Rick Moranis

Frederick Allan "Rick" Moranis (born April 18, 1953) is a Canadian actor, comedian, musician, and writer renowned for his nerdy, everyman characters in 1980s and 1990s comedy films.

Born in Toronto, Ontario, Moranis began his entertainment career as a radio disc jockey in the early 1970s while still in high school, using the on-air name Rick Allen, before transitioning to writing and performing on Canadian television. He rose to prominence as a cast member on the sketch comedy series Second City Television (SCTV) from 1980 to 1985, where his impressions and original characters, often alongside Dave Thomas, earned him an Emmy Award and a nomination for writing and a Grammy nomination for the duo's 1983 comedy album Strange Brew (retitled The Great White North in the U.S.).

Frederick Allan Moranis was born on April 18, 1953, in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, to Jewish parents Morris Moranis and Anne Moranis (née Baker) of Eastern European descent. His paternal grandparents, Jacob and Lena Moranis, were Russian Jewish immigrants who initially settled in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, before moving to Canada. His mother was of Polish Jewish heritage.

Moranis grew up in a Jewish family in Toronto during the 1950s and 1960s, a period when the city's media landscape was expanding with local radio and television programming that would later influence his career path. He attended elementary school with Geddy Lee, the future frontman of the rock band Rush, fostering early connections within Toronto's creative community.