Will Forte
Will Forte (birthname: Orville Willis Forte IV), a mainstay in the Saturday Night Live cast and writing team from 2002 to 2010, followed in the tradition of SNL alum Chevy Chase, Dan Ayckroyd, Adam Sandler, Eddie Murphy, and others and jumped into movies with supporting roles in Around the World in 80 Days (2004); Broken Lizard’s comedy Beerfest (2006); the Tina Fey and Amy Poehler-starring Baby Mama (2008); director/writer/producer/actor John Krasinski’s adaptation of David Foster Wallace’s short story collection, Brief Interviews with Hideous Men (2009); and in a voice role as Chester V in directors/writers Phil Lord’s and Christopher Miller’s beloved animated feature, Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs (2009) and the sequel, Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs 2 (2013). Forte parlayed his most popular SNL character into his first starring title role and as co-writer for MacGruber (2010), co-starring Kristen Wiig, Ryan Phillippe, Powers Boothe, Maya Rudolph and Val Kilmer under co-writer Jorma Taccone’s direction, produced by SNL creator Lorne Michaels and producing partner John Goldwyn with Rogue Pictures and Relativity Media, and released by Universal Pictures.
Forte played supporting roles in directors/writers Alex Gregory’s and Peter Huyck’s comedy, A Good Old Fashioned Orgy (2011); stars/directors/writers/producers Tim Heidecker’s and Eric Wareheim’s black comedy, Tim and Eric’s Billion Dollar Movie (2012); the stage-to-screen jukebox musical, Rock of Ages (2012); the Adam Sandler-produced and starring comedy with Andy Samberg, That’s My Boy (2012); and the sci-fi comedy, The Watch (2012), starring Ben Stiller and co-written by Seth Rogen. Rogen starred in Irish director/co-writer Steph Green’s comedy-drama, Run & Jump (2013), premiering at the Tribeca Film Festival and released by Sundance Selects, and then Forte co-starred with Jennifer Aniston, yasin bey, Isla Fisher, Mark Boone Junior, Tim Robbins and John Hawkes in director-writer Daniel Schechter’s screen version of Elmore Leonard’s 1978 novel, The Switch, titled Life of Crime (2013).
Will Forte landed his most acclaimed role to date (earning his first Indie Spirit awards nomination) opposite Bruce Dern in the Alexander Payne-directed comedy-drama, Nebraska (2013), with June Squibb, Stacy Keach and Bob Odenkirk, premiering in competition at the Cannes Film Festival and nominated for six Oscars (including Best Picture and Director). Forte reunited with filmmakers Phil Lord and Christopher Miller to play the voice of Abraham Lincoln in Warner Bros.’ spectacular The Lego Movie (2014), grossing nearly $471 million, and then returned as Lincoln in Warners’ sequel, The Lego Movie 2: The Second Part (2019), earning $200 million globally.
Forte joined the ensemble of director/co-writer Peter Bogdanovich’s final theatrical movie, She’s Funny That Way (2014), co-starring Owen Wilson, Imogen Poots, Kathryn Hahn, Rhys Ifans and Jennifer Aniston, and which was re-released in a director’s cut in 2025 with Bogdanovich’s original title, Squirrels to the Nuts. Forte was in another comedy ensemble with director/co-writer/producer Jared Hess’s Don Verdean (2015), with Sam Rockwell, Amy Ryan, Jemaine Clement and Danny McBride, premiering at the Sundance Film Festival, and then Forte voiced the co-lead role in Get Squirrely (2016), including voice actors Jason Jones, John Leguizamo, Samantha Bee and John Cleese, followed by a role in the buddy action comedy, Keanu (2016), co-starring Jordan Peele (who also was co-writer and lead producer) and Keegan-Michael Key, and then Forte did two consecutive English dub voice roles, first in French director/co-writer Claude Barras’s acclaimed My Life as a Zucchini (2016), premiering in the Directors’ Fortnight competition at the Cannes Film Festival; and in co-directors/co-writers Christoph and Wolfgang Lauenstein’s sci-fi Luis and the Aliens (2018).
Will Forte played a co-lead role in co-directors/co-writers Mike Ahern’s and Enda Loughman’s acclaimed and little-seen Irish-Belgian comedy, Extra Ordinary (2019), with Maeve Higgins and Barry Ward, and premiering at the South by Southwest Film Festival, followed by a leading supporting role in the comedy, Booksmart (2019), co-starring Kaitlyn Dever and Beanie Feldstein, with Jessica Williams, Lisa Kudrow and Jason Sudeikis under Olivia Wilde’s direction, produced (in part) by Megan Ellison, launching at the South by Southwest Film Festival and released to acclaim by United Artists Releasing. Forte then made two smaller supporting appearances: first, in director/co-writer Gene Stupnitsky’s comedy, Good Boys (2019), produced (in part) by Seth Rogen, Evan Goldberg and Lee Eisenberg (who also co-wrote), with Jacob Tremblay, Keith L. Williams, Brady Noon and Lil Rel Howery, premiering at the South by Southwest Film Festival before a solid $111 million release by Universal Pictures (based on estimate costs); and then in director/cinematographer Steven Soderbergh’s Panama Papers-themed comedy-drama, The Laundromat (2019), written and produced (in part) by Scott Z. Burns, co-starring Meryl Streep, Gary Oldman, Antonio Banderas, Jeffrey Wright, Robert Patrick, David Schwimmer, Rosalind Chao and Sharon Stone, premiering at the Venice Film Festival and released theatrically and on streaming by Netflix.
