Will Ferrell refused to go by his real name growing up.
“I think definitely being funny was an easy way to make friends,” Mr. Ferrell started. “Not to feel like being an outsider, and then it was a way to ingratiate yourself to a group.
“This is like a minor thing in terms of—it’s not really even trauma—but I remember feeling so embarrassed because my real name is John, John William Ferrell, so [on the] first day of school, it’d be John,” he said. “The teacher would be like, ‘John Ferrell?’ It was so embarrassing to me to have to say, ‘Here, but I go by Will. I don’t go by John.’”
A week would go by before his teachers would remember to say “Will” instead of “John,” which was an agonizing experience for the comedian.
“It took like a week before the teacher remembered, ‘That’s right, you’re Will,’ and that was excruciating,” he said. “So the beginning of the school year was always like, ‘Oh my gosh, I hate this.’”
When asked why he didn’t like the name “John,” Mr. Ferrell said it wasn’t his choice, as he was called “Will” growing up despite having a different legal name.
He recalled other students questioning him about declining to be called “John.”
“I don’t know why that was so embarrassing [for] me to have to explain I’m actually ‘Will,’” he said.
“People are probably going to be listening to this going, ‘This is the lamest thing ever.’”
The “Anchorman” star shared that his hair also caused him trouble in school.
“The one thing that was an issue in my life was I went from having really straight blond hair to—it naturally got curlier and curlier,” he said. “So in fourth grade, I would’ve had a part, like a wavy part. By the time I left elementary school—the first day—junior high was very traumatic because I just had to go full ‘fro. I couldn’t comb it anymore.”
Mr. Ferrell then gave an overall glimpse into what he was like in school.
Rise to Comedy
The “Elf” star eventually reached his full potential by entertaining people worldwide.After graduating from the University of Southern California in Los Angeles, Mr. Ferrell honed his stand-up comedy skills and eventually landed a frequent spot with the Groundlings, an improv troupe.
“What I recognized when I started doing comedy was that I’m probably not the wittiest, not the fastest on my feet, but the one thing I can guarantee is that I won’t hold anything back,” the comedian told Esquire in a 2003 interview.
During one of the troupe’s performances, Mr. Ferrell caught the attention of “Saturday Night Live” Executive Producer Lorne Michaels. After a successful audition, he was invited to join “SNL” in 1995. Throughout his years on the show, he made viewers laugh as he took on countless characters and impersonations.
In 2002, Mr. Ferrell left “SNL” to pursue Hollywood. His acting career soared after a brief but memorable appearance in “Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery” (1997). He went on to feature in films such as “Zoolander” (2001), “Old School” (2003), and “Elf” (2004), starring in the latter movie.
The comedian-turned-actor found one of his greatest successes in the comedy film “Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgandy” (2004), followed by its sequel “Anchorman 2: The Legend Continues” (2013).
Outside of Hollywood, Mr. Ferrell enjoys spending time with his wife, actress Viveca Paulin, and their three sons.
