biography of Dan Aykroyd

Daniel Edward Aykroyd 

CM OOnt (/ˈækrɔɪd/ AK-royd; born July 1, 1952) is a Canadian actor, comedian, screenwriter, and producer.

Aykroyd was a writer and an original member of the "Not Ready for Prime Time Players" cast on the NBC sketch comedy series Saturday Night Live from its inception in 1975 until his departure in 1979. During his tenure on SNL, he appeared in a recurring series of sketches, particularly featuring the Coneheads and the Blues Brothers. For his work on the show, he received five Primetime Emmy Award nominations, winning for Outstanding Writing for a Variety Series in 1977. After his departure, he has since returned to guest roles.

Aykroyd's most famous roles are as Elwood J. Blues in The Blues Brothers (1980) and Blues Brothers 2000 (1998) and Dr. Raymond "Ray" Stantz in Ghostbusters (1984), and Ghostbusters II (1989) (he has reprised his role in various projects within the Ghostbusters franchise). He also is known for his comedic roles in 1941 (1979), Trading Places (1983), Spies Like Us (1985), Dragnet (1987), The Great Outdoors (1988), Nothing but Trouble (1991) and Coneheads (1993).

In 1990, he was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for his role as Boolie Werthan in Driving Miss Daisy (1989). Other dramatic roles include Chaplin (1992), North (1994) and Pearl Harbor (2001). Aykroyd has done supporting roles in comedy films such as Tommy Boy (1995), Grosse Pointe Blank (1997), Loser (2000), Evolution (2001), 50 First Dates (2004), I Now Pronounce You Chuck & Larry (2007), and Tammy (2014).

He starred as Reverend Mike Weber, in the sitcom Soul Man (1997–1998). He has made guest appearances on various television shows including The Nanny (1994), According to Jim (2002–2009), Living with Fran (2006), The Defenders (2011) and Workin' Moms (2017–2023). Aykroyd is also a businessman, having co-founded the House of Blues chain of music venues and the Crystal Head Vodka brand.

Aykroyd was born on July 1, 1952, at Ottawa General Hospital in Ottawa, Ontario.  His father, Samuel Cuthbert Peter Hugh Aykroyd (1922–2020), a civil engineer, worked as a policy adviser to Canadian Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau, and his mother, Lorraine Hélène Marie (née Gougeon; 1918–2018), was a secretary. His mother was of French Canadian descent and his father was of English, Scottish, Irish, French, and Dutch ancestry.  His paternal ancestor was Englishman Samuel Aykroyd from Halifax, Yorkshire, who emigrated to the United States, eventually settling in Upper Canada near Kingston, Ontario in 1810.  His brother, Peter (1955–2021), was also an actor.

He attended St. Pius X and St. Patrick's High Schools, and studied criminology and sociology at Carleton University, but dropped out before completing his degree. He worked as a comedian in various Canadian nightclubs and ran an after-hours speakeasy, Club 505, in Toronto for several years. 

Aykroyd developed his musical career in Ottawa, particularly through his regular attendance at Le Hibou, a club that featured many blues artists. He describes these influences:

There was a little disco club there called Le Hibou, which in French means 'the owl.' And it was run by a gentleman named Harvey Glatt, and he brought every, and I mean every, blues star that you or I would ever have wanted to have seen through Ottawa in the late '50s, well I guess more late '60s sort of, in around the Newport jazz rediscovery. I was going to Le Hibou and hearing James Cotton, Otis Spann, Pinetop Perkins, and Muddy Waters. I did actually jam behind Muddy Waters. S.P. Leary left the drum kit one night, and Muddy said 'anybody out there play drums? I don't have a drummer.' And I walked on stage and we started, I don't know, Little Red Rooster, something. He said 'keep that beat going, you make Muddy feel good.' And I heard Howlin' Wolf (Chester Burnett). Many, many times I saw Howlin' Wolf. As well as the Doors. And of course Buddy Guy, Buddy Guy and Junior Wells, Sonny Terry and Brownie McGhee. So I was exposed to all of these players, playing there as part of this scene to service the academic community in Ottawa, a very well-educated community. Had I lived in a different town I don't think that this would have happened, because it was just the confluence of educated government workers, and then also all the colleges in the area, Ottawa University, Carleton, and all the schools—these people were interested in blues culture 

Aykroyd's first professional experience, which he gained at the age of 17, was as a member of the cast of the short-lived Canadian sketch comedy series The Hart and Lorne Terrific Hour with Lorne Michaels, among others. He was a member of the Second City comedy troupe in 1973 in both Toronto and Chicago.

