HOT GALLERY: As Steve Carell Turns 50, Snakkle Looks Back at His life and Career

Carell grew up in Acton, MA, with three older brothers. He was raised Catholic and attended the private Middlesex School, where he was the goalie on his ice hockey team (check him out showing off his moves on The Dana Carvey Show). Some of his earliest jobs were in the produce department of a supermarket (“I was pretty much bad at every aspect of the job”) and as a telemarketer selling wine (“You say things like ‘oaky’ a lot”).

“Big news from Brown’s Chicken!” says Carell in this early commercial extolling the virtues of cottonseed oil. The company has cleverly capitalized on its fortunate casting by creating a new commercial using some of that early Carell footage. Even back then, in a decidedly unfunny context, Carell manages to come off as recognizably himself.

Carell’s first movie role was as a waiter in John Hughes’ Curly Sue. Carell didn’t have to stretch all that far to play the very Italian-sounding Tesio—his paternal grandfather was from Italy and his original last name was Caroselli.

Carell was both a student and a teacher at the venerable improv center—alumni include everyone from Joan Rivers to Bill Murray to Tina Fey—where he met numerous future collaborators and costars (as well as his wife). He appeared in a pilot for a Second City show as well as the Second City TV movie Life as We Know It. In this gem, Carell (left) worked with Stephen Colbert (second from right), whom he would go on to collaborate with for five years at The Daily Show.

Sadly short-lived, The Dana Carvey Show featured a remarkable cast, including Carell, Stephen Colbert, Louis C.K. and writer Robert Smigel. In the show’s six episodes, Carell had memorable skits alongside his friend Colbert, including “Waiters Who Are Nauseated by Food” and “The Ambiguously Gay Duo” (which went on to be a favorite segment on Saturday Night Live; Carell was Gary). “It really did help a few people,” Carvey said about the show. “A little stepping stone.”

As meteorologist Brick Tamland, Carell charmed in a typically likable (albeit less-than-bright) Everyman role. It established him—alongside costars Will Ferrell and Paul Rudd—as part of the “frat pack” (which also includes the likes of Seth Rogen, Vince Vaughn, Jack Black and Ben Stiller, who all make cameos). Check him out auditioning for the role of Brick—and performing the same scene in the movie. (Hard to say which is funnier!) Carell will reprise his role in next year’s highly anticipated Anchorman 2.

The Office’s Michael Scott is one of the most memorable characters in TV history. At once painfully awkward and deeply lovable, he is guileless to a fault. Among other things, he is virtually single-handedly responsible for igniting the trend that is “That’s what she said.” Carell played the Dunder Mifflin regional manager on The Office for seven seasons; many of his best moments were opposite Rainn Wilson’s Dwight Schrute (like this “Lazy Scranton” rap). Carell also wrote and directed several episodes of the show.

As the socially stunted yet endearing Andy in The 40-Year-Old Virgin, Carell charmed America and proved his appeal as a leading man. Costarring Paul Rudd, Seth Rogen, Jane Lynch, Catherine Keener—and Elizabeth Banks, as the hilariously kinky Beth—40-Year-Old Virgin made Carell’s grinning mug ubiquitous on lampposts around the country, thanks to a brilliant promotional poster. Carell, who developed and co-wrote the script with Judd Apatow, will perhaps forever be remembered for the infamous chest-waxing scene (“Kelly Clarkson!”).

Little Miss Sunshine is one of those low-budget passion projects that hit it big. After premiering at the Sundance Film Festival, it was picked up by Fox Searchlight and eventually earned critical raves, box-office success and two Oscars (including one for Alan Arkin, who also costarred with Carell in Get Smart). Carell played against type as a gay French literature professor who is recovering with his family after a failed suicide attempt.

Steve Carell... spy-movie star? Well, kind of. In the adaptation of the classic TV series Get Smart, Carell played a bumbling secret agent with a top-secret mission and a beautiful, far-more-competent partner (Anne Hathaway). Though the movie opened to mix reviews, it was a box-office success and confirmed Carell’s ability to draw mega-audiences. In 2010, Carell said that he’d written a “completely new story” for a Get Smart sequel. Though he, Hathaway and Alan Arkin are all attached, the movie is still in development—so when will we see it? “Somewhere down the line, perhaps,” says Carell.

Carell scored a blockbuster summer hit with this romantic comedy, in which he played Cal, a man whose long, happy marriage comes to a sudden and shocking halt when his wife (Julianne Moore) admits to having an affair with a colleague. Cal turns to Jacob (Ryan Gosling), the suavest single guy at the bar, for advice on finding himself after his life is turned upside down.

Carell met Nancy Walls when she took a class he was teaching at The Second City; she was his “star student,” he said in a red-carpet interview, “incredibly smart, funny. I couldn’t resist!” The two have been married for 17 years and have two children. Nancy, who now uses her husband’s last name, spent a season on Saturday Night Live (that’s her as Bobby Battista) and has appeared in several of Steve’s projects, including The 40-Year-Old Virgin (a health clinic counselor) and The Office (Michael’s ill-fated love interest Carol Stills).

In Hope Springs, which was released August 8, Carell’s Dr. Feld is the marriage counselor to a struggling couple played by Meryl Streep and Tommy Lee Jones. Acting opposite such legends was “extremely exciting and a little daunting at the same time,” Carell said in an interview on CBS This Morning. “It’s sort of a dream.” On his Twitter feed, Carell wrote, “Saw ‘Hope Springs’ last night. Really good, even though I'm in it.”