Stephen Colbert

Stephen Colbert was born May 13, 1964, in Charleston, South Carolina. He was the youngest of eleven children born to James and Lorna Colbert. When he was ten, his father and two of his brothers died in a plane crash on September 11, 1974. After a somewhat lonely childhood during which he developed a passion for science fiction, fantasy, and role-playing games, Colbert studied philosophy at Virginia's Hampden-Sydney College before transferring to Northwestern University to study acting. Eventually he joined Chicago's famous Second City Comedy group, where he met fellow performers Amy Sedaris and Paul Dinello. With Sedaris and Dinello Colbert developed Strangers With Candy, which debuted in 1998, for the basic cable Comedy Central television network. By this time, Colbert was a regular correspondent on Comedy Central's The Daily Show, a parody of TV news programs.

After Jon Stewart started hosting The Daily Show, Colbert perfected his screen persona...