Overview (4)

Mini Bio (1)

Trade Mark (8)

Incredible physicality despite his girth



Innovator of "anti-slapstick" comedy style; ie. man walks into doorframe, curses and screams in pain for long period of time.



Manic energy



Screaming many lines at the top of his lungs



Characters on SNL: Matt Foley, Todd O'Connor and Bennett Brauer



Blond hair, usually styled in a messy or uneven way



His ability to do flawless cartwheels and backflips despite his size



Hoarse raspy voice



Trivia (43)

Parents are Thomas John and Mary Anne (Crosby) Farley. Father owned Scotch Oil. company.





Posed as Newt Gingrich on Capitol Hill to help the House Republican leader celebrate his first 100 days. [April 1995]



Died from opiate and cocaine intoxication. Found by his brother John Farley in his apartment in the John Hancock building.

Received his degree in communications and theater from Marquette University in Milwaukee, Wisconsin (1986).





Before his death, Farley maintained that, as a dramatic role, he wished to star in a film biography of silent comedian Roscoe 'Fatty' Arbuckle



Had a year left on his contract with Saturday Night Live (1975) but was let go in the process of the show's rapid cast change during 1995.



In most of his film vehicles, his brother Kevin P. Farley was used as an extra.

Credited for performing many of his own stunts.





Was originally cast as the title role in Shrek (2001) and even recorded the dialogue. However, after his untimely death, the role was given to fellow Saturday Night Live (1975) performer, Mike Myers



He was said to have idolized John Belushi . His life story bears a striking similarity to that of Belushi: both Farley and Belushi were regulars at The Second City in Chicago, both then went on to become cast members on Saturday Night Live (1975) and then later do feature films, both had obesity problems, both had a reputation for having an out-of-control lifestyle, and both died from drug overdoses at the age of thirty-three.



Was the first choice for Jim Carrey 's role in The Cable Guy (1996), but scheduling conflicts forced him to miss out on doing the film.



At the time of his untimely death, he lived in the John Hancock building in Chicago. His next-door neighbor was television and radio host Jerry Springer

According to the medical examiner, Farley was 5' 8" and 296 lbs. at the time of his death.



Attended and graduated from Edgewood High School of the Sacred Heart (1982).



He was surprisingly athletic for his size, playing football in high school and rugby during college.





Was planning to do a third movie with David Spade at the time of his death.

He was of seven-eighths Irish and one-eighth Scottish ancestry.



He was posthumously awarded a Star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 6366 Hollywood Boulevard in Hollywood, California on August 26, 2005. The star is located in front of the improve Olympic West theater, where he used to perform.





He was slated for a voice role in Dinosaur (2000) as a young male brachiosaurus named Sorbus who, despite his gigantic nature, was frightened of heights. After his death, the character was rewritten as Baylene, an elderly female Brachiosaurus played by stage actress Joan Plowright.

He was planning on starring in a biography about Hermann Goering.





Off-screen, Farley was well known for his pranks in the offices of Saturday Night Live (1975). This would refer to Farley and Adam Sandler making late-night prank phone calls from the SNL offices in Rockefeller Center, with Sandler speaking in an old woman's voice and Farley farting into the phone and mooning cars from a limousine. He was also known to frequently get naked and do various stunts for laughs. Chris Rock once claimed that he probably saw Farley's private parts more than Farley's girlfriend did.



At the time of his untimely death, Farley had also been in talks to co-star with Vince Vaughn in the film The Gelfin, which was never made.



He was so disappointed in Beverly Hills Ninja (1997) that he cried on his agent's shoulder after the first screening. He told his agent that he never wanted to do such a film again. Farley's stance was justified as it arguably attributed to the exploitation of his manic, physical humor by dumbing it down and playing it out to an almost tiring and foolish degree.



Farley had also been in talks for the lead in an adaptation of the novel "A Confederacy of Dunces". Farley even expressed interest in portraying Atuk in an adaptation of the novel "The Incomparable Atuk". Both of these shelved projects, along with a Roscoe 'Fatty' Arbuckle biopic, have been alleged to be cursed as Farley, John Belushi , and John Candy were each attached to all three roles, and all three died before any of the films entered production.



He and David Spade were planning on making a movie centered on his character Matt Foley from Saturday Night Live (1975).

Dav Pilkey, author of the children's book series "Captain Underpants", had wanted Farley to play the title role in a potential television series based on the books, but discarded the idea after Farley's untimely death.





He was originally meant to play Kevin James ' role in Grown Ups (2010), as the script was originally written in the early 1990s.



As told by comedian Norm MacDonald in an interview on the Howard Stern radio show, Farley named his SNL character Matt Foley after a priest named Matt Foley back home where, Norm said he learned at Farley's funeral, Farley lead a secret life helping in the soup kitchen and other things for the church.

Chris Farley passed away on December 18, 1997, two months away from what would have been his 34th birthday on February 15, 1998.





The song "Purple Stain" by the rock band Red Hot Chili Peppers contains the lyric "Farley is an angel and I can prove this" as a tribute to Farley.

Following his untimely death, he was interred at Resurrection Cemetery in Madison, Wisconsin.





He was originally going to be in the unmade third Ghostbusters movie along side Chris Rock and Ben Stiller

David Spade once told an anecdote about how the cast of SNL would hit the bars post-rehearsal and Farley would often approach a woman claiming that he was an aerobics instructor. When the woman would inevitably scoff at his claim, Chris would do a standing back flip, stick the landing, and continue the conversation.



He was an avid football and rugby player.



He was often described as an extremely kind and generous man who often went out of his way to help people in need.



He was known for always stopping and giving money and showing kindness to homeless people he passed on the street.



Personal Quotes (10)

Basically, I only play one character; I just play him at different volumes.



Everyone is treating it like a Hollywood story. In Madison, it's a neighborhood story.



People... need a time to laugh. It's up to us to bonk ourselves on the head and slip on a banana peel so the average guy can say, "I may be bad, honey, but I'm not as much of an idiot as that guy on the screen.".



Once I thought that if I just had enough in the bank, if I had enough fame, that it would be all right. But I'm a human being like everyone else. I'm not exempt.



In the land of the skunks, he who has half a nose is king.



The point is, how do you know the Guarantee Fairy isn't a crazy glue sniffer.



I was in the Pritikin Center in Santa Monica once, trying to lose 30 or 40 pounds in a month. I'd work... on a treadmill and with the weights, but it was driving me nuts. So I escaped. Tom Arnold picked me up and we went to Le Dome and had tons of desserts.



I used to think that you could get to a level of success where the laws of the universe didn't apply. But they do. It's still life on life's terms, not on movie-star terms. I still have to work at relationships. I still have to work on my weight and some of my other demons.



I have a tendency toward the pleasures of the flesh. It's a battle for me, as far as weight and things like that. But I'm curbing them because I want to continue to do comedy, and the two don't mix. So I try to fight those demons.



I want to live fast and die young.



Salary (3)