- Stephen Colbert was born in Washington, D.C., and raised in South Carolina.
- He studied theater and improvisational comedy at ImprovOlympic and Second City, both in Chicago.
- In 1995, Colbert co-created and starred in the sketch comedy show Exit 57 on Comedy Central.
- In 1997, he joined the cast of The Daily Show as a correspondent.
- Colbert reunited with his Exit 57 cast mates to create and star in Strangers With Candy, which ran from 1998 to 2000.
- In 2005, Colbert left The Daily Show to host his own comedy news show on Comedy Central, The Colbert Report.
- In 2008, he briefly and unsuccessfully ran for President.
Stephen Tyrone Colbert was born in Washington, D.C., but grew up the youngest of 11 children in Charleston, South Carolina. At the age of 10, Colbert lost his father and two brothers in a plane crash. Raised from then on by a single mother, Colbert being to act in plays and developed a love for theater. He attended Hampden-Sydney College in Virginia to study philosophy, but transferred to Northwestern University after two years to study theater.
While at Second City, Colbert met and made friends with cast mates Amy Sedaris and Paul Dinello. The three joined forces to create the sketch comedy show Exit 57, which was picked up by Comedy Central in 1995 and ran for one season on the network.
After Exit 57 was canceled, Colbert joined the writing staff and cast of ABC's short-lived sketch comedy The Dana Carvey Show, alongside Carrell, Robert Smigel and Louis C.K. Once again, the show lasted less than a season.
In 1997, Colbert joined the cast of Comedy Central's The Daily Show. He played one of four staff "reporters" on the show, which at that time was hosted by Craig Kilborn. When Jon Stewart took over in 1999, Colbert began to take on a more prominent role. It was during these years that Colbert's "character" -- the know-it-all blowhard he would eventually take to his own series. Colbert remained on the show until 2005, once again working alongside Carrell and occasionally filling in for Stewart as anchor when needed. He won three Emmy Awards for his work on the show, in 2004, 2005 and 2006.
In 2007, Colbert published his first book, the satirical I Am America (And So Can You). It quickly reached the top of the New York Times Bestseller list.
Also in 2007, Colbert announced that he would make a bid for the 2008 presidential election in his home state of South Carolina. Within a month, his ballot application was denied.
Additional Stephen Colbert Facts
- Colbert is deaf in his right ear.
- He has won three Peabody Awards for his show The Colbert Report.
- In 2006, Colbert was invited to speak at the White House Correspondents' Association Dinner, where he delivered a now-infamous and scathing routine on President Bush and his staff -- all of whom were in attendance.
- Colbert provides the voice for one half of Robert Smigel's recurring Saturday Night Live animated short, "The Ambiguously Gay Duo."
- Time magazine named Colbert one of the 100 most influential people in 2006, and he was named Person of the Year at the 2007 U.S. Comedy Arts Festival.
- Ben & Jerry's Ice Cream named their "Stephen Colbert's AmeriCone Dream" after the comedian.
- In 2008, a professor at East Carolina University named a species of spider after Colbert.
- Also in 2008, it was announced that Colbert's DNA would be sent to the International Space Station.
