 and 2008, Comic Relief raised $75 million dollars to help supply medical aid to the homeless.  

 The recipient of the 2007 Mark Twain Prize for American Humor, Crystal has written five books, including Absolutely Mahvelous (1986), 700 Sundays (2005) and two children’s books, I Already Know I Love You (2004) and Grandpa’s Little One (2006). In 2013, he wrote the New York Times best-selling memoir Still Foolin' 'Em: Where I've Been, Where I'm Going, and Where the Hell Are My Keys? in which Crystal offered his heartfelt and humorous observations on aging. The audiobook version debuted at number one on iTunes and was nominated for a Grammy Award for the Best Spoken Word Album and won the Audiobook of the Year at the 2014 Audies Gala. 

In 2017, Crystal completed a 30-city North American stand up tour, which garnered rave reviews in every market. The previous year, he had embarked on a hugely successful and critically acclaimed 13-day tour in six major cities of Australia and New Zealand.

Crystal co-wrote, produced, and starred along Kevin Kline and Annette Bening in Have a Nice Day, a play that was recorded live at The Minetta Lane Theatre. It was released on Audible on November 2, 2018 and became an instant best-seller. 

Crystal made his Broadway debut in 2004 with the original production of his one-man show 700 Sundays, for which he won a Tony Award. At the time, 700 Sundays became the highest grossing non musical in Broadway history. The Broadway production was taped in front of a live audience for an HBO special that aired in April of 2014, which garnered 4 Emmy Nominations and was released on DVD that fall. In 2022, Crystal returned to Broadway with Mr. Saturday Night, a musical adaptation of the 1992 classic film Mr. Saturday Night. The show got rave reviews and received 5 Tony nominations including Best Musical; Best Leading Actor in a Musical for Crystal; and Best Book of a Musical which was written by Crystal, Lowell Ganz, and Babaloo Mandel; and one GRAMMY nomination for Best Musical Theatre Album which featured 8 songs sung by Crystal. 

Crystal lives in Los Angeles and New York with Janice, his wife of 53 years. They have two daughters; Jennifer and Lindsay, and four grandchildren; Ella, Dylan, Hudson, Griffin.