Stephen Colbert (pronounced "col-BARE") was born on May 13th, 1964 and grew up in Charleston, South Carolina.

He studied acting at Northwestern and performed with the Second City comedy troupe in Chicago before teaming up with fellow cast members Amy Sedaris and Paul Dinello to create the sketch comedy "Exit 57" for Comedy Central, which lasted for two seasons. During its two season run in the mid-1990s it garnered five CableACE nominations for best writing, performing, and comedy series. After the demise of "Exit 57," From 1997 (until his departure in October 2005), Stephen was a correspondent on "The Daily Show", then hosted by Craig Kilborn. Initially billed as "The New Guy," Stephen was the longest running correspondent on the show before getting his own show, "The Colbert Report", which has done well in it's slot after "the Daily Show".

At the time he left "The Daily Show", Stephen has been the longest-running and most diverse correspondent. In addition to his role as Senior Political Correspondent, he was one of the hosts of "Even Stepheven", a point-counterpoint assault featuring co-correspondent Steve Carrel and the host of "This Week in God" in which he reported on all things theological with the assistance of the "God Machine".

Stephen helped "The Daily Show" to win numerous Emmy and Peabody Awards and contributed to "America (The Book): A Citizen's Guide to Democracy Inaction" (Warner Books) which immediately topped the New York Times bestseller list and stayed there for 15 consecutive weeks.

His personality, insight and overall rightness could only have led him to "The Colbert Report", a half-hour nightly platform for him to give his take on the issues of the day, and more importantly, to tell you why everyone else's take is just plain wrong.

His other notable credits include serving as both writer and cast member on "The Dana Carvey Show", writing for "Saturday Night Live" and providing the voice of "Ace" in Robert Smigel's "Ambiguously Gay Duo" which originated on "The Dana Carvey Show" and was then semi-regularly featured in Smigel's "TV Funhouse" segment on SNL. He was also featured on "Mr. Goodwrench" commercials (2003-2005).

Stephen lives in New York with his wife and three children.


An alumnus of the Second City and Annoyance Theatre in Chicago, Illinois. Graduated from Northwestern University in 1986. Is deaf in his right ear. Is a huge Lord of the Rings fan and has an encyclopedic knowledge of the series. Specifically recorded an entire biography of LOTR character Aragorn from memory when Viggo Mortensen appeared on "The Daily Show" (1996). Mortensen kindly sent Colbert a platter full of LOTR characters carved out of chocolate. Was included in the Peabody Award given to Indecision 2000: Election Night - Choose and Lose (2000) (TV) and Indecision 2002: Election Night (2002) (TV) for "offering biting political satire, these scintillating segments had something droll and amusing to say about almost everything and everyone associated with American politics and the presidential election.". His father and two of his brothers died in a plane crash when he was ten years old. On September 11, 1974, they were on an Eastern Airlines DC-9 that crashed in dense fog during its approach to Charlotte, N.C. Of the 82 people on board, 72 were killed. In its report, the NTSB concluded that "the probable cause of the accident was the flight crew's lack of altitude awareness at critical points during the approach due to poor cockpit discipline in that the crew did not follow prescribed procedures.". Wrote the book Wigfield with "Strangers with Candy" (1999) costars Amy Sedaris and Paul Dinello. Began a career in comedy by joining the Second City improv group in Chicago. Lent his voice to some attack ads that were used for the The 78th Annual Academy Awards (2006) (TV), hosted by Jon Stewart. His show, "The Colbert Report" (2005), averages 1.2 million viewers. Has three children: Madeline, Peter, and John. Teaches Sunday School every weekend at his church and teaches his own specific story of salvation and has the children learn spiritual songs. As a result of an operation he had when he was young, he can fold his right ear inside out and can pop it out when he squints his eye. Good friends with fellow former "The Daily Show" (1996) correspondent Steve Carell His siblings from oldest to youngest are: Jimmy, Eddie, Mary, Billy, Margo, Tommy, Jay, Lulu, Paul, and Peter. Stephen is the youngest of the eleven. In January 2008, Colbert began a campaign on his show to have a portrait of his character hung in the "Treasures of American History" exhibit at the Smithsonian Institution's National Museum of American History in Washington, D.C. (pieces shown in that exhibit included a top hat worn by Abraham Lincoln, an original light bulb made by Thomas Edison, a Greensboro, North Carolina, lunch counter that was the scene of a seminal civil rights sit-in, Lewis and Clark's compass, and Kermit the Frog). When the National Museum of American History refused the portrait, Colbert next offered it to the National Portrait Gallery (also a Smithsonian museum), which accepted it on a temporary basis and hung it between the bathrooms adjacent to the Hall of Presidents. After the portrait's term at the National Portrait Gallery was up, the National Museum of American History did agree to hang the portrait - next to a Dumbo car from the original Dumbo the Flying Elephant ride at Disneyland.