Profile
Billy Crystal: The Comedian Who Made Hosting an Art
Comedian, actor and nine-time Oscars host
Born in New York City and raised on Long Island, Billy Crystal grew up around jazz musicians through his father's record shop. He studied film at New York University and built a name as a stand-up comic.
His role as Jodie Dallas on the sitcom Soap in the late 1970s was one of the first openly gay characters on American TV. After a season on Saturday Night Live, he starred in When Harry Met Sally... (1989), City Slickers and Analyze This.
He voiced Mike Wazowski in Pixar's Monsters, Inc., wrote and starred in the Broadway show 700 Sundays, and hosted the Academy Awards nine times between 1990 and 2012.
Career highlights
- 1977Soap: breakthrough TV role
- 1984Saturday Night Live: joins the cast
- 1989When Harry Met Sally...: romantic comedy classic
- 1990Oscars host: first of nine ceremonies
- 1991City Slickers: box office hit
- 2001Monsters, Inc.: voices Mike Wazowski
- 2004700 Sundays: Tony-winning one-man show
Did you know?A lifelong New York Yankees fan, he signed a one-day contract with the team in 2008 and batted in a spring training game at the age of 59.