About

Saturday Night Live and The Blues Brothers star who gained fame in Ghostbusters and was nominated for an Academy Award for Driving Miss Daisy.

Before Fame

He was born with different colored eyes and webbed toes, and planned on becoming a Catholic priest until he turned 17.

Trivia

He played Art Weber in the 1984 film Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom and appeared in the 1995 comedy film Canadian Bacon as an OPP Officer.

• After working together on three films, Jamie Lee Curtis called him the best "screen kisser" who ever had a scene with her.
• Was born with complete heterochromia; one eye is brown and one eye is green.
• He and Bill Murray resumed their "Ghostbusters" roles to visit a terminally ill child who was a fan of the film and wanted to meet them.
• As a child in the early 1960s, he was diagnosed with Tourette's syndrome and Asperger syndrome. The symptoms had mostly subsided by the time he was 14.
• Is part owner of a company that owns the exclusive distribution rights to Patron tequila for the entire country of Canada. Is now also distilling a vodka called "Crystal Head" to be bottled in a skull-shaped glass bottle.
• He used to refer to the green Slimer ghost from Ghostbusters (1984) as "the ghost of John Belushi", as Slimer's party animal personality reminded him very much of his friend.
• Spends every Canada Day (July 1, also his birthday) performing some sort of civic duty in Kingston, Ontario and one year was appointed a Citizenship Judge where he swore in some immigrants as Canadian citizens.
• Aykroyd and John Belushi were scheduled to present the first annual Best Visual Effects Oscar at the 1982 Academy Awards, but Belushi died weeks before the ceremony. Aykroyd presented the award alone, and stated from the podium: "My partner would have loved to have been here tonight to present this award, since he was a bit of a Visual Effect himself."
• He met John Belushi in a Chicago speakeasy that was a favorite night spot of his and put on a blues record to play in the background while he and Belushi discussed the possibility of Aykroyd joining Saturday Night Live (1975). Not only did they hit it off and become good friends, Belushi became fascinated with the blues that was being played in the background because, to Aykroyd's surprise, the Chicago-born Belushi was primarily a fan of heavy metal. Aykroyd's familiarizing Belushi with blues music eventually led to them forming their popular "Blues Brothers" act, with a little input from then SNL music director Howard Shore.
• Was very close with River Phoenix during the filming of Sneakers (1992). Aykroyd can even been seen wearing the shirt of Phoenix's band, Aleka's Attic, in the movie.
• Proposed to Donna Dixon on Fran Drescher's porch. Drescher played a major role in getting them together from the start, after they all starred in Doctor Detroit (1983) together.
• Wrote Ghostbusters as a tribute to his family's belief in astrology, mediumship and spirituality.
• Said that his original finished script for The Blues Brothers (1980) was over 300 pages long, roughly the size of a phone book. He even sent it to director John Landis in the guise of a phone book as a joke.
• Is ambidextrous, as is evident by his writing left-handed during the examination scene in Spies Like Us (1985).
• Is a victim of syndactylism, a birth defect where several digits are fused together. In Mr. Mike's Mondo Video (1979), he takes his shoes and socks off on-screen, to reveal this anomaly.
• A police buff, he rides an Ontario Provincial Police motorcycle, collects police badges, sometimes rides shotgun with detectives in squad cars, and owns a business in partnership with several Toronto police officers.
• Is very interested in the supernatural and has an extensive collection of books on the subject.
• As an avid blues fan, he hosted a nationally syndicated radio show "House of Blues" as his The Blues Brothers (1980) character Elwood Blues.
• Has a "Blues Brothers" type band with John Belushi's brother, Jim Belushi.
• Is a big fan of Paleontology and natural history, as is his wife, Donna Dixon, and their three daughters, Danielle Aykroyd, Belle Aykroyd, and Stella Aykroyd, who all appeared on the January 1, 2014 airing of Born to Explore (2011) with host and star Richard Weise, at the famous Alberta, Canada dig site of the Pipestone Creek pachyrhinosaur.
• On his passport, he lists his occupation as "Writer".
• His original idea for Ghostbusters (1984) was set in the future, where an army of Ghostbusters fought hordes of ghosts.
• He's the first male regular cast member of Saturday Night Live (1975) to be nominated for an Academy Award. (Joan Cusack was the very first regular cast member of the show to be Oscar-nominated.)
• He has owned or co-owned several bars and restaurants, including the Hard Rock Cafe in New York City and the House of Blues chain, the latter in partnership with John Belushi's widow Judy.
• When Michael Palin guest-hosted Paul Simon, James Taylor & David Sanborn (1980), he remarked that Aykroyd was the only American who could have joined Monty Python. Ironically, Aykroyd is Canadian.
• Is a big fan of The Beach Boys and his first piece of writing was a sketch that appeared in the documentary The Beach Boys: It's OK (1976).
• Once helped to subdue a drunk and disorderly passenger on a Montreal-to-Los Angeles flight.
• Supports MUFON, a UFO study group.
• Has played harmonica since he was 17 years old.
• Daughters with Donna Dixon: Danielle Alexandra (Danielle Aykroyd) (born November 18, 1989), Belle Kingston (born June 9, 1993), and Stella Irene August (April 5, 1998, weighing 6 lb at birth).
