Biography

Dan Aykroyd

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Daniel Edward Aykroyd was born on July 1, 1952 in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada, to Lorraine Hélène (Gougeon), a secretary from a French-Canadian family, and Samuel Cuthbert Peter Hugh Aykroyd, a civil engineer who advised prime minister Pierre Trudeau. Aykroyd attended Carleton University in 1969, where he majored in Criminology and Sociology, but he dropped out before completing his degree. He worked as a comedian in various Canadian nightclubs and managed an after-hours speakeasy, Club 505, in Toronto for several years. He worked with Second City Stage Troupe in Toronto and started his acting career at Carleton University with Sock'n'Buskin, the campus theater/drama club. Married to Donna Dixon since 1983, they have three daughters. His parents are named Peter and Lorraine and his brother Peter Aykroyd is a psychic researcher. Dan received an honorary Doctorate from Carleton University in 1994 and was made a Member of the Order of Canada in 1998.
- IMDb mini biography by: Gustaf Molin <gumo@hem2.passagen.se>

After working together on three films, Jamie Lee Curtis called him the best "screen kisser" who ever had a scene with her.
Was born with complete heterochromia; one eye is brown and one eye is green.
He and Bill Murray resumed their "Ghostbusters" roles to visit a terminally ill child who was a fan of the film and wanted to meet them.
Is part owner of a company that owns the exclusive distribution rights to Patron tequila for the entire country of Canada. Is now also distilling a vodka called "Crystal Head" to be bottled in a skull-shaped glass bottle.
Aykroyd and John Belushi were scheduled to present the first annual Best Visual Effects Oscar at the 1982 Academy Awards, but Belushi died weeks before the ceremony. Aykroyd presented the award alone, and stated from the podium: "My partner would have loved to have been here tonight to present this award, since he was a bit of a Visual Effect himself."

If it hadn't been for Carleton [University], The Blues Brothers (1980) would never have been made.
'Ghostbusters 3' will never happen. Unless Bill Murray agrees. Everyone else would love to do it--Columbia, [Harold Ramis], myself, [Ivan Reitman]. It's a five-way rights situation and Bill is locking up his piece of the rights because he feels that was work he just wants preserved and he doesn't want it diluted. As an artist I can respect that.
[on Blues Brothers 2000 (1998)] Basically they gave us the budget to make the film. We got paid zero. I wanted Jim Belushi to play the part Joe Morton did, but he was doing a TV show and couldn't do it. But Morton did a great job and John Goodman did a good job. I think it's a good companion piece to the first film.
Chevy Chase was the first to make it huge - people would recognize him in the street: 'Hey Chubby Chase, look at Chubby Chase'. Everybody knew who he was. He was the first to start on a movie career and maybe [John Belushi] was a little jealous. But I liked Chevy and was sorry to see him leave Saturday Night Live (1975)]. He's one of the master physical comedians. I think you can place Buster Keaton and Chevy in the same sentence and be pretty safe there.
[when asked if he ever gets recognized for anything] I have this young female demographic that recognizes me as the dad from My Girl (1991) and this older female demographic that recognizes me as the son from Driving Miss Daisy (1989).