Christopher Lee Kattan (/kəˈtæn/kə-TAN; born October 19, 1970)[1] is an American actor and comedian. First breaking through as a performer with the Los Angeles comedy troupe The Groundlings, Kattan found wider success during his tenure as a cast member on the NBCsketch comedy series Saturday Night Live from 1996 to 2003. He also played Doug Butabi in A Night at the Roxbury, Bob on the first five seasons of The Middle, and Bunnicula in Bunnicula. He's also known for playing the main antagonist Mr. Feather in Undercover Brother (2002).
Early life
Kattan was born in Culver City, California.[2] His father, Kip King (né Jerome Kattan; 1937–2010), was born to Jewish parents from Iraq and Poland and worked as an actor and voice artist. His mother, Hajnalka Biro (b. 1944), was once photographed for Playboy and worked as a model in London. She is a native of Budapest, Hungary, and is a Buddhist.[3][4] His stepfather was a Buddhist therapist and monk.[5] His half-brother, Andrew Joslyn, is a professional musician and composer.[6]
He moved to New York City to work on Saturday Night Live from 1996 to 2003. His recurring characters included Mr. Peepers, Mango, Azrael Abyss, Kyle DeMarco from The DeMarco Brothers, Gay Hitler, and, most notably, one half of the Butabi Brothers with fellow SNL (and Groundlings) cast member Will Ferrell, known for their trademark head-bobbing. Kattan and Ferrell continued the characters in the 1998 film, A Night at the Roxbury.
Kattan appeared in a Diet Pepsi Max commercial during Super Bowl XLII in 2008 that featured the song "What Is Love" and had many actors in the commercial performing the head bob from A Night at the Roxbury.
In August 2009, Kattan starred in the Independent Film Channel (IFC) miniseries Bollywood Hero, where he portrays himself and the difficulties he faces after a career as a comic actor, trying to attain leading man status.[8] Starting in late 2009, Kattan appeared in a supporting role in The Middle. Kattan played Bob, a colleague of Frankie Heck's at Mr. Ehlert's car dealership. Kattan appeared in an episode of How I Met Your Mother as a star in "The Wedding Bride", a fictional movie within the show. He played himself portraying Jed Mosely, the film's villain, which the screenwriter bases on his girlfriend's ex-fiancé, series protagonist, Ted Mosby. He reappeared as the character in the fictional film's sequel, Wedding Bride 2.[9] On December 17, 2011, Kattan made a guest appearance on the Saturday Night Live Christmas show, hosted by Jimmy Fallon, and again briefly on the final episode of SNL's 37th season.
In June 2014, Kattan reprised his role as former SNL character Mango in a preview of the music video for Sharaya J's "Shut It Down", featured in a fashion campaign by Alexander Wang.[10]
In 2023, Kattan did voice work in the film Leo as Alligator #1.[14]
Personal life
Kattan married model Sunshine Deia Tutt on June 28, 2008, in Oakhurst, California, after proposing to her on Christmas Eve 2006.[15] The couple separated forty-four days later on August 10, 2008, and divorced in February 2009.[16]
On March 25, 2023, Kattan proposed to his girlfriend, Springfield, Illinois, native Maria Libri, a writer and former on-air personality, in front of the stage at a Wilco concert held at the Riviera Theatre, while the Chicago band played "I'm the Man Who Loves You." The band members knew about the proposal. Kattan and Libri had met eighteen months before the proposal when Kattan was performing a stand-up comedy show at Boondocks Pub in Springfield. They have since collaborated on writing projects, including a romantic comedy, and have also appeared together on the YouTube channel, Hey Kattan![17]
Neck injury
Kattan competed in Dancing with the Stars in 2017, where judges criticized him for his stiff upper body movement. Afterward, Kattan revealed that he broke his neck while performing a stunt fourteen years prior and has had impaired mobility ever since. He further admitted the pain medication he began taking following his fourth surgery led to a 2014 DUI arrest.[18] In his 2019 memoir, Kattan claimed that he broke his neck while filming an SNL sketch parodying The Golden Girls, during which he threw himself backwards on a chair. Additionally, NBC paid for two of the five surgeries he underwent afterwards.[19]
Memoir
In 2019, Kattan published a memoir, titled Baby Don’t Hurt Me: Stories and Scars from Saturday Night Live, which included the accident on SNL.[19]
^Kattan, Chris (October 8, 2001). "Interview with Chris Kattan". The Howard Stern Show (Interview). Interviewed by Howard Stern. Event occurs at 3:00. I was born in Culver City.
^ abcdefg"Chris Kattan (visual voices guide)". Behind The Voice Actors. Retrieved October 23, 2024. A green check mark indicates that a role has been confirmed using a screenshot (or collage of screenshots) of a title's list of voice actors and their respective characters found in its credits or other reliable sources of information.