• Is the only one of the four main Ghostbusters (1984) actors to play his role in anything other than the two "Ghostbusters" movies. He portrayed Dr. Raymond Stantz in a cameo in the film Casper (1995).
• He has such a fascination with both police officers and criminals, one of the writers from the original Saturday Night Live (1975) said his ultimate fantasy was to commit a crime, then arrest himself for it.
• His grandfather was a member of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police.
• Many sources state that he was married in the 1970s to a woman named Maureen Lewis and had three sons (Mark, Lloyd and Oscar). However, the marriage never occurred and the three kids never existed. What happened was that before Aykroyd became famous, he filled out a questionnaire from the publishers of Who's Who and made up a phony biography complete with a wife and kids.
• Worked as a mail sorter for Canada's national postal service before he became an actor.
• Owns Dan Aykroyd's Wine, an Ontario-based distillery/vineyard and plans to open up for the market in 2008. He got the idea for the name from Paul Newman.
• Was good friends with John Belushi.
• Is a huge fan of the television series Dragnet (1951) and the series' star Jack Webb. So much so, that many of his characters are able to rapidly spit out technical information just as Webb did reciting laws and regulations as Sgt. Joe Friday. Some examples of this are: 1. In The Blues Brothers (1980) when Elwood Blues describes the specifications of the Bluesmobile. 2. In Ghostbusters (1984) when Dr. Raymond Stanz "orders" the demi-god Zuul to leave New York. 3. In 1941 (1979) when Sgt. Tree teaches the Ned Beatty character how to load and fire the anti-aircraft gun. 4. During the "SNL" Weekend Update whenever he would verbally spar with Jane Curtin.
• He and M. Night Shyamalan, are the only two men to direct themselves in performances that "won" them a Razzie Award for Worst Supporting Actor. Aykroyd "won" the award for, and also directed, the film Nothing But Trouble (1991).
• He has appeared in two films that have been selected for the National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being "culturally, historically or aesthetically" significant: The Blues Brothers (1980) and Ghostbusters (1984).
• He was awarded the C.M. (Member of the Order of Canada) on October 21, 1998 and invested on April 14, 1999 from the Canadian Governor General in Sydenham, Ontario, Canada. From his roots in the Second City Comedy troupe to his role as one of the original Blues Brothers, he has become an entertainer of international stature. The stage, screen and television characters he has created have brought laughter to audiences around the world and his celebrity status has contributed to the success of many fund-raising events in Canada. His Alma mater, Carleton University in Ottawa, as well as arts, health and youth programs in Kingston have benefited from his involvement.
• He hosts the nationally, now internationally as well, syndicated radio show "Elwood's BluesMobile", formerly known as House of Blues Radio Hour, under his Blues Brothers moniker Elwood Blues.
• He was the youngest cast member of the original Saturday Night Live (1975 - ) cast as well as the first non-American born.
• Holds an advisory commission with the Police Department in Payne City, Georgia.
• Was offered the role of "D-Day" in National Lampoon's Animal House (1978), but turned it down due to his commitment to Saturday Night Live (1975). According to John Landis, Lorne Michaels threatened to fire Aykroyd if he took the role.
• Came up with the character of Fred Garvin, Male Prostitute, when he lived with former Saturday Night Live (1975) writer Rosie Shuster. He first did it to entertain Rosie at home.
• Co-owns House of Blues with friend Isaac Tigrett
• He is a Roman Catholic, and is of English, Irish/Scottish, Dutch, French, and French-Canadian ancestry. On his father's side, he can trace his ancestry to the 15th century.
• He was going to star opposite John Belushi in a film adaptation of "Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas" until Belushi's death put an end to that.
• A scene was deleted from Steven Spielberg's 1941 (1979) where his character, Sgt. Frank Tree, met John Belushi's character, Wild Bill Kelso. The scene took place right after the tank was dropped into the water by the Japanese sub: Wild Bill was swimming out in the sub's direction just as Frank emerges from the top of the sinking tank, spots Wild Bill and they look at each other curiously, as if recognizing each other, a nod to their real life friendship. It was the only scene in the film where they interacted.
• He was awarded the 2012 Queen Elizabeth II's Diamond Jubilee Medal from the Canadian Governor General in Sydenham, Ontario, Canada.
• He was the second person from Saturday Night Live to get an Oscar nomination, for his supporting role in 1989's "Driving Miss Daisy". Joan Cusack was the first, nabbing a supporting actress nomination for "Working Girl" the previous year.
• He is a former reserve commander for the police department in Harahan, Louisiana, working for Chief of Police Peter Dale. He would carry his badge with him at all times. He currently serves as a Reserve Deputy of the Hinds County Sheriff's Department in Hinds County, Mississippi. He supports the Reserves with a fundraiser concert along with other blues and gospel singers in the State of Mississippi.
• In 2015, he appeared in a State Farm insurance commercial along with Jane Curtin, as the Coneheads, talking to "Jake", a State Farm agent.
• Though he has made numerous appearances on Saturday Night Live (1975) since leaving the show in 1979, he did not actually host it until the 2002-2003 season finale.