Forte topped the voice cast of Warner Animation Group’s/Reel FX Animation’s big-screen version of Hanna-Barbera’s Scoob! (2020), with Mark Wahlberg, Jason Isaacs, Gina Rodriguez, Zac Efron, Amanda Seyfried, Kiersey Clemons, Ken Jeong and Tracy Morgan under Tony Cervone’s direction and distributed by Warner Bros. Pictures, followed by a small role in the Foo Fighters-starring comedy horror movie, Studio 666 (2022), starring Foo Fighters lead Dave Grohl (who wrote the story) and released by Open Road Films/Briarcliff Entertainment, and then a supporting voice role in DreamWorks Animation’s animated teen comedy, Ruby Gilman, Teenage Kraken (2023), with the voice cast of Lana Condor, Toni Collette, Annie Murphy, Colman Domingo and Jane Fonda, launching at the Annecy Animation Film Festival before a release by Universal Pictures. Forte had the lead live-action role in the Phil Lord and Christopher Miller’s buddy-dog comedy for Universal Pictures , Strays (2023), joined by voice co-stars Will Ferrell, Jamie Foxx, Isla Fisher, Rob Riggle and Sofia Vergara under Josh Greenbaum’s direction, followed by a supporting role in star/co-writer/producer Nick Bargate’s comedy, The Breadwinner (2026), with Mandy Moore, Colin Jost and Kumail Nanjiani under Eric Appel’s direction and distributed via Sony Pictures Releasing with lead producer TriStar Pictures.
Will Forte was once again the lead live-action cast member of a live-action/animated movie, Warner Animation Group’s long-in-the-making Coyote vs. Acme (2026), co-starring Lana Condor, Tone Bell, Luis Guzman and John Cena under Dave Green’s direction, co-written and produced (in part) by James Gunn, originally set for a Warner Bros. release but then distributed wide by Ketchup Entertainment.
Will Forte Photos and Videos
Known For
MacGruber
MacGruber (2010)
Nebraska
David Grant (2013)
The Last Man on Earth
Phil Tandy Miller (2015)
Will Forte Movies
Actor
Previous (20)
- 2026 |
The Breadwinner
asKeegan
When a supermom lands a Shark Tank deal, she switches roles with her breadwinner husband, who struggles to adapt as a stay-at-home dad to their three daughters.
- 2026 |
Coyote vs. Acme
asKevin Avery
A story set in the ACME warehouse, the manufacturer of anything and everything used by the Looney Tunes characters.
- 2025 |
Win or Lose
asCoach Dan
Follows a middle school softball team in the week leading up to their championship game, and each episode is told from the perspective of a different character.
- 2024 |
Thelma the Unicorn
asOtis
When a rare pink and glitter-filled moment of fate makes Thelma the Pony's wish of being a unicorn come true, she rises to instant international pop-superstar stardom, but at an unexpected cost.
- 2023 |
- 2023 |
Ruby Gillman: Teenage Kraken
asGordon Lighthouse
A shy 16-year-old girl learns that she comes from a fabled royal family of legendary sea krakens and that her destiny lies in the depths of the waters, which is bigger than she could have ever imagined.
- 2022 |
Studio 666
asDelivery Guy
Legendary rock band Foo Fighters move into an Encino mansion steeped in grisly rock and roll history to record their much anticipated 10th album.
- 2021 |
America: The Motion Picture
asAbraham Lincoln
A chainsaw-wielding George Washington teams with beer-loving bro Sam Adams to take down the Brits in a tongue-in-cheek riff on the American Revolution.
- 2021 |
- 2020 |
Extra Ordinary
asChristian Winter
Rose, a mostly sweet and lonely Irish driving instructor, must use her supernatural talents to save the daughter of Martin (also mostly sweet and lonely) from a washed-up rock star who is using her in a Satanic pact to reignite his fame.
- 2019 |
- 2019 |
- 2018 |
Luis and the Aliens
asNag
An 11-year-old boy befriends three aliens after they crash their spaceship onto the grounds of an closed gas station by his house.
- 2016 |
- 2014 |
The Lego Movie
asAbraham Lincoln
An ordinary LEGO construction worker, thought to be the prophesied as "special", is recruited to join a quest to stop an evil tyrant from gluing the LEGO universe into eternal stasis.
- 2013 |
Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs 2
asChester V
Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs 2
Flint Lockwood now works at The Live Corp Company for his idol Chester V. But he's forced to leave his post when he learns that his most infamous machine is still operational, and is churning out menacing food-animal hybrids.
- 2012 |
- 2012 |
That's My Boy
asPhil
While in his teens, Donny fathered a son, Todd, and raised him as a single parent until Todd's 18th birthday. Now Donny resurfaces just before Todd's wedding after years apart, sending the groom-to-be's world crashing down.
- 2009 |
Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs
asJoe Towne
Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs
A local scientist is often regarded as a failure until he invents a machine that can make food fall from the sky. But little does he know that things are about to take a turn for the worst.
- -- | as Gordon Lighthouse
Self
Previous (1)
- 2024 |
Saturday Night
At 11:30pm on October 11th, 1975, a ferocious troupe of young comedians and writers changed television forever. Find out what happened behind the scenes in the 90 minutes leading up to the first broadcast of Saturday Night Live (1975).
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