Chris was born to Tom and Mary Anne Farley in Madison, Wisconsin on
February 15, 1964. He described himself as a "teacher's nightmare" at Marquette University, where he graduated with a degree in communications and theatre. After Marquette, he performed with the Ark Improv Theatre group and studying under legendary director Del Close (John Belushi and John Candy both worked under Close as well) at the Improv Olympic Theatre. Chris was performing at Second City Theatre in the late eighties when he was discovered by SNL producer Lorne Michaels. Lorne brought him to the cast of Saturday Night Live in the 1990-91 season.

SNL
While at SNL, Farley's comedic exuberance onstage quickly made him a favorite. Some of his most popular roles while on SNL included playing a lovable, insecure caricature of himself as host of "The Chris Farley Show", the classic over-zealous auditioning Chippendales dancer and perhaps his most popular character: thrice-divorced, van-dwelling motivational speaker Matt Foley.

Movies
Chris made his feature film debut in the hit movie "Wayne's World", appearing briefly as a security guard. He left SNL along with other long-time favorites Adam Sandler, Kevin Nealon, Rob Schneider and Phil Hartman after the 1994-95 season to focus on his movie career. He appeared in smaller roles in several films, including Wayne's World 2, Coneheads, Airheads, and Billy Madison before securing his first starring role alongside SNL companion David Spade in "Tommy Boy". "Tommy Boy" quickly became a cult classic, breaking box-office expectations, and causing many observers to call the duo a modern-day Laurel and Hardy combo. Chris teamed up with Spade again in "Black Sheep", which also achieved box-office success, and was a fan-favorite although it lacked the overall popularity of Tommy Boy. Chris' went solo in his next movie, "Beverly Hills Ninja" an over-the-top farce that provided ample opportunities for Farley's physical humor, but lacked the script to take full advantage of Farley's comedic talents. Farley's dedicated fan base continued to support his movies and "Ninja" was another box-office success, debuting #1 and even out-grossing established star Eddie Murphy's new movie "Metro" released the same week.

Etc.
Farley made several TV appearances, including appearing as a "special correspondent" at Wisconsin's homecoming football game vs. Northwestern, in an episode of MTV's "Road Rules", with his brothers Kevin and John as a hilarious ketchup-loving chef in the Nickelodeon kids comedy sketch show "All That", and many classic appearances on Letterman's Late Show, Leno's Tonight Show, and Late Night with Conan O'Brien promoting his movies, rooting on the Packers, and generally just being funny. Chris was a special talk-show guest, one of the few celebrities who would always guarantee the hosts a hilarious

interview and some crowd-pleasing spontaneous antics.

Chris had finished filming "Almost Heroes", a.k.a. "Edwards and Hunt" with "Friends" star Matthew Perry (Chandler). "Heroes" has been delayed by the studio for close to a year now, but a solid release date for the movie has been confirmed: May 1, 1998. Unfortunately, this will be the last chance for Farley's thousands of loyal fans to see him on the big screen, due to his untimely death on December 18, 1997 at the age of 33. Chris Farley loved his family, his fans, and his friends dearly and it always showed in his work. He will be sorely missed and his laughter and gentle spirit will be remembered forever.