Billy Crystal

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Billy Crystal's Bio: Billy Crystal was born into an artistic family on Long Island in New York. His father was a jazz promoter who also managed The Commodore Music Shop for Billy's uncle. His brother, Joel Crystal, is a television producer and Billy's daughter, Jennifer, is now an actress.

Crystal earned a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree at New York University, where he majored in Film and TV Direction, having the good fortune to study with a professor named Martin Scorsese. After college, he turned his talents to the world of stand-up comedy and played several clubs. "I had to rehearse my material for a fraternity party on my eighteen month-old daughter," he says, noting that aside from a little dribbling, her feedback wasn't that positive.

But the feedback from producers Jack Rollins and Stanley Jaffe was very positive and gave Crystal the impetus to go further. About Jaffe he recalls, "He told me I was playing it too safe, that I had to be willing to bomb." But it was on the talk show circuit that Crystal really shone, his agile mind and quick wit making him a staple in the guest's chair. And then came Soap, the risqué comedy series where he played TV's first regular gay character.

Later, Saturday Night Live producer Lorne Michaels caught his act at the comedy club Catch a Rising Star, and invited him to join the original SNL cast. The rest, of course, is history, with the funny man delighting audiences with his work as actor, director, producer, writer, and host, most notably for the Academy Awards, for which he won two Emmys for Outstanding Performance in Special Events in 1988 and 1989. As of November 8, 2011, Crystal had hosted the Academy Awards an astonishing 8 times. On November 9, Eddie Murphy announced that he would be dropping out of his hosting duties for the 2012 Academy Awards, and Crystal was announced as his replacement.

He has been married to his wife, Janice, since 1970. They have two daughters together. He has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 6925 Hollywood Blvd. His childhood idol was baseball great Mickey Mantle, and Crystal always had a lifelong dream of playing professional baseball. That dream finally came true on March 12, 2008, when Crystal signed a minor league contract, for a single day, to play with the New York Yankees, and was invited to the team's major league spring training. He wore uniform number 60, in honor of his upcoming 60th birthday. On March 13, in a spring training game against the Pittsburgh Pirates, Crystal led off as the designated hitter. He managed to make contact, fouling a fastball up the first base line, but was eventually struck out by Pirates pitcher Paul Maholm on 6 pitches and was later replaced in the batting order by Johnny Damon. He was released on March 14, his 60th birthday. … Read more