Christopher Crosby Farley (February 15, 1964 – December 18, 1997) was an American actor and comedian.
Farley was a cast member at Chicago's Second City Theatre and achieved his greatest fame as a cast member on the American sketch comedy show Saturday Night Live. He starred in a string of moderately successful comedic films in the mid-1990s before dying of a drug overdose in 1997.
Farley also made appearances in several films, including Wayne's World in 1992, Airheads in 1993, Coneheads in 1993, Wayne's World 2 in 1993 (playing a different character than he did in the previous film), and Adam Sandler's Billy Madison in 1995.
After Farley and most of his fellow cast members were released from their contracts at Saturday Night Live after its 1994-1995 season, Farley focused on his film career. His first two major films costarred his SNL cohort and close friend David Spade. Together, the duo made the films Tommy Boy and Black Sheep, which were minor successes at the domestic box office, earning around $32 million each and gaining a large cult following on home video.[1][2] These films established Farley as a relatively bankable star and he was given the sole leading role in 1997's Beverly Hills Ninja. However, drug and alcohol problems began interfering with his work and during the filming of his final film, Almost Heroes with Matthew Perry, shooting was stopped several times for Farley's disease treatment and relapses. The movie was released in 1998, after Farley's death, and was a critical and commercial failure.
Farley was popular with young audiences not only as a physical comedian but also as a comic actor, but few critics warmed to him. Only Tommy Boy was met with any degree of critical acclaim.
Filmography
* Wayne's World (1992)
* Coneheads (1993)
* Wayne's World 2 (1993)
* Airheads (1994)
* Billy Madison (1995)
* Tommy Boy (1995)
* Black Sheep (1996)
* Beverly Hills Ninja (1997)
* Dirty Work (1998)
* Almost Heroes (1998)