Family Life

He married Donna Dixon in 1983, and the couple had three daughters together.

Associated With

He imitated Bob Dole on SNL for the first time on February 13th, 1988.

I am a Spiritualist, a proud wearer of the Spiritualist badge. Mediums and psychic research have gone on for many, many years ... Loads of people have seen spirits, heard a voice, or felt the cold temperature. I believe that they are between here and there, that they exist between the fourth and fifth dimensions, and that they visit us frequently. 

Aykroyd's great-grandfather, a dentist, was a mystic who corresponded with author Sir Arthur Conan Doyle on the subject of Spiritualism, and was a member of the Lily Dale Society. Other than Spiritualism, Aykroyd is also interested in various other aspects of the paranormal, particularly UFOlogy. He is a lifetime member of and official Hollywood consultant for the Mutual UFO Network (MUFON). Along these lines, he served, from 1996 to 2000, as host of Psi Factor: Chronicles of the Paranormal, which claimed to describe cases drawn from the archives of "The Office of Scientific Investigation and Research". In 2005, Aykroyd produced the DVD Dan Aykroyd: Unplugged on UFOs.

Aykroyd was interviewed for 80 minutes by UFOlogist David Sereda, discussing in depth many aspects of the UFO phenomenon. 

On September 29, 2009, Peter Aykroyd Sr., Dan's father, published a book entitled A History of Ghosts. This book chronicled the family's historical involvement in the Spiritualist movement, to which Aykroyd readily refers. Aykroyd wrote the introduction and accompanied his father on a series of promotional activities, including launches in New York and Toronto, appearances on Larry King Live and Coast to Coast AM, and various other public-relations initiatives. Aykroyd also read the introduction for the audio version of the book In 1997, the Committee for Skeptical Inquiry awarded Aykroyd in absentia the Snuffed Candle Award for hosting Psi Factor and being a "long-time promoter ... of paranormal claims". Following the awards, Joe Nickell wrote to Aykroyd asking for the research behind the "cases" presented on Psi Factor, particularly a claim that NASA scientists were "killed while investigating a meteor crash and giant eggs were found and incubated, yielding a flea the size of a hog"

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