Wil Shriner

A true Hollywood renaissance man, Wil Shriner worked steadily as stand-up comic, actor, host, writer and director in a career that spanned more then 20 years. The son of humorist Herb Shriner, he followed his actor brother Kin to Los Angeles, where taking a random stab at stand-up comedy introduced him to comedian-host David Letterman, who became one of Shriner's biggest supporters, inviting him on his late night talk show numerous times. Acting roles came in projects like the Francis Ford Coppola-directed "Peggy Sue Got Married" (1986) and an episode of the Steven Spielberg-produced anthology "Amazing Stories" (NBC, 1985-87). For a time, he even hosted his own talk show, "The Wil Shriner Show" (syndicated, 1987-88), as well as the canine competition series "That's My Dog!" (syndicated, 1991-94). By the 2000s, Shriner had begun to branch out into directorial work on several sitcoms, including episodes of "Becker" (CBS, 1998-2004) and "Frasier" (NBC, 1993-2004). His biggest career milestone came with the feature film "Hoot" (2006), a family adventure based on the novel by Carl Hiaasen, written, co-produced and directed by Shriner. Shriner's diverse skill sets and personal drive allowed him to remain active as both an entertainer and filmmaker.