Full Details
Dan Aykroyd
| Full Name: | Daniel Edward Aykroyd |
| Born: | July 1, 1952 Ottawa, Ontario, Canada |
| Occupation: | Actor, Comedian, Screenwriter, Producer, Novelist |
| Nationality: | Canadian-American |
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Biography
Daniel Edward Aykroyd is a Canadian & American 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, including 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. Since his departure, he has returned for guest roles.
Aykroyd was born 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 Elliott Trudeau, and his mother, Lorraine Hélène Marie (née Gougeon; 1918–2018), was a secretary. His mother was of French Canadian descent and his father 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'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.
Aykroyd was briefly engaged to actress Carrie Fisher, proposing to her on the set of The Blues Brothers. In the film, she appeared as a jilted girlfriend of John Belushi's character, Jake Blues. Their engagement ended when she reconciled with her former boyfriend, musician Paul Simon. On April 29, 1983, Aykroyd married actress Donna Dixon on a friend's rooftop in Martha's Vineyard. The couple met on the set of Doctor Detroit and appeared together in four additional films: Twilight Zone: The Movie (1983), Spies Like Us (1985), The Couch Trip (1988), and Exit to Eden (1994). Together they have three daughters, including Danielle, known by her stage name, Vera Sola. In 2022, the couple announced that they were separating but would remain legally married.
Aykroyd maintains his Canadian roots as a longtime resident of Sydenham, Ontario, with his estate on Loughborough Lake.
In 2009, Aykroyd contributed a series of reminiscences about his upbringing in Canada for a charity album, Dan Aykroyd's Canada. He helped start the Blue Line Foundation, which is redeveloping flood-damaged lots in New Orleans and helping first responders buy them at reduced prices. Coastal Blue Line LLC, hopes to eventually rebuild 400 properties in New Orleans.
Aykroyd was a member of Canadian charity Artists Against Racism.
Aykroyd is a former reserve commander for the police department in Harahan, Louisiana, working for Chief of Police Peter Dale. While on the force, he carried 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 Mississippi.
Aykroyd's passions for the outdoors, geology and paleontology, which he attributes to watching his father work on constructing the Gatineau Parkway which included blasting through granite rock formations to run the highway. This led him to join Canadian paleontologist Philip J. Currie on a number of digs, including fundraising digs and galas as fundraisers for the construction of the Philip J. Currie Dinosaur Museum in Wembley, Alberta, which recognised Aykroyd's contributions by naming its theatre the Aykroyd Family Theatre.
Works in the WWEnd Database
Non Series Works |
